Lavendera.
And the Dryad Queen.
“You were never going to give me the Soul of Trees,” Lavendera declares, her voice stronger and more confident than I have ever heard.
Jessina flashes her a cruel smile. “No, we weren’t.” Her pale gray eyes slide to the Dryad Queen. “But you, you have made a mistake today. Picking a side…” She shakes her head. “We were content leaving you alone, as long as you stayed out of sight. But now, you have made yourselves our enemies. Which means that you will die just the same as them.”
“The portal is open,” Grey says from a little to my right.
Casting a glance in that direction, I find Orion sprinting through it.
“You were content leaving us alone?” the Dryad Queen echoes with a terrifyingly sharp edge to her voice. Her dress and hair, made entirely of vines and leaves and branches, stream out around her. “You did not leave us alone. You tried to take our homeland for yourselves!”
“We didn’t try to take it. We just had nowhere else to go,” Jessina snaps back. “Our homeland was being destroyed in thewar, and the fae were still fighting us. We needed a safe place to stay, and you turned us out!”
“First of all, we are not responsible for your war. Just because you and the fae cannot get along does not mean thatweneed to clean up your mess. And yet you just barged into our home and brought your problems to us.” The Dryad Queen’s brown eyes flash with fury. “And secondly, we did not turn you out. We did give you sanctuary at first.”
“But then you kicked us out.”
“Yes. Because you did not respect our homeland.”
“We were just trying to settle!”
“Toyourlife!” The vines in her hair whip in the air like vicious snakes and her voice drops to a low growl, full of age-old fury. “You chopped down trees to make houses.”
“We needed houses to live in,” Jessina snaps.
“The treesareour houses! They are the very foundation of our homeland. They are our siblings. Our people. And you cut them down.”
For a few seconds, they just stare each other down across the grass. The sun has almost disappeared into the sea by now, painting the heavens with streaks of deep violet.
“And then when we asked you to leave after giving you shelter for weeks, you repaid our kindness by stealing from us.” The Dryad Queen’s expression darkens until it feels as if the very bones of this world are trembling with rage. “You stole the Soul of Trees and used it to trap the Mother Dryad inside Lavendera Dawnwalker’s head, just to raise the thorn forest around the Seelie Court. You knew what the Soul of Trees means to us. You knew that there can be no new dryads without the Mother Dryad. And still, you did it.”
“We needed the thorn forest to isolate the Seelie Court so that we could win the war.”
A snarl rips from the Dryad Queen’s throat. “Always only thinking of your own needs and wants. Like entitled children.”
“We need to go,” Draven suddenly says, interrupting their argument. “A host of dragons from their clan was hunting me. I managed to outpace them, but they’ll be here soon.”
Isera starts moving towards the portal. And so do Draven and I. In front of us, Lavendera and the Dryad Queen are still standing rooted in place.
“Your crimes will not be forgiven,” the Dryad Queen says, her eyes still locked on the Icehearts. “You will die. And when you do, there will be no afterlife to welcome you. Not even the demons in hell will open their gates for you.”
Bane draws his dark brows down in a scowl, and Jessina scoffs. The Dryad Queen keeps her gaze on them as she and Lavendera finally start backing towards the portal.
“Scoff all you like,” she says, the vines of her dress and hair rippling around her as she moves. “But we dryads are a part of this world in a way that the rest of you never will be. You only live on this world. Wearethis world. And we have ties to all the gods and goddesses who now call this world their home.”
Ice skitters down my spine at the deadly promises in her voice. Even though I’m not on the receiving end of these threats, my whole soul is still screaming at me to run and hide from the terrible power before me.
A truly vicious smile curves the Dryad Queen’s lips. “We will speak with Azaroth. And Mabona and Malachi and Father Almighty too, just to be sure. We will even deal with the demons in hell. And trust me when I tell you, no one will open the gates of their afterlife to you. When you die, all you will experience is endless, cold, dark nothingness for all eternity.”
For the first time ever, true terror flashes across Jessina’s and Bane’s faces. And this time, there is no retort waiting on their tongues.
I shift my gaze to Hana. “Last chance to change your mind. Are you sure you’re making the right decision staying with them?”
A small jolt goes through her at my question, and she flicks her gaze over all of us before casting a worried glance at the Icehearts. For a moment, I think she’s going to cut and run for the portal.
But in the end, she straightens slightly and replies, “Yes.”
