A walking tree, though it looked like it’d planted its root deep into the earth of the planter bed. It had made the alcove its home.
“It wandered off in the Orchard this morning, but it seems to like this spot,” Kaldur told me. “Though I thought we lost it a couple days ago. I found it near the starwood blooms, by the moon dial.”
Astonished, I approached the tree eagerly. “Hello there,” I greeted softly. “Pleased to meet you.”
Then I pressed my hand onto the trunk, and I felt the whole tree shiver, as if saying it was happy to make my acquaintance too.
“Where…wherever did you find one?” I asked, grinning.
“In Salaire,” Kaldur told me, regarding me with a small smile a few paces away. “Thaine often wanders the forests there. He discovered it, and he knew I’d been searching for one for you. It had been quite weak from the harsh winter. I wasn’t sure if it would survive the journey here, but…it pulled through. It’s been very active in the gardens, which is a good sign.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I promised. “I’ll bring Aly. She’ll love it, especially when she grows older.”
Kaldur’s lips quirked. “I thought you might say that.”
The bark was rough beneath my hand, its bough swaying above me.
My husband came up beside me. I beamed up at him, feeling my love for him, for how thoughtful and kind he always was radiate through me.
I’d never been wrong about him,I thought. Once, I’d lost faith that I had been. But now I knew I could trust my instincts when it came to him.
“You’re wonderful,” I whispered, going up onto my tiptoes to press a kiss to his jawline. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he murmured. His gaze went back to thedalliatree. “Maybe it will leave. Or maybe it will choose to stay. Regardless, I like to imagine it here. Wandering the garden with you, with Aly, watching over you both like a guardian. It’s young still. It’ll grow with our daughter.”
I smiled at the picture he painted. A wonderful one.
“I would like that,” I said against his skin. When I pulled back, I said, “I’ll do everything to convince ourdalliato stay.”
“Just as I did to you,” he said quietly, those silver eyes capturing mine and holding them.
“Yes.” I laughed. “I suppose so.”
His arms came around me, and I sighed into his embrace, pressing my cheek into his chest, feeling the solid pump of his heartbeat. Forever comforting and reassuring.
“You’re everything,” I said, leaning back to meet hiszylarreyes, trapping me like a wandering soul. “You’re everything I had hoped you would be and more. I love you. Each day it astonishes me how much.”
Kaldur’s eyes turned fierce and molten. He leaned down to capture my lips in a hard, claiming kiss. I grinned and melted into it, clutching onto his vest when my knees threatened to tremble.
“Mykyrana,” he murmured. “I’ll choose to be by your side forever.”
“Just like the fable of thedalliatree,” I whispered. Then I grinned sheepishly. “At least, inmyversion.”
“Yes, you’re very good at rewriting endings, after all,” he teased. “Thank the gods for it.”
He captured my laugh with another kiss.
Beside us, thedalliatreeswayed, its bare branches creaking like it was making music on the crisp winter evening.
And it was like magic. Just like stories. Just like our daughter. Just like a peaceful dawn.
Just likeus.
