Nina woke in better spirits than she’d anticipated.
Though Cressida suggested that she fully embrace being a dryad, it was not something Nina wished to consider right now. There was still so much to learn of the world.
She’d also neglected that which made her happy and decided to visit each section of the grove where she found enjoyment. It wasn’t just the dryads who were her friends, but the nereids, fairies, and pixies. Each had all cared for her one way or the other as Nina struggled to understand why she must live in the strange cottage with Maude and why she could not be with Cassian all the time. They had also comforted her when she mourned her mother and father.
What had also helped was being only four and believing she’d found her own fairyland with magic, but none of the scary creatures that were sometimes included in fairytales. Everyone here was wonderful, and they had always cared for her, which was why she needed to visit with them again. For too long she’d spent her time reading and by herself, and maybe that was why she was so happy to have met Orion and the others.
While she was happy for the friendship with those who were more like her, Nina couldn’t forget who had been with her since childhood, thus, she made her way through the sacred grove, visiting her favorite places and ended in the grotto as the nereids were coming from the water to sun themselves on the boulder.
Why hadn’t she visited them more often?
When had she become so reclusive, Nina wondered as she enjoyed their companionship.
She spent the better part of the afternoon telling them of the wedding, meeting Nephele and then Orion. She was careful not to provide any details and hurried to the visit from Petra and then the picnic. When she finished, the three stared at her in amusement.
“What?” she asked.
“Tell us more about Orion,” Maera said with a grin.
“There is nothing more to tell,” Nina insisted.
“I think there is,” Galene taunted. “You rushed past your meeting with him when the fact that a man was in the sacred grove is fascinating enough.”
Nina’s face heated. She should have anticipated that the women would see more of what she did not say instead of simply accepting her words.
She looked from Maera, Galene and then to Eunice who tilted her chin and arched her brow.
She hadn’t fooled them and soon Nina was telling them everything.
“Kissing is a wonderful activity,” Galene sighed.
“As is what kissing can lead to,” Maera added with a grin.
“We have only kissed,” Nina assured them as her face burned hotter than before.
“One must not rush a first passion. Let it simmer and savor every moment. If you boil too quick, sometimes the enjoyment is lost.”
“Those were our only kisses and there shall be no more,” Nina informed them.
“Why?” Maera asked in surprise. “You are just beginning to experience some of the most wonderful pleasures of being a woman.”
The nereids enjoyed intimate encounters but chose their lovers carefully, whereas dryads shunned the possibility, and wished for no encounters with any man. Nina was glad to have had both of their perspectives because if she’d only had one, she would either have a great fear of men, or she would have wondered if she might find a lover.
“Why no more kisses?” Eunice asked.
It was then that she told them of the vines, to which each of them frowned.
“This is only when you kiss?” Eunice asked.
“Yes.”
“Then do not kiss and skip to the rest and have your fun,” Maera grinned.
“I do not dare chance it,” Nina insisted, certain that her face would go up in flames at any moment. “Besides, nothing can ever become of a joining with Orion. We are of different worlds.”
“Ah, that is the human in you speaking,” Galene dismissed. “Full of propriety and morality. If you were more like us, there would be nothing to keep you from enjoying all the pleasures.”
Nina thought on her words. If she followed Cressida’s advice, became more dryad, would she be able to enjoy all intimacies shared between a man and woman with Orion without risking her heart? It was something that she had not considered.
