“No, though we were not certain you would survive.”
“Why did I?”
“Nobody was ever certain what would happen when you got too far from the tree. Everyone assumed it would be death.”
“All this time…”
“It no longer matters,” Orion said. “You are free, and you have a whole new life ahead of you.”
He could only pray that it was with him.
He then had another terrifying thought. What if Nina was only meant for him so long as she was confined to the grove? What if the next time she kissed him there were no vines?
It was two days before Nina felt strong enough to leave the bed and another two before she could walk any distance. Once she was well enough to walk down the stairs and outside of the mansion, she was finally able to breathe. At first it wasn’t so difficult lying in bed and recovering. But then Orion was there nearly constantly and if he wasn’t, then Cassian was by her side. They hovered!
Occasionally his mother would enter, then Petra and the female cousins. Soon, it all became too much. Nina was used to being alone and the largest crowd she ever spent any length of time with were five dryads. In the mansion she got no peace. Even when she slept there was a maid sitting in a chair in the corner because everyone was so afraid that she’d lose consciousness again and not recover.
Once on the terrace, Nina turned for the grove. The place that had been her prison and her home for the past twenty years. Now she was free of it, and she still wasn’t certain how or why?
But now it was time to find out what answers she could. Lady Wharton had reported that the dryads would say nothing of what occurred until she was well enough to hear herself. Nina had no idea what was so secretive or what they could tell her that she didn’t already know, but she would still go and ask, and she wanted to go alone. A part of her was afraid of what they may tell her.
Cassian and Orion may think she was free and there would be no repercussions, but Nina was too afraid to hope.
If it was really true, that she could live away from the grove as a normal human, then she could have everything that Orion promised.
He’d asked her again to marry him, but she’d been afraid to answer, not until she truly knew her future.
With a deep breath, she walked into the grove and up to the temple. The place that she’d spent most of her life.
It wasn’t long before the dryads emerged from the trees.
“You are free,” Basilia smiled.
“Yes, but will it last?”
Warmth and goodness shone in her blue eyes. “Yes.”
“Why was the recovery so long? Why did I sleep for a day?”
“I assume it is much like recovering from an injury. A part of you was removed and your body had to heal.”
She hadn’t thought of it that way, but it did make sense.
“I still do not understand how I am alive.”
“Did you go so far hoping that a break would happen regardless of the consequences?”
“No.” Why did everyone think she would do something so foolish?
Except, what were they supposed to think when she’d gone into the orchard for the first time in years, and farther than she should.
“Did you ask to be free?” she asked gently.
The night before she went to the grove came back to her. “Yes. I stared up at the sky and asked to be free of the tree and free of the grove.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I wanted a real life. I wanted to love and be loved. I wanted to know what it was like to be a wife, and maybe have children.”
