“What now?” she asked.
“Well, let's say hi to your parents, make sure they're okay, and then whatever you want to do next.”
“So that's it?”
“Oh, and of course,” he added, “I believe I owe you a bag of coin.”
Tavia smiled because she still wanted that bag of coin.
Wiley chittered on her shoulder, and she kissed Lucius gently, then grabbed his hand.
“You're going to love the dryad realm,” she said, tugging him toward the dryad as the tree bark wavered.
Axelia disappeared, and Tavia pulled Lucius into the dreamy world her mother had taken her to when she was younger. Tavia was no longer mystified by the sentient flowers and the giggling daffodils.
Lucius’ eyes widened at the vibrant green surroundings that blazed with life. He gripped Tavia’s shoulder.
“This is unlike any portrait or painting. It's like living in one,” he said.
He scooped Tavia into his arms, causing Wiley to jump and glide onto a nearby fern three times the size of a normal one. Tavia looped her arms around Lucius’ neck and giggled. “I never thought I'd ever come here.”
“My mother seems pretty chummy with the dryads.”
Lucius arched a brow at her. “You do know that that's not normal, right? The dryads don't befriend just anyone.”
Tavia shrugged. “I don't know . . . they seem nice.”
Lucius eyed her and moved his face close to hers.
“I think there's more to you than even you know,” he whispered, his tone teasing.
Her parents had been nobodies living in the woods, poor, and their only friends had been a bunch of dryads.
“How about you meet them first?” she suggested.
“Yes, well, do you think they'll be annoyed that you married without them?”
Lucius carried her, and she didn’t have any desire to be put back on her feet.
“Married?”
“Yes, well, we're married, aren't we?”
“It was a fake marriage,” Tavia reminded him.
“Well, then I guess I'll just have to propose properly, in some grandiose gesture, and wed you in front of hundreds of guests,” Lucius teased.
Tavia flinched at the idea, but not at staying married to him. She cringed at the idea of having some grand wedding in front of strangers.
She had few friends, except her mother’s friends and now Lucius—and Wiley, of course.
The dryad took them to a tree and pointed.Through there.
“Maybe I should go first, alone,” Tavia suggested.
Lucius put her down and grabbed her hand. “We'll do this together.”
They stepped through the tree into another quiet forest, this one by a babbling brook. A puff of smokecame from the stone chimney, and the front door opened.
