He handed me a jar of honey, lavender incense, a silver bowl, an apple, and a priceless peridot gemstone that matched the color of the Willow Maiden’s leaves. I knelt on the ground and lit the incense with a lighter Ethan handed me. I let it smoke within the silver bowl as I placed the honey jar, apple, and gemstone beside it, on top of the velvet blanket Arthur had laid before the tree.
I swallowed my nerves and said, “Jadwiga Waldemar, I call upon you. Hear my prayer, and come to my presence, for I have questions only you may answer.”
Nothing happened. The only thing that could be heard was the whistling of the wind. My heart beat wildly. I turned back to Arthur, and he whispered, “That’s not all. You must give something of yourself.”
I wasn’t sure what to offer, until I realized I still had a folded up bit of poetry in my pocket. I’d been working on it here and there, in stray moments I had to myself.
It would be sad to lose it, but it was a piece of myself that I could give to Jadwiga. I laid the poem next to the gemstone, and once I did, the tree began tomove.
I gasped as I looked up. Arthur and Ethan took a few startled steps backward as the tree trunk twisted from one way to that, growing until it took the voluptuous shape of a woman. The Willow Maiden moved her limbs like arms, parting her leaves back as if it was her hair as a face took shape within the trunk.
I forced myself not to gape as the treesmiledat me. Her face was kind, young and delicate. Through the lines in the bark, I could make out soft features and kind eyes.Welcome, champion of Milonna and queen of the Arcanea. It is you who summoned me.
When Jadwiga spoke, she had the echoing voice of a goddess. I remained on my knees and bowed my head. “Jadwiga, I am honored that your spirit chose to grace me with your presence. I came here because I… well, I have questions about the Seelie stone.”
I am aware of the Crystals of Harmony. Speak your questions quickly, for it requires a great deal of energy for me to remain in this state, and I cannot do so for long, Jadwiga replied.
“Did you have it? Do you know where it is now?” I questioned.
The Seelie stone was within my possession for many years, Jadwiga said.I lost it when the shifter stole me away from my glade, and I changed into the form you see before you. After my transformation, the Seelie stone fell into the hands of the Spring Princess.
“The Spring Princess?” I asked. I glanced back to Arthur and Ethan, but their eyes had brightened in realization. They knew what she was talking about.
She resides in Edinmyre with her court, maiden eternal, where she keeps the Seelie stone for her own magic, on a different plane of existence, Jadwiga responded.
“A plane of existence?” I asked. I was falling behind fast.
Edinmyre, and the Great Hunting Grounds that lie within it, is an astral plane, a realm of the afterlife. Edinmyre is as big as Earth is, however, it is not so much a planet as it is a place of spiritual power, Jadwiga informed me.
“That’s why we can meditate to it,” I marveled. “It’s not just a physical place, but a spiritual realm.”
Correct, Jadwiga replied.Edinmyre and the Great Hunting Grounds are a neighborhood of heaven, connected to a much larger home for the souls of all supernaturals called the Blessed Haven. It is in Edinmyre where the Spring Princess resides.
“Does she want to help us? Will she give us the stone?” I asked.
To earn the Seelie stone, you must prove yourself, as you have before. Bring an offering to the Spring Princess, and she may grant your request. If she denies it, you will not make it out of her realm alive.
The limbs of the Willow Maiden began to shudder, and the tree began morphing from the shape of the woman it had assumed to its natural form.My time has come. Farewell, queen and champion. May the gods grant you bravery on your quest.
The tree froze in place, and Jadwiga was gone. I turned to the boys. “Do you know who the Spring Princess is?”
“Every Arcanean child grows up hearing the legend of the Spring Princess,” Ethan replied. “She is a virgin maid who lives in a land of spring that never ages. It is said that if you reach her realm and stay within its borders, you can never die.”
“But the Spring Maiden’s land is secret,” Arthur added. “The only fae who’ve been rumored to find it have gone missing forever. Once you reach the land of the Spring Princess, she takes you for herself, and you may never return.”
“That sounds ominous.” I put my hands on my hips. “Do you think that the Spring Princess is like us, or a different kind of creature?”
“Who knows.” Ethan shrugged. “Faekin can be any kind of creature that shares our fae blood, humanoid or not.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down,” I said. “Faekin can be woodland spirits, animals, monsters,malyludwy, even demons like the leshane.”
“Exactly. Most of the faekin are still in Edinmyre. We can’t reach them anymore since the portal closed and the gods cast us out. The Spring Princess could be anything. Whatever she may be, we need to talk to her.”
I nodded. If we were going to save Malovia, we had to come back from the Spring Princess’s land— once we obtained the Seelie stone.
“This is all very foreboding,” Arthur agreed. “But at least we have somewhere to start. I can begin researching where the Spring Princess might be, and you can think of offerings she might accept in exchange for the Seelie stone.”
That was a hard bargain. The Seelie stone was a Crystal of unfathomable power. I couldn’t imagine what would be a good trade for it.
