My chest felt as though itcaved inslightly at the thought of my brother.
“Yes, my king.” Laurence bowed, then turned to me, pulling me back to the two males before me and away from the one that was a kingdom away. I dipped my chin slightly,signaling that he was free todepart. Hedidn’tsmile, but his eyes still shone as he looked at me, then headed back inside.
“You truly believe we’re ready to go back out there?”I inquired as Byn linked our arms together, leading me towards the gardens.
We would be heading out in a matter of days, into Northern territory once again. Though this time,we’dbe taking a different approach.
“I believe wedon’thave another choice, unfortunately. Not if we want to find our missingfae.” His expression darkenedfor just a moment, but the second we walked through the green arch leading into the gardens, I could practically see the stress on his featuresbrightenwith excitement.
Laurence had mentioned a surprise, but Iwasn’tsure what could have gotten Byn so giddy.
“What’s got you so excited today, love?” I asked.
“Why shouldn’t I be?”helaughed. “I’vegot the most beautiful female in the realm on my arm. Any male would be excited—mark my word.”
My lips tilted up in a smile as we continued to walk through the gardens, pastvarious flowers Ididn’tknow the names of, until we ended up standing in front of a tall, thick wall of shrubbery.
“What are we—”
I was cut off as Byn gently let go of my arm and stepped forward. I watched as he used his plant wielding to create an opening in the shrubbery. In one step, he was through. He reached a hand back throughto me.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Always,Thorntier.” I placed my hand in his and, in one large step, I was on the other side.
And what I saw took my breath away.
The shrubbery—which was even taller than Byn himself—wrapped around the small area in a square with no natural openings to walk through. It was completely closed off tooutsiders—private. But thatwasn’twhat had stolen the breath from my lungs.
In the center of the small space stood a gazebo. Its pale woodcontrastedthe dark roof and black stone base, and countless vines of moonliliessurrounded it.
They draped down from the roof, climbed the pillars holding the structure up, and wrapped around the sides. It providedadditionalprivacy, hanging down even over the entrance, but itwasalsothe first time I was seeing moon lilies inCairnyland on a vine.
Additionally, the flowers were scattered throughout the rest of the small clearing, like the starsscatteredthe night sky.
I gasped at the sight of them and their silvery and white petals with a soft purple center.
Mother’s favorite.
And mine.
“How did you…” I trailed off, unable to complete my question.
“I might have studied them a tad back atEchenBay. I couldtellhow much they meant to you there, and I wanted to know how to grow them so you could have them here, too,” Byn said softly.
It spoke to his control over hiszirilium—to have only hada short periodof time to study a specific plant and recreate it from nothing more than the earth below.
I blinked back the tears threateningfrom behindmy eyes at the sight of them.
“Come on,” he said, linking our arms again and leading me to the gazebo.
He parted themoonlily vines for me to duck through, and I paused in my tracks once I stepped inside.
It was the most perfect picnic I had ever seen.
There were multiple small dishes of Northern food—along with a few of my favorite Southern ones—spread out on a dark purple blanket.Multiple sizes of white plush cushions coveredthe space. There were jugs of water and wine already near the food, and the way the setting sun peeked through the vines made it look as thoughI’dstepped through the pages of a fairytale.
Without looking away from the astounding set up, I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
