“I managed.”
I can tell he’s watching me carefully. I’ve never been this snappy before. I don’t want to be. I don’t want to sour what time we spend together. I want to go back to flowers in our hands and teasing smiles.
“Okay,” Will says. That’s it. No sarcastic quip.
I don’t realize I’m almost running until he jogs to catch up and grabs my elbow.
“All right,” he says decidedly, then bends down and throws me over his shoulder. I kick a leg out but he holds me tight.
“Hey!”
“Nope. You’re going to trip over something at that speed. This’llbe quicker,” he says, and summons the wind around us. Once again, the trees blur and Will sprints through the forest with magical assistance. I close my eyes and grit my teeth against the rushing in my ears. In almost no time at all, he lets me down in a different part of the forest, an area with thin, dark trees snaking in unusual bends toward the sky. The leaves are like large green dinner plates, and there’s an overwhelming smell of musty humid citrus. I’ve definitely never been here before.
“See? Easy,” he says with a grin, and I narrow my eyes.
“Maybe some warning next time?”
“You’d hate it if I was boring and predictable.”
I say nothing. It’s true, I would.
“This way, Princess.”
Will pushes back one of the leaves and treads farther into the thicket. Just like when we found the Feiyan, I follow him through the trees until we reach an interesting cluster of branches, tangled together in a knotted wall blocking our way forward. He spreads his fingers toward it and, with the whisper of magic, the branches relax and extricate themselves, shifting and unraveling until they make a small doorway.
“What would you do without me?” Will jests before ducking his head through.
When we enter the hidden grove, we leave the night behind. The air shines with sparkles of gold dust, and although the high ceiling is pitch-black, the ground glows a vivid green—a radiant reflection of the flowers that bloom across the stretch of grass before us. My breath catches. There must be more than thirty Lunaries here! Each one comes up to my shin, standing strong with a purple stem and lime-green almond-shaped petals thatcrackle.There’s an energy within that’s unlike any flame. It’s intense and glimmering and beyond anything I could imagine. I don’t need to use my lantern here.
“Oh, Will, thank you,” I say, and bend to brush my fingertip over a stem. The magic inside burns with vitality and zest right down to the roots. It radiates through my skin and warms my bones, alive andvery,verypowerful. Just like the other two rare flowers. Hmm…Aprickle of wariness tickles my mind once more. “How many people do you think know about this place?”
“Probably only the people at the Library who studied botanical magic, but most would have a tough time getting through the thicket.”
“I think this must be the most powerful flower I’ve ever come across.”
I take a few steps toward the center of the grove. The trees that enclose it are impenetrable. If I hadn’t asked Will for help, could I have gotten here by myself? What would the requester have done if I had failed to find it?
“You don’t know what they want it for?” Will asks.
“No…I’d never even heard of the Feiyan or Odyssa, let alone know what they’re used for, and Lunaries are the stuff of legend. I remember reading about them in a fairy-tale book when I was a kid. It said that they bloom at night, as bright and potent as the magic of the moon. I didn’t know they were real.”
Will shrugs. “I’ve never learned about the three flowers being used together. What do you want to do?”
“The magic reaches into the roots, so I suppose I need to dig one up.”
I kneel by the closest one and tug a trowel out of my satchel. Will settles down opposite me on the other side of the flower, one arm lazily resting over his knee. He watches me plunge the trowel into the ground.
“You can take your anger out on the soil there,” he says pointedly.
“I’m not—” I choke, and my words can’t come. Damn it. “Fine. Yes. I’m angry. Happy now?” I say, and shovel away some of the grass.
“Why would you being angry make me happy?”
“I’m—I just—Argh.”
I dig in silence and Will says nothing. A few roots unearth before I crack.
“I’m tired of people taking advantage of me,” I say, but don’t lookat him. I sink the trowel into the dirt and burrow deeper to find the words. “I feel like…like my curse is the only thing people think is worth something, and it’s getting harder and harder to let go of the resentment. When I find someone I think I trust, who I think trustsme,they still end up letting me down.”
