The wind picks up, whipping my hair around my antlers. The ground comes for us quickly. Way too quickly. This is nothing like the lightning bursts Azuran had used to zip through the sky.
Vulf reappears at my side in werewolf form, and the slight brush of our shoulders sends electricity splintering through my veins. “I’ve got you!”
I barely hear Vulf’s shout over the sudden clap of thunder and my own screams as the cloud carrying us bursts. We careen toward the ground in a torrent of rain. Over my shoulder, Vulf laughs. We’re hurtling toward our death, and he’s cackling.
“Release your fear, Wildflower!”
The mirth in Azuran’s voice reminds me: these hunks aren’t only sexy. They’re magic.
The realization hits me just as the ground grows impossibly near. My tummy whoops, and my scream transforms into shrill laughter.
We land in a puddle on an otherwise barren land.
“What the fuck! What the fuck!” I cry, chest heaving. My giggles clog in my throat as I notice our surroundings. “What the fuck happened here?”
The forest isn’t a forest at all. It’s a cemetery. There are no rabbits or deer or strange, otherworldly animals. Nothing like what we observed in the sky.
“Aevium has remained uninhabitable for three decades. In the past, its forests would simply regrow after a wildfire, but without the Vitalis, it was only a matter of time.” Azuran’s wisdom is laced with sadness. “A devastating loss for all of Eldrunna.”
My chest aches, like at any minute it’ll cave in and I’ll crumple to the ground, another log on the charred soil. It makes no sense for me to be so emotional about a place I never knew existed, and yet, I’m helpless to stop the tears from falling.
Vulf’s rumbling purr offers refuge, his hand appearing on my lower back. I swipe at my cheeks and lay a hand on the blackened, broken tree trunk before me, and make a promise. I pour my promise into the brittle wood. An echo of my wordsreverberates from my toes to the top of my head, like the land itself accepting me, trusting me, welcoming me.
I never made a very good human, and I don’t know how to be some kind of forest nymph, but this land needs a voice. If not me, then who?
“Azuran.” There’s a rare urgency in Vulf’s hushed tone.
Azuran’s replying hum is full of awe.
I open my eyes. A purple-thorned vine rapidly sprouts along the bark, a lilac bulb growing and blossoming before my eyes like a time-lapse video, petals expanding on petals, growing toward me like I’m the sun.
The ache in my heart bursts. I instantly recognize this as the sense of belonging Vulf referred to.
Home, my heart whispers.
With a steadying breath, I face the two men gawking at me like I’m Persephone herself.
“All right.” I square my shoulders. “Show me how your mirror works.”
Chapter Eleven
Terra
Inside the sex room, candles float about in crystal holders carried by puffs of cloud. The scent of jasmine and spice shrouding the room with a sense of luxury. The plentiful mirrors are covered in a coat of frost, and the slight chill has goosebumps sprouting all over my chest.
Azuran’s stark features are etched with smug satisfaction as he watches Vulf lead me to the circular chaise. In all his werewolf glory, Vulf sinks to the floor, resting my foot on his shoulder to unlace my boot with meticulous care.
Azuran pours one glass of whiskey and two wines on the drink cart beside the chaise.
“What are you waiting for?” I snap. It might’ve sounded more authoritative without Vulf’s deft fingers digging into my soles. I swear his hands are imbued with magic.
Azuran looks more than pleased with my impatience, and Vulf’s tail thumps excitedly against the floor.
“As the lady wishes.” Azuran’s perfectly groomed eyebrows twitch. He turns to the mirrors and waves a hand.
The frost recedes to reveal a familiar scene. A richy-rich home that hosts one of my favorite party rooms. The couple that owns it has expensive taste, and it shows.
“The guests will arrive shortly,” Azuran assures me.
