A Kiss of Flame (Shadows Eternal #3)

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

W hen Levian arrived at her mother’s cottage in the Veil of the White Wood, she paused at the door, swallowing the lump of emotions threatening to surface. She hadn’t seen her mother in nearly three years, which was only a drop of time for immortals, but it still felt like ages to Levian. She only wished she’d come on more pleasant business.

Despite initially condemning Levian for her lack of evidence against Vane, Mage Tatiana and Fujioka had taken her findings to the Fifth House of Witches. Apparently, the witches had also been monitoring Vane, suspecting him in the suspicious death of a witch informant involved with an underground network of Dokk dealers. They’d attempted to detain him, but Vane and Tsuki had escaped and vanished without a trace.

When she entered, Levian found her mother sitting at her small kitchen table, slicing fresh carrots. The bounty of the late-winter garden lay around her, ready to be prepared. A small fire crackled in the hearth, and her mother hummed a tune as she often did when her hands were busy.

Levian’s heart squeezed when her mother’s golden eyes rose to meet hers, a smile warming her face. “My darling,” Trislana greeted her, looking Levian over, her eyes full of love before being touched with worry. Despite her best efforts, Levian knew there was no hiding her despair from her mother. She could, and always would, be able to see right through her. Trislana rose from her spot at the table and glided over to her daughter.

Her mother was only slightly shorter, her dark brown skin glowing in the firelight, her shoulder-length dreadlocks braided neatly back. She dressed simply in a knitted sweater and green pants, needing no finery to accentuate her natural allure. Levian had always been envious of her mother’s elegant fae features—her pointed ears adorned with golden earrings and full pink lips. Trislana had always been the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.

The dryad wrapped Levian in a hug, and a breath Levian hadn’t realized she’d been holding escaped her. She returned her mother’s embrace, breathing in her familiar scent of birch and earth. “Come,” Trislana said gently. “Grate the carrots. I know you haven’t eaten.”

Levian swallowed her emotions and followed her mother into the kitchen. They settled into an old rhythm, preparing supper together—humming, chopping, stirring. It was a simple meal of carrot salad, pan-roasted vegetables, and fresh-baked bread with oil, herbs, and salt. Levian ate hungrily, realizing it might have been days since she’d had a real meal. Since leaving Barith, she’d lost the desire to do much of anything but throw herself into her work.

Satisfied that Levian had eaten her fill, Trislana asked softly. “What troubles your heart, my darling?”

Levian felt a heaviness settle over her, threatening to drag her beneath the weight of everything she’d kept locked away. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small square of cloth, setting it on the table. Carefully, she unwrapped it, revealing the silver-plated dryad ring she’d taken from Vane—The main reason she’d come.

The air around Trislana immediately changed, her expression darkening. “Where did you get that?” she asked, her voice hollow.

Levian took in a steading breath before she told her mother everything. About Barith and their last adventure. About Merlin and Vane. About her meeting with the Council—everything.

“I want you to destroy it,” Levian said finally, her voice trembling. “They deserve to be set free.”

Trislana took the ring, turning it over in her palm before shaking her head. “No,” she said, to Levian’s surprise. She looked at her mother, puzzled. “It’s not what you think,” Trislana explained. “It was forged from the bone of one of our elders long ago.”

“In the war between the fae for lands here in Sylthéa,” Levian added, recalling what Merlin had told her.

Her mother nodded. “It was a gift,” Trislana clarified. “A gift of power given by the Willow Mother during that horrible time. We are not violent, as you know, and the Willow Mother feared for our survival after the fall of the Dokk. She sacrificed herself and her magick to give her successor this gift.” Trislana set the ring back down upon the cloth. “It holds all of her power. Thanks to her sacrifice, the Willow Mother after her was able to craft a spell to shield the Veil of the White Wood from the outside world and the fae, ensuring our safety forever.”

Levian shook her head, her brow furrowed. “I thought it was something evil,” she admitted.

Trislana gave her a small, sad smile. “It can only be used by a dryad, and we are not evil by nature,” she said softly. “Though I’m glad you brought it to me and not the Eldreth.”

Levian nodded. “After Merlin told me what it was, I knew I couldn’t take it to the pixies.” It belonged here—with her mother’s people. Levian had a plan to deal with the Eldreth; she’d send Hugh and Artie a few valuable pieces from her collection to make amends for breaking her arrangement and hope it would satisfy them. It wasn’t very likely, but she’d deal with them another day.

Trislana took her hand and squeezed it before pulling her into a hug. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. Levian sniffled, pressing her face into her mother’s shoulder.

“I don’t understand,” Levian said when she pulled away. “Why would Merlin steal it if it was useless to him?” Her mother’s expression darkened, her gaze shifting away. “Maman, what is it?” Levian pressed, sensing her mother was holding something back. Her heart pounded as Trislana hung her head.

“Merlin didn’t steal the ring,” Trislana said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I did.”

Levian sucked in a sharp breath, shock rippling through her. “Why?” she asked, horrified.

Trislana still wouldn’t meet her gaze, her eyes lingering on the ring. “He was curious about it, and I was in love,” she confessed. “I didn’t intend for him to keep it—only to study it for a short while.”

Levian’s mind whirled, trying to understand how her mother had done something so against her nature, even for Merlin. “You stole it from Iathana?” she guessed. Iathana was the leader of the dryads and their current Willow Mother.

Trislana grimaced, the expression ill-suited to her kind and vibrant dryad features. “I did,” she admitted. “I even tried to find it after Merlin went to The Prison, but couldn’t recover it. We all thought it was lost. Iathana still has not forgiven me.”

It hadn’t been lost. It had been sitting on Vane’s disgusting, evil finger for centuries. It suddenly dawned on Levian that what Trislana had confessed directly conflicted with what Merlin had told her.

“If you stole the ring for him,” Levian tried to puzzle out, “why did Merlin send me after Vane? Why would he lie and tell me he’d stolen it from the Eldreth? Why—” She gasped as realization began to dawn.

Levian had been ready to leave Merlin empty-handed during their last visit, but he’d mentioned Vane only after she’d asked about the objects her thieves had stolen. Merlin must have suspected Vane was one of her thieves all along and led her there to find out. He’d also sent her after something directly attached to her mother.

Levian’s fury and confusion boiled over as she explained everything to Trislana. “He could have told me he suspected Vane was one of the thieves,” she hissed at the end. “Instead, he sent me after him, and I nearly got myself killed!” Levian slammed her hands down on the table, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.

“Vane knew your father,” Trislana told her. “He was a young man but arrogant even then. They worked closely together on some research that interested Vane, though he was nowhere near as brilliant as Merlin. I don’t know what caused them to part ways or how Vane ended up with the ring, but one day, Merlin spoke of him, and the next, he refused to hear his name.

“Your father knew the loss of the ring pained me, and I think maybe he was attempting to satisfy us both. Sending you after Vane to uncover more truths about your thieves and possibly resulting in the return of the dryad ring.”

“How did he know I would bring it back?” Levian hissed.

Trislana looked at her, and Merlin’s words sizzled through her like a raging fire. You are indulgent, Levian, but your heart is pure—like your mother’s. Merlin had known just as Levin had that if she got the ring back, she would never take it to the Eldreth.

“If Merlin told you about Vane, he must not have known what he was capable of,” Trislana said definitively. “He must have had a?—”

Levian shook her head, her hands trembling with anger. “He knew exactly what he was doing!” she shot back. “He always knows exactly what he’s doing!” She stood and began pacing the small kitchen. Trislana stood too, her expression pained.

“Your father is many things—but I don’t believe he would have sent you into harm willingly. Whatever his reasons, they are never so simple.”

Levian glared at her mother. “Do not defend him,” she spat. “Not after everything he did to you—to both of us!”

Trislana’s face crumpled, and guilt tore through Levian. She hated this—hated that her mother would stand up for Merlin even now. “I hate him,” she whispered with fury and pain. “For everything he did to us. To you.”

Her mother tentatively came closer, her voice a soft murmur. “I know, my darling. I only wish it didn’t consume so much of your heart.”

Levian recoiled at her mother’s words, and she wasn’t sure exactly why, but tears began to stream down her face. Her mother wrapped her in her arms, and Levian wanted to pull away like a feral animal, but her mother only hugged her tighter. Levian soon went limp and let the tears come against her mother’s shoulder, her fury and grief pouring out of her like a flowing waterfall. When her tears finally calmed, she looked up into her mother’s soft, golden gaze.

“Do you regret it? Running away with him?” Levian asked, her voice cracking. Her mother had left the sanctuary of the Veil for Merlin—abandoning everything.

Her mother sighed, shaking her head. “No.” Levian’s stomach twisted.

“Even though he shattered your heart? Even though he left us?”

Trislana’s eyes held the same glimmer of old heartache that had always been there. “It was the path I chose, and I won’t regret choosing the path of love,” her mother replied softly. “Even if it ended in heartbreak.” Levian scoffed with bitterness.

Her mother sighed and explained, “I met Merlin when he was just a young mage. He was charismatic, charming, and handsome. Iathana, who was new to her role as Willow Mother, was impressed by his skill and desire to learn. She invited him into the Veil under very strict rules. I worked in the Athenaeum and often brought him the scrolls and tomes he requested. His passion for learning was intoxicating. He wanted to understand our ways and customs, so I began bringing him into the wood to share what it meant to be a dryad, to feel the bond we held with the forest and the earth.”

Trislana smirked at the memory. “When the day came for him to leave the Veil, we did not say goodbye because we both knew we would meet again. Years passed, and I ventured out beyond the Veil with Iathana and Fenji to meet with the Court of the Spring Faeries. Merlin was there, serving as Ambassador for the Council of Mages. We found each other, and it was as if we had never been apart. He was older and wiser, but still the same man I’d given parts of my heart to years before.”

Levian hung her head, her voice barely a whisper. “So you ran away with him.”

Her mother nodded. “He could not return to the Veil with me, so I had to choose. To return home without him or stay and follow my heart.”

Trislana had given up her whole world for Merlin. She made it sound so romantic, but Levian knew it had been a choice fraught with torment. The Veil of the White Wood was sacred, and no outsiders were ever permitted for longer than a short visit. Levian also knew that when Trislana had reconnected with Merlin, Fenji, another dryad, had been courting her mother, and Iathana had been keen for the match. They would have been good together. But Merlin had already claimed her mother’s heart. So she’d left everything—her life, home, family—all to be with him and plunge into the unknown.

“How can you not hate him?” Levian asked, truly not able to comprehend it.

“I loved him,” Trislana said again, her voice tender. “I gave him my heart, and he gave me you. His dark path had nothing to do with either of us. He could have taken you, and I would have been powerless to stop him. But he didn’t.” Levian let out a shuddering breath. “I will never regret loving Merlin,” her mother made clear. “But my darling, you cannot protect yourself from love because you fear repeating our story. Your dragon is not Merlin.”

Levian’s heart clenched painfully, her mother’s words piercing through her walls like sharp spears. She knew Merlin and Barith were different, but her fear ran deep. As a girl, the seed had taken root in Levian’s heart, and it thrummed to life every time her feelings were stirred, suffocating the love that tempted her like a creeping vine. The love she felt for Barith had somehow found its way into her heart despite all of it.

“I’m afraid,” she confessed, her voice cracking. “I’m afraid to lose him—to lose myself.”

Trislana took Levian’s hands and squeezed them. “If you were not afraid, it wouldn’t be real love,” she gently encouraged her.

Levian knew her mother was right, but her heart was still heavy. She had slowly fallen in love with Barith without realizing it, and now that love threatened to overwhelm her. “I can’t make him choose between me and his family,” she whispered. “If he left the horde, they’d never take him back, and I can’t—I just can’t do it.”

Barith’s path was clear—he had a duty to his family and their legacy that had nothing to do with Levian. Trislana brushed Levian’s curls back over her shoulder.

“Don’t give up hope,” her mother said softly. “You are as clever as your father. If anyone can find a way, it’s you. You are also my daughter. When you love, you love with your whole heart—And when you want something, nothing can stop you.”

Levian’s heart gave a hopeful thump, and for once, she didn’t push it away. She had thought it was hopeless to love Barith and hadn’t wanted to make him choose.

I cannae fight for this on my own.

The dragon’s words thrummed through her. He was right. He’d fought for and loved her even when she hadn’t realized, keeping his desires quiet all because he’d not wanted to ruin their friendship. All because he’d known how she would react.

Not long ago, Levian would have leaned into her fears and ran. She’d done it only a few days before when she’d left Barith at Ember Hall with nothing but a note to explain herself. Levian had thought she couldn’t love like other creatures, but she’d been wrong. She loved Barith deeply and hated that she was afraid and worried she didn’t deserve him.

Levian wanted to fight for Barith like he’d fought for her. And she didn’t want him to have to make the choice her mother had, either. “There has to be something I can do,” she told her mother with frustration, “but dragons aren’t so simple.”

She pondered for a moment before fiddling with a necklace. Her mother smiled at her affectionately. “I will brew tea, then,” Trislana offered. It’s what her mother always did when Levian was trying to mull a difficult problem.

“I’m going to have to win over the queen,” Levian thought aloud as her mother put the kettle on. She would stay for tea, but the mage knew there was only one place where she could figure all of this out and devise a plan that might work.

It was one of her favorite places in the world, even though it was housed in her least favorite place.