Crown of Ellova, Vol. 1 (Crown of Ellova Duology)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

H e is taken back momentarily, clearly not expecting the cost, but his voice is steady when he straightens his spine. “That I will, Izadella.”

Ellova’s grave, I love the way he says my name. After years of Arra , my real name is magic on his lips. That familiar flutter blooms low in my gut at the reverent tone. The A at the end is drawn out when he says it, making it sound like music, like worship. I yearn to hear him moan it, scream it, say it a thousand times more. Over and over again until his voice is nothing but a broken whisper of devotion.

My voice, however, breaks, and I stutter, “G-Good. I shouldn’t bring you to where we are going. The loyalty you are swearing is to me too. This isn’t an ordinary blood oath. Once you pour your blood on Ellovian soil, it will bind you to it.” I take a deep breath. “I shouldn’t trust you, but somehow I do. There’s a pull towards you that I can’t explain.” I slowly pull out the dagger that is strapped to my thigh. Farren weaves in and out of my legs, looking up at us.

With a determined expression, Leon watches the morning sunbeams glint off the blade. “I feel it too, whatever is between us,” he whispers. “I’ve felt it since the night we met.”

Something shifts at the acknowledgment of something deeper than a frivolous crush or temporary lust. The feeling of something dangerous and beautiful. “Hold out your hand to me.”

He thrusts his hand forward, palm open, before I even finish speaking. “I trust you, too, you know,” he says in a lover’s tone.

For a moment I get lost in his green eyes before focusing on his hand, tracing the lines on his palm. My fingertips graze his rough ones, the touch electrifying.

“Each tree in this forest stands sentry. Guarding and protecting, ever since the war. Only those who seek to harm Ellova are dragged beneath its soil, their flesh a feast for the things that crawl under moonlight. With your blood spilled here, it proves you walk with me into Ellova without evil intent.”

Leon doesn’t even flinch when the knife brings forth his lifeblood. We wait together as the crimson pools in his palm before I continue. “Now press your palm into the ground at my feet and tell me what you vow.”

He lowers himself, his eyes never leaving mine, hand plunging into the soft soil. “I vow no harm to Ellova, but furthermore, I vow to heal you, protect you, and defend you, Izadella of the Merawood Forest. You said my previous oath was fulfilled, so I vow a new one. Ellova has my blood, but you have all of me.”

He says those last few words in a tender tone, and I suck in a harsh breath. The heart he just vowed to protect beats so rapidly it could burst free of my body with my next movement.

A faint glow rises from the ground where his fingers grip the soil, his blood mixing with dirt and clovers. The glow brightens and light flashes under the soil before darting out like bolts of lightning beneath us. The light fades as quickly as it arrived, and when Leon stands, holding up his hand, the scar is a thin faded line. Hope bursts within me.

I take my finger and softly trace the evidence of his oath. He gently pulls my hand to his lips and places a lingering kiss on my knuckles.

He can follow me into Ellova, meet my family and friends. Just a little more time with him .

The pain in my head lessens. It must be the excitement that he will get to meet Nueena by night’s end.

“Are we ready to depart?” he asks.

My silent nod is all I can offer. Perhaps I should remind him he will only be able to stay for a short time, but he’s looking at me like I’m holding the sun in my palm, and somehow I doubt that would have changed his mind.

The forest is a fierce protector, but it is also an enormous gossip.

When we turn to head east, we find ourselves surrounded by every possible creature that calls this place home. Rabbits, foxes, and deer sit among the bushes, and a blue jay flits about above them. Birds of all types fill the trees, along with soft white opossums and squirrels, the branches leaning towards us. The grackles, my personal favorite, have iridescent feathers that gleam in the sunlight, and they are the first to take their leave, realizing the early-morning entertainment is over, and the rest follow, scurrying off or taking flight.

Some sections of the woods are thick and we must wind our way around the broad trunks. While I walk unbothered by the forest, Leon trips over everything the forest puts in front of him, much to his growing annoyance. I cannot help the snicker that escapes me as another root rises up to meet Leon’s boot.

In one particularly dense part of the woods, two trees cross over each other that certainly weren’t there a second ago.

As if he were speaking to someone of great importance, Leon politely inquires, “Excuse me, may we be permitted to pass, please?”

The two trees uncross themselves, letting me walk through them, but the moment before Leon tries to follow, they launch themselves forward, crossing again. “They don’t seem to like me much, or have developed a taste for my blood and require more of it,” Leon says through gritted teeth at the trees that separate us. He tries to go around, but two trees near him cross over their branches to delay him.

I can only shrug at this, placing my forearms on the branches to lean on something for a short rest. “The trees within the Verge don’t like outsiders. It goes against their protective instinct.” I give the branch an affectionate pat. “It’s not them; it’s the protective enchantment using the trees to express itself.”

“Did my blood sacrifice not suffice?” he grumbles, and a short branch whips out, smacking him upside his head. Something not unlike a growl escapes his lips.

I’m still giggling when I put my forehead to the branch.

“You are doing a wonderful job of protecting Ellova, but we need to travel quickly to Nueena. I promise he means no harm.” Something brushes my cheek and I look up to find a vibrantly deep-yellow flower hanging from a branch at my eye level. “Oh, it’s lovely, thank you!” I pull it free of the branch and place it behind my ear, watching the trees uncross themselves to allow Leon to pass unbothered.

“Why, exactly, were these trees not inclined to defend against Grayden’s guards?”

“Try not to take offense. This is just how the forest in the Verge is. Had we been attacked here, they would be dead. In the echoes of Ellova’s history, mortals have meant death and destruction. The protection is wary and the magic is only doing what the enchantment requires of them. Your vow means the forest didn’t feel it needed to end your life, but it seems all mortals are still unwelcome here.”

He concedes but side-eyes the tree closest to him. “I can hardly be offended at magic seeking to do its job.”

The sounds of the early-morning forest surround us. A flash of blue wings takes flight, and when I look back, other birds and a few of the furrier residents here shadow us.

Leon follows my gaze to the unusually wide tree covered in thick ivy before us. “What is this?”

“A tree portal. It’s a way to travel,” I say to Leon before I kneel next to Farren. “Do you wish to stay here or come with us?”

Farren twirls, his fluffy tail sliding across my face before he leans against me.

I scratch behind his ears and kiss his little forehead. Another fox who has trailed behind us makes a noise at Farren. My fox scampers to follow, but runs back for one last long pet and a soft head bump before racing off.

“He won’t be joining us?”

“Farren rarely accompanies me to Ellova. He enjoys the freedom the forest offers. He knows the way if needed, and the cottage wards allow him to travel in and out at will. If danger is near, the protection wards will seal him inside. Long ago there was a winter crueler than any before it and we stayed safe with friends in Ellova. He was so upset he destroyed my favorite pair of shoes, two dresses, and eleven books. Little terror. Now he is free to go where he likes.”

It would not be safe for me to come check on Farren, but Tavien or Viella, Ellova’s Spy Guardian, would if I asked.

The thick trunk hides a large hollow in it, only revealed when I pull back the ivy that drapes over the massive tree. It’s pitch black inside and I pull Leon in with me, dropping the tangle of leaves to hide the opening again. I step up to the back of the tree, my left hand still in Leon’s.

Before he can ask, I explain, “It’s a portal tree. We need to travel as fast as possible and this is it. I’ve never used them by myself as they take quite a bit of magic to command but it’s worth a try. Don’t let go of my hand, all right?”

“I trust you,” he says in the darkness, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

I feel around on the bark until I find a hand-shaped carving and line up my fingers with the grooves. I close my eyes and remember the terror I felt as those guards closed in on Farren and Leon, the fear of being Grayden’s prisoner, of never seeing Leon or Nueena again. I beg the portal to propel us forward, for the crown’s power to release some of its reservoir of magic. A pulling sensation swirls down my hand, the tree’s portal enchantments siphoning the magic. My stomach lurches forward as the magic is accepted and the inside of the tree lights up from within and then goes dark, the ground behind us rolling. Seconds pass by before the ground shifts behind us from grass to a light brown dirt and the movement of the tree stills .

“It worked,” I whisper with surprised elation. The throbbing in my head from the magic’s pressure has lessened, too. We both turn and Leon pushes back the curtain of ivy as we step outside. The forest is behind us and we stand at the base of Ellova’s mountains. “Let’s go.”

We both look up at the rough side of the large rocky mountain and the impossibly steep incline of the path ahead of us. The protective glamour hides the true entrance.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough for this?” he asks, apprehension on his features.

“I’ve climbed the Venneem Mountains many times,” We are so close to the royal natatorium, and the thought of the cool, healing waters in the private pool pushes me forward.

“Venneem Mountains? I’ve only heard it called Widowmaker’s Peak. You know, I’ve put a great deal of effort into staying alive up until this point. I’m not sure I’m ready to die here.” His eyebrows are drawn towards each other, but when he turns towards me, his next words are teasing. “Even if I do adore the company.”

I bump my shoulder with his and start walking. “It’s glamoured.” This is the first secret of Ellova I’ve spilled. I wonder how many more of Ellova’s truths I will reveal to this mortal before his time here is up.

We ascend the side of the mountain, careful to use the crude steps carved into the dirt. Looking up, it is all jagged rocks until it reaches the top of a steep cliff. Behind it are more mountains as far as I can see.

Leon keeps looking up with a puzzled expression. “Izadella, what’s at the top?”

I ignore him. One minute and it will all be revealed to him. A few more steps up and the mountain flattens off to a small landing with barely enough room for the two of us to walk on.

Leon reaches a protective hand out when a few rocks slide down the now nearly vertical mountainside path. I entwine my fingers with his and pull him sharply to the left.

“Stay close to me. Climb any more that way and you will find yourself falling off an invisible cliff into a pit and never know why. ”

The glamour’s barrier shimmers, though I’m unsure if he can see it or if it takes fae eyes, so I don’t say anything about the magic when we pass through it. I hear a quiet intake of breath as he looks up at what has been revealed.

We still have further to climb, but the dirt and rocks are gone. The mountain is a lush green path with trees around the large stone stairs now available to us. His mouth is open slightly and he’s looking between me and the new mountain.

“That’s why they call it Widowmaker’s Peak. If you don’t know where the mountain door is, the magic will shove you off it and deposit your broken body at the base. Part of the magic that protects us, an ancient fae guarding spell.”

He only nods. “Is this the entrance to Ellova?”

“No, at least not an entrance anyone else can use. The real entrance is elsewhere but there’s no time to get to it,” I explain and we start up the smooth steps.

He looks at me, ready to say something else, but the crown buzzes inside my body again the closer we get, making it feel like bees are making a hive in my head. We continue in silence until we again reach a part of the mountain’s wide, flat ledge covered with soft grass, finally at the door to Ellova, to Nueena, to home.

When Leon turns around to look at the view behind us, a “whoa” slips out of him.