Gift (Enchanted Ardor #2)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Nick lay on the mossy ground, holding a peaceful Olivia in his arms.

He gently brushed a lock of hair from her forehead as she slept. The overhead lights maintained their brilliance since their love making.

Love making.

Love.

How in all the heavens am I going to let her go?

He pressed his lips to her temple, gentle so as not to wake her, just yet.

He thought of the last few days and how right it felt to have her near, despite his efforts to keep his distance.

Everyone but Dolph had welcomed her, accepted her as one of them. Gathered around at mealtimes, they’d shared drinks and stories after working alongside one another all day.

Nick desperately wanted her to belong there with them. But it couldn’t be.

Olivia already had a home—a life elsewhere. Her community needed her golden heart and bright smile.

Their bodies cooled, and she shivered against him.

Nick pulled her all the more to him, trailing his fingers down her glistening arm, dragging away a shining residue that he’d thought was from their exertions.

Rubbing it between his fingertips, he noticed it clung to her entire body, and his.

Finally he looked up through the oak’s great crown to see the nearly imperceptible particles drifting over them like the finest pollen.

Olivia sighed in her sleep, inhaling deeply as she rolled toward him, nestling ever closer against his chest. Her eyes fluttered open to stare into his.

She smiled, reaching for him, tracing his brow as he’d done to her countless times while she slept.

The glittering dust clung to her lashes, cheeks, nose and lips. Her eyes—her beautiful blue eyes—reflected the colors above them.

“It’s time.”

The slightest crease marred the perfection of her brow, clearing in a heartbeat. She nodded with a tender smile. “I won’t ever forget this moment, Nick.”

His throat worked. “Nor will I.” He searched her face. “I want you to know—you’re so—,” he blew out his breath searching for the right words.

There would be no time later. Not if they were to have the clean break that was needed to move on after tonight.

She placed a fingertip over his lips before he found what he was looking for. “No words.” She pulled him down to kiss her with such sweetness, his heart ached.

I wish…

I can’t…

There were no promises he could make. He didn’t have that luxury.

This was it.

Instead of words, he put everything he felt into that kiss, deepening and prolonging it until they were both breathless.

When he finally released her, her eyes fluttered open a second time, glistening with emotion reflecting the brilliance around them.

The atmosphere enveloping the couple hummed with energy, making his skin crackle.

He’d never experienced anything like this before. Certainly not here, where everything remains unchanged.

Both dressed in silence, though they often cast one another glances. Once finished, Nick pulled Olivia into his arms one last time, crushing her to him. He hoped that she would understand.

Understand that he couldn’t have her no matter how much he wanted her at his side, in his bed—his arms. Always.

She’d stolen his heart that quickly. Just a matter of days.

No. It was that first smile.

He swallowed as he released her.

He’d loved Hedi, and their children, with every bit of who he was.

This was different. A different kind of love.

Unless… but how?

“What is it?” Olivia reached out to touch him, eyes searching his face.

Although Cupid and Vixen had contrived to get Nick out to Quinn O’Clery’s party, Quinn had accepted the task, and was pleased they’d met.

‘Perfect! You’re both here and you’ve met already…Damn, I’m good at this.’

Quinn was a Fate. She’d sent him off in Olivia’s direction that night at the soup kitchen. Was it because she sensed danger? Or because she wanted Nick to meet Olivia again?

Both?

Was this why fate had brought them together? To remind him of what it was to live and love? To remember what it was like?

He swallowed, throat tight.

“Nothing.” He shook the thoughts from his mind, smiled and kissed her forehead before slipping his fingers through hers. Collecting his ax, he led her back to the cart where the baskets of seeds waited for them. After pulling his shirt and coat back on, he carefully slung the basket strap over his shoulder, gripped the ax in one hand, and reclaimed Olivia’s hand in the other for the return trip.

The snap of a twig drew Nick’s attention to a distant cluster of trees.

He tensed, slowing his stride.

A shadow moved between them.

Dolph?

Probably a Nisse.

In all the time he’d been here, his warrior’s instincts never faded, though there was never a reason to be on alert. Not here in this place of peace and magic.

Quinn’s warnings slithered back into his mind, dragging up the distant memory of his meeting with Ayo.

‘The Grove needs to be tended and protected at all times. Its value is immeasurable.’

‘Stay the course.’

“Nick?” Olivia’s soft voice drew his attention to her concerned face. “Something isn’t right. I feel it.”

“Let’s get you back to Cupid’s place. The others will be gathering soon. Blix and Don will be nearly finished funneling the crop into the satchels for tonight and will need these.” He gestured to the brilliant seeds, resuming his pace, mind racing.

The shadowy creature from the alley reeked of sulfur and it hadn’t made it close enough to touch either of them.

Did it need to? Was proximity enough?

He glanced down at Olivia as they moved. The man that had attacked her stank of it too. He’d touched her; could it have transferred something to her?

No.

The grove magic reacted to her, but not in the way that presumed something menacing or negative.

Like it did with Dolph, who never touched the seeds since their arrival, when they’d withered on contact. So long ago.

Contrary to Olivia’s experience. It shone all the brighter.

Dolph?

No.

His brother stank, but not of sulfur. Rancid alcohol and unwashed body.

Enough to mask other odors?

No.

Nick’s feet moved faster.

Vixen had said that Dolph was Nick’s weakness.

Nick’s jaw clenched as he guided Olivia back to the others.

Not now. Not after all this time.

‘…we are leaning into the Ascension, and we’re at a delicate tipping point between those driving the negative and positive forces.’

‘My sister is working on the front lines to maintain the balance. Our job is to stay the course on the home front. It matters.’

Nick didn’t slow his pace until the roof lines of their cottages came into view. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but something isn’t right. I want you to stay with Vixen while I figure things out.”

Olivia gripped his hand. “No, I’ll stay with you, Nick.”

Startled, he looked down into her luminous eyes, where stardust seemed to have gathered, as she struggled to catch her breath. He blinked, observing the strange change and the intensity of her expression as she stared up into his eyes.

He nodded.

Nick gently unslung the basket as they approached Blix and Don’s workstation in a clearing behind the cottages. Full baskets were neatly lined up, empty ones haphazardly tossed aside. Each carrying one of the magical leather satchels, they sped down the line, gently tipping seeds inside them. Their natural Alfar abilities allowing them to move with swift accuracy.

Blix glanced up without slowing. “Dash is prepping Sleipnir’s gear.”

“Cupid?”

“Tower.”

“Dolph?”

Blix shrugged. “Haven’t seen him.”

Nick grunted, heading toward Vixen’s smithy. Her eyes lit up when she saw Olivia enter with him. He hefted the ax and she nodded toward the work bench.

“We secured the new portal fissure early this morning.” Vixen reported

Nick turned back, “Relieved to hear that report.”

Olivia had moved toward the back of Vixen’s shop, her attention focused on Nick’s ancient weapon, affixed to the wall along with everyone else’s.

He shivered as her fingers reached up to slide down its haft. “Olivia?”

“This one is yours. You should take it.”

He and Vixen exchanged glances. How had she known that one was his?

“Everyone should.” Olivia looked at the rest of the collection.

Vixen’s eyes widened. “That’s not creepy. What in all the hells, Nick?” She sucked in a breath when Olivia turned toward her. The colours in her eyes intensified. “Nick?”

“I dunno, Vix. Whatever is happening is just since I took her to the oak grove.”

“The big one?”

He nodded.

“The spore is growing and seeks to let more in.”

Ice slid down Nick’s spine at Olivia’s words. “Liv?”

“Protect the seeds.”

“What does she mean?” Vixen demanded. “What spores? There’s never been anything of the sort here.”

“I’m not sure.” Nick pulled the weapon down from the wall, reacquainting himself with the feel of its grip in his palms.

“Dolph? He’s the only one that can’t touch the seeds, and never has, since that first time they withered under his care. But he wouldn’t—if he was going to harm the grove, he’s had centuries to do it, if he’d ever intended to.” She searched Nick’s face. “He wouldn’t. Someone, or thing else?”

Vixen removed her smithy apron.

“We don’t have time for this, we have to get the work done while the window is optimal for Sleipnir.” Nick growled.

“Nothing changed until her arrival. Maybe it’s her, Nick.”

Nick glanced at Olivia again. “You’re not wrong, Vix. But look at her. The grove did something to her eyes. It’s using her to communicate a warning. It wouldn’t do that if she was the threat itself.” Nick pulled several of the other weapons from the wall, handing a war hammer to Vixen. “This has to do with the Council meeting.”

Vixen nodded, though she cast another sidelong glance at Olivia. “Best gather the others.”

“We have to keep working as though nothing has changed, but be on guard for anything. I’m going to talk to Cupid. And then try to find Dolph.”

“I’ll talk to the others. Quietly.”

Olivia saw everything through a misty rainbow film. No matter where she glanced, her eyes were coated with stardust.

Her skin sheened and tingled.

Since she’d awakened in Nick’s arms under the tree, thoughts drifted into her mind. Thoughts in her own internal voice, but so random, they could only come from elsewhere.

And feelings. Like a little shuttle sliding up and down her body from crown to core.

Her nape registered being observed before they’d heard the twig snap.

The sensation of ill intent reached for her.

Her human sense felt as heightened as when she and Gena had shared her body.

Despite Nick’s speed to return to the village, Olivia was bombarded with whirling thoughts and feelings from not just the trees around her, but the beings too. Their brief meeting with Blix and Don cast to her their focus, and determination to see their work done with precision and speed. Vixen’s delight to see them return, and her concern over Olivia’s words, even as Olivia herself seemed to take a backseat to their coming.

They flowed off her tongue like fact.

The grove sensed danger. A fungus threatened it in some way, that even it still sought Olivia’s words to communicate.

She slipped out of the back door of Vixen’s forge, compelled to move closer to the tree line.

Gena’s magic had allowed Olivia to see .

The Grove’s magic ripped open her empathy.

Emotions assaulted her from all sides as the grove’s consciousness flowed along the power threads she’d seen before, carrying information from crown to root, exchanging and mingling far below the surface.

It knew.

The Grove had been watchful of the dark mote floating among its woods for all this time.

It was aware of the astral changes.

The trees had seen it all before.

It had nearly been wiped out during one cycle, thoroughly dominated in another and preferred not to have either repeated.

The grove had imparted all of this information by the time they’d reached Vixen’s cottage.

An age was a long time to exist under a suppressive element.

Olivia sensed both portals, old and new, with a distant awareness and knew there would be more in the coming times. There always were. These two were as secure as they could be.

Sleipnir.

The Grove drove Olivia’s sight through the forest back toward the clearing where she and Nick had their last moments together—where the atmosphere shimmered the most.

She saw it all now, with this new lens. This particular tree’s roots stretched the deepest into the ground, its branches dominating the glittering sky.

Sleipnir stepped into the clearing, grazing below the outstretched boughs.

Olivia’s breath caught as her vision wavered.

Her heart constricted as the figure of a woman was superimposed the tree trunk, when Sleipnir raised his head to look at her with a man’s eyes.

Breath stalled in Olivia’s chest as she dropped to her knees.

He truly was a king, and she his queen, living out their cycle, preparing to walk the realm at the pinnacle of the cycle, experiencing existence as human beings for the designated period of time.

Not yet, but soon.

But if the wrong forces dominated the groves, they would spend this next section of the cycle as prisoners, their seeds exploited.

Olivia experienced the thoughts through her emotions. As the magic soaked deeper into her skin, so too did the grove’s connection.

Images of the past filtered through her mind, making her heart pound.

She blinked.

The mote of darkness drifted away, toward the writhing blaze of the communication tower in the distance.

She sucked in a breath, trying to absorb everything she’d been shown, startling when Sleipnir’s hoof thumped the ground next to her.

Lost in the visions, she hadn’t noticed his approach.

Drawn into the depths of his keen eyes, she swallowed.

It was time.

His power was at its peak, for Nicholas to do what was needed.