The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter One

The soft moonlight lit upon the end of my bed as I sat propped up by the many pillows that decorated it. A book of Edentree history laid against my chest, forgotten, as I traced the petals on my forehead that represented each one of my husbands. If anyone had told me four days ago that I would lie in a cozy bed in a strange world, married, I would have laughed that person out of my treehouse.

I should be in Vegas by now, with  5 K in my backpack and a determination to double my dough. Sure, I wasn't old enough, but I would get a fake ID. With all the ghosts I knew, I was sure that there would be one that knew a guy...

I swallowed my laugh. With my particular luck, even if I were able to get that ID, I would have lost all my money in one blackjack game. Besides, I had done more living in four days than four years prior. I had reconciled with Adrian - that made me smile. It should have been impossible.

Also, Aisa had never intended to let me go off on my own. For all I knew, she was the one that had spearheaded Mike's betrayal when he stole all that money from Franco, Dominic's father. Mike had been like a father to me, but not only had he endangered my life with Franco, but because of him, I got kidnapped. And when I'd decided to forgive him after meeting him again, he'd tried to take my mother's earrings.

As I scrubbed at my eyes with my firsts to erase the bad memory, I tried to count my more pleasant discoveries to cheer me up. For one, I found out how unbelievably sweet Dominic was and that his hugs were addictive. To my relief, I'd found that there'd been no awkwardness in our friendship, even though so many secrets opened wide between us. In fact, he'd been delighted that I was magical. That he'd been willing to face his dad's wrath by choosing me over him was probably the reason I got his stone first.

Another pleasant discovery was Ciaran. Even just the thought of him made me think of the hubs and spokes that made up the connections between the trees. And, when I thought of those, I wanted to settle back into the roots and never emerge. The energy flow between us all was fantastic, and I was addicted to it. If I could make it a constant state, I would.

While staring at that milky shaft of moonlight, it seemed to merge with the roots that sprung from my heart to various places within the walls and off through the window. One of those roots led to Luis. I rolled over on my stomach and folded my arms to rest my chin. No matter how satisfying it was to win the first trial, I was still at odds with my best friend. The jagged root between us, and my lack of complete peace, felt like a million needles in my heart.

I missed him. I missed his sleepy eyes and his crooked smile, and I missed morning muffins and shared laughter. My hands reached out to the root, then clenched.

We both made our choices. I chose to answer the call to save my mother's world, and he chose to leave me for it.

As I stared at the two roots that disappeared out of my window, I thought of the dragon. Boy, he'd sure been excited to see me! That scream of horror he made when he saw me was a big confidence booster.

As always, my stomach growled from all my thinking. Since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep with all these rabid thoughts and feelings, I left my room and made the long trek to the kitchen, intending to make brownies. Copious amounts of chocolate soothed everything. This was a known fact.

When I got to the kitchen, I searched for premade brownie mix but found none. I groaned. An essential part of making brownies without a brownie mix is skill, and I had none. I sheepishly retraced my steps back up the stairs and stopped on the top landing.

I glanced longingly down the stairs thinking of the brownies I could not make, then wondered if Dominic might be awake to help me make some. He'd been on my mind that night, and he was the only one I knew who could cook. I tentatively knocked on his door and was rewarded by an adorably rumpled sight when Dominic opened it.