Some secrets are best kept hidden… until you have no other choice.
Flash laced his fingers into Ivy’s as they approached the everafter tree. Massive leafy branches spread around them in a dazzling canopy of green and gold.
“Are you nervous?” Flash watched her from the corner of his eye.
Ivy’s pale green gaze remained fixed on the plaque at the base of the trunk. She read the inscription. “Patience alone will give you what you seek.”
With a nod, Flash took a deep breath. “I’ve heard stories of people waiting until dawn for the covenant spirit to appear.”
“Oh.” She breathed the word out in a guarded sigh. “I can’t imagine standing in one place that long.”
He swung their hands in an arc, fingers still intertwined. “Some things are worth waiting for. Just think of it—after today, nothing can ever come between us.”
A breeze ruffled Ivy’s hair, pulling an ebony lock to flutter across her face. She hooked a finger around the wayward strands and tucked them behind her ear.
Hot coals churned in Flash’s stomach at her silence. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
“Yes,” she answered flatly. Then she bit her lip and looked up at him. “Are you?”
Flash forced himself to smile. “As I recall, it was my idea to come here.”
Those seawater eyes stared up at him with all the danger of an impending storm.
“Ivy, if you’re not ready—”
“I am.” She cut the phrase into a single word. “Really, I am. It’s just—this is so final.” She tugged at a lock of hair draped over her shoulder. “After today we won’t have a choice anymore. You’ll be bound to me and I to you, whether the feeling is true or not.”
He pulled back at the neck. “Of course it will be true.”
“How can you know?” Ivy’s gaze drifted to the sparse grass beneath their feet.
“Both our families took the everafter covenant. Didn’t your parents seem happy?”
She gave a shrug.
Flash released his hold of her hand and turned to face her fully. “So you are having second thoughts.”
“No exactly. But I do wonder sometimes if this tradition is as worthwhile as so many believe.”
“We have the chance to ensure that betrayal never enters our home. What better way to prove one’s devotion than to remove any desire for other lovers?”
Those unsettled eyes rose up to meet his. “How can you trust my loyalty to be genuine if I become incapable of choosing another?”
He felt like the dying embers of a fire. Desperately pulsing with a glow yet no fuel to kindle back into a flame. “If you choose not to go through with this, I’ll understand. And will remain mated to you. For as long as you would have me.”
Red lines crept into the corners of her eyes. “Could that be enough for you?”
“Without the everafter fruit, all I can promise you is today.” He took both her hands in his. “And today you have my whole heart.”
She nodded, her eyes drifting to their clasped hands. “I guess that is all I can expect. Those who do not earn the everafter fruit rarely stay mated until old age, do they?”
Flash pursed his lips, a handful of memories hovering in his mind. “Unfortunately, that is true.”
After several moments, she finally looked back up at him. “You would take such a risk?”
He grinned. “Of all the wild beasts I track and hunt for our village, your heart is the wildest of all. I have never met a more unpredictable woman.” He raised their hands so he could kiss a few of her fingers. “So, if this is what it means to be with you, then I will take that risk.”
Those high cheeks flushed pink as she stared at him. “You really would, wouldn’t you?”
With a nod, he lowered their hands.
“I suppose we could always come back in a year.” Her lips pulled into a crooked smile. “If we decide we still want this.”
Suddenly, a low groan echoed around them. The bark of the tree’s trunk bubbled and swirled, revealing a face. Its mouth creaked open and spoke with the voice of an elderly woman. “Who comes to me?”
Flash straightened and faced the tree. “Greetings, covenant spirit. I am Flash and this is Ivy.”
The creaking, elderly voice hummed a moment then spoke again. “Why have you come?”
Heat pooled into his cheeks, reigniting the coals of worry in his stomach. Ivy clearly wasn’t ready for this commitment. But what should he do? None of the stories described the proper way to announce you had changed your mind.
“W-we are still discussing the possibility of an everafter bond.” Flash gave Ivy a half smile.
“I already heard from you.” What appeared to be the tree’s eyebrows gathered into a hard stare. “Now it is her turn to speak.”
Ivy fidgeted with a lock of her hair, her face more flushed than before. “Um, well, I’m not sure what to say.”
Those eyebrows rose in curiosity above woody eyes. “A woman of few words. Rarely do I encounter such a thing.” Bark curved and folded as the tree-face grinned. “Do you have any idea how long the women in your village can talk about their romantic history?”
A titter escaped Ivy. “Tell me about it.” Then she darted a glance at Flash and put a hand to her chest. “I mean, yes I know many who are chatty.”
The tree spirit looked back and forth between them then settled its eyes on Flash. “Tell me what most annoys you about this woman.”
Flash sucked in a breath so hard that he choked on it for a full minute. When the coughing fit ceased, he said, “Excuse me?”
“Are you asking permission?” the tree asked, “or do you not understand the question?”
Flash felt as if the roots of his hair were on fire. “I don’t understand. And, like I said, we are undecided about making this covenant so—”
“What. Most. Annoys you. About. This woman.” The tree’s eyes narrowed on him.
The burning along his scalp spread to his ears and neck. What on all the isle of Roshla was this spirit trying to do to him? Was this some kind of punishment for ascending Everafter Hill unprepared to declare a covenant bond?
“Ivy is a wonder.” Flash gestured a hand toward her. “I adore everything about her.”
Bark crusted lips screwed into a scowl. “Do you know why your people trust me to decide which couples are permitted to receive the everafter fruit?”
He swallowed, his mind scrambling for any speck of detail from stories told to him as a youth. “Out of respect for you as an eternal being.”
“No.” The tree gave a smile that made Flash’s stomach turn. “I see into the mind, as well as the heart. All intentions are laid bare in my sight.”
A lump formed in Flash’s throat and he struggled to swallow past it. “Then it is a good thing we are going to wait. Thank you for your time, spirit.”
The branches above them arched and bent to the ground, forming a tight dome. They were trapped. Ivy gasped and pulled close to Flash. He put his arms around her and returned the focused stare of the tree spirit.
“You could not have awakened me from my sleep if your hearts were not centered on gaining the fruit.” The tree lifted an eyebrow.
A glimmer of hope rose in Flash. Was it possible Ivy truly did want a bonding in covenant? Perhaps all those questions were just her way of making sure he loved her.
“If you would, please, answer my question young man. What most annoys you about this woman?”
Flash relaxed his grip around Ivy. Her seawater eyes still held the possibility of a dangerous storm. A dozen scenarios raced through his mind, all of them ending with Ivy’s feelings hurt and their relationship broken.
“She’s wonderful in every way.” He grinned at her. “I have no complaints.”
The tree gave a deep sigh and closed its eyes. “Lies poison the soul of both the speaker and the hearer.”
Ivy tensed and stepped back. “There is something—isn’t there?” Those seawater eyes sparked into a hurricane. “Say it. Go ahead, say it.”
Flash stared into her storm. Floating adrift through a surging tide felt safer than this. Her trembling shoulders, her fists clenched at her sides, the flushed skin above the collar of her tunic. No truth he spoke in response to the spirit’s question would calm the waters before him. He sighed. How was he able to face every predator of the island yet quake at the mere thought of voicing a single annoyance about the woman he loved?
“I—” He stiffened, bracing himself. “Ivy is so painfully timid. It makes me look weak in the eyes of the other hunters than I’ve chosen a mate without an inner fire.”
Ivy leaned forward, hands planted on her hips. “What?”
He withered under her glare.
“Very good,” the tree said. “And now you, daughter. What is the lie you have been hiding from him about this joining?”
The quick rhythmic movements of Ivy’s chest suggested a new difficulty in breathing. “There’s nothing to say.”
“He was not allowed to wriggle out of this and neither will you.” The tree almost sounded amused. “You have been lying to this young man about your intentions since his first attempts to court you. Now out with it.”
Flash’s mind reeled. What was happening?
Black hair tousled as Ivy shook her head. Both arms clamped in a knot across her chest as she marched to the dome of branches. She pressed a shoulder against the tangle, then dropped her guarded stance and pushed both hands into the wall of green and gold leaves.
“It’s over.” Ivy’s voice caught and her head drooped.
Creaking and moaning sounded around them as the branches arched and thickened their wall. The tree’s gaze lingered on Flash a moment then shifted to Ivy. “You are free to leave after we have spoken.”
Ivy remained still. A stone pillar against a wall of life.
The tension made Flash wish he were in a battle against the raw elements of this world rather than standing in a silence of brokenness.
She whirled around. Her eyes roiled like the crashing of waves before a great storm.
“You’re ashamed of me?” She stalked forward, a single tear slipping free as she approached. “Well guess what? I only agreed to this relationship because you’re the best hunter in the whole village. And no, that’s not a compliment of your great and daring feats.”
Ivy turned and walked in a small circle, hands twisting and wringing.
“That’s the only reason any woman has ever wanted me.” Flash spread his arms out to the sides. “It’s the only thing I have.” Hearing the tightness in his own voice, he lowered his hands. “I don’t have anything to offer except my skills as a hunter. I know that.”
She looked up at him. “It’s not what you think.” Ivy cast a glance at the tree then, taking a deep breath, straightened her arms at her sides. “A woman is expected to remain at home. To pray to the gods for the success of her mate when he leaves on a hunt.”
For some reason, she hung on that last word. A few moments passed before she continued.
“You are the best hunter in the whole village. The whole island.” Her neck flushed red again, creeping up into her jaw and cheeks. “If we’re mated than I’ll have the excuse of praying for your safety,” she held up her hands in mock concern, “so I can stay at home.”
Flash blinked at her, waiting for the lie to surface.
The tree seemed to agree, for it said, “Keep going. There is still more to say, daughter.”
Ivy gave an exasperated sigh, tilting her head back. “If I’m mated to you then I will finally have a reason to avoid people that doesn’t hurt their feelings or make me look bad.” She snarled a hand into her hair as she bent her face to her chest. “No one will have to know that I’m avoiding them. They will think I am being faithful to you.”
Lines started to form in Flash’s mind. “Wait, your shyness is a mask to cover up the fact that you can’t stand anyone in the village?”
Head bowed, arm angled over her face, Ivy managed a nod.
Flash pressed a palm to his chest. “I can’t stand anyone in the village.”
Ivy’s head rose. She cocked her gaze then dropped her arm.
“What do you think of Opal?” Flash asked. He grinned and nodded encouragingly.
Her eyes flicked toward the tree, then she blurted out, “Full of herself. Prissy.”
“And Wendell?”
“Reeks of neediness.”
Flash couldn’t help but smile.
“What about Remy?” Ivy asked, propping both hands on her hips.
“If I could get away with tying him to a rock and pushing him off a cliff, I would do it.”
She clutched both hands to her breast, sunshine peeking through the clouds of her gaze. “You really hate everyone?”
Taking her hands in his, he pulled her close. “We both hate everyone.” The branches around them eased upward, filtering in a splash of sunlight. A single branch lowered beside them, releasing one of its fruits. “Now you are ready for an everafter bond.”
Recent Comments