“At least three of the oldest trees in the forest.” Leon stepped into view, moving from behind one of the fallen branches. The elder tree walked beside him. “It starts higher up on the trunk, where it drips a similar substance. We sent it out to labs and had our own researchers investigate it, but they can’t tell us what it is.”
“Poison,” the elder tree said firmly. “An ancient form of it.”
“Poison? Is someone here doing this on purpose?” Leon asked.
“The poison is magical. House Bartlett’s magic is tied to the land. It draws on the ley lines and power in the earth. Something is poisoning that magic.” The elder tree reached out, stroking her fingers along the trunk. “You must burn this tree and any others like it.”
“But if the poison is in our magic—” Leon broke off when Jesaiah trotted up beside him, his massive wolf form bumping against his master’s hip. Leon stared down at him for a moment, then asked, “Where?”
Jesaiah took three long strides and leapt. Before he could land on me, I burst into the clearing, spinning and growling at him. He was on me in an instant, teeth and claws, but this time, I wasn’t human, and I wasn’t running.
I dug my hind feet into him, pushing him off and following the movement of his body so that I landed on top, my teeth closing around his neck. His breath smelled rancid, stale meat and something rotten deep in his body.
It smelled like his soul was rotting inside his chest.
“Prince Bartlett’s consort has seen fit to join us. Welcome.” Leon bowed his head. Not as low as he would go for Cade, but close. “Would you please let my consort up?”
I tightened my teeth incrementally, giving Jesaiah warning, and then I stepped back and shifted into my human form.
“I’m sorry for sneaking up on you. I was monitoring the wards when I heard you talking.” I nodded at the dryads, although none of them seemed surprised to see me.
Leon shook his head. “It’s no matter. I’m glad you are taking the protection of House Bartlett seriously.”
With my human eyes, the liquid didn’t look quite as dangerous. It looked like golden sap, dripping into the soil. But my nose could still smell how foul it was.
“Isn’t that dangerous, letting it drip onto the ground?”
“As we suggested, this tree needs to be burned, and any like it. For now, we can help cordon off where the poison has reached with a barrier of fungus that will absorb some of it. But you are right.” The dryad turned to Leon. “The poison is in the magic; theexpressionis merely in the soil.”
“What does that mean?” I pressed.
Frowning, Leon turned to me and answered distractedly. “House Bartlett gets magic from its lineage, yes, but when we took up this place, we poured our magic into the earth as well. The houseisthe family. The landisthe magic. All houses are built on ley lines so the children might absorb more ambient magic as they grow. Didn’t Cade explain this to you?”
I ducked my head, looking at the ground. “He did, but I don’t understand magic talk.”
Leon released a short breath, shaking his head, but he accepted my slow and stupid façade without suspicion. Jesaiah trotted over to him, nudging at Leon’s arm with his nose. With the back of his hand, Leon batted Jesaiah away.
“Well, then, to put it in simpler terms: when House Bartlett was first founded, the original King Bartlett linked his family’s magic to the land. It allowed him to have considerably more power than he had before.” Leon extended his hand, and his magic blossomed out of it, floating above his palm like a golden sphere. “Everyone else in House Bartlett is related to the king’s line by blood. Meaning all of our magic comes from the earth, as well as our lineage.”
“So if there’s poison in the earth, there’s poison in your magic?” I frowned down at the ground, observing how the thick sap-like poison lingered on the surface for only a moment before being absorbed.
I thought of Cade’s tattoos, the pain of using them, the way they leaked off his skin, the black of his eyes. WasCadebeing poisoned?
Leon shut his hand, the magic sphere cracking and falling away. “Let us hope not.”
“We will set up the layers of fungal protection,” the elder dryad said. “This may take some time. Will you stay with us?”
Leon waved his hand. “Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to. My consort will stay here as the grounds are under his purview.”
Leon drew his hand in a circle, and his entire form was wrapped in gold. When the gold fluttered into the air like a thousand butterflies, he was gone.
The elder dryad watched him go, her wooden eyes blank of emotion. After a moment, she and the rest of the dryads formed a circle around the tree, walking out further into the forest until they were able to contain where the roots had been.
I breathed in the loamy scent of forest, the natural smells tickling inside my nose. It seemed to cool my body, taking my temperature down. There was a muffled snort, and I glanced over toward the underbrush.
Jesaiah had settled himself in the shade, lying on his stomach, his eyes following the dryads with interest. I watched the dryads, but unlike the mages’ tattoos, their magic wasn’t nearly as exciting. They simply closed their eyes.
After a long moment, roots grew out of their legs and feet, digging deep into the earth underneath them. As soon as the roots touched the ground, the dryads themselves grew taller, their hair becoming the canopy of a tree, their arms extending out to form massive branches. After a few minutes, they didn’t look human at all. Instead, they looked like massive trees that had been in the forest for years.
