The rain had died down enough so Avery could safely pull out the book, her fingers shaking from the cold as she opened her phone for a flashlight.
She repeated the riddle out loud in the old language. Her pronunciation was still atrocious, but she tried.
Nothing happened. Not even a leaf fell.
The silence mocked her. What was she expecting? Fireworks congratulating her for getting it right? Anything to confirm her theory would have been preferable to the deafening silence. Maybe she had gotten it wrong.
They waited in the cold until Avery’s teeth started to chatter.
“Stop that,” Felix snapped.
“I can’t help it, I’m freezing,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. That did absolutely nothing to ward off the chill. It was so cold she could dial a rotary phone with her nipples.
Felix only rolled his eyes and sent his shadows to her. She froze like a deer in headlights, thinking he was about to strangle her again. But instead, the shadows knitted until they formed a sweater. A strange, shadowy, moving sweater that felt like silk.No wonder he made his clothes out of this stuff; it was fucking comfy, no overstimulating fibers in sight.To his credit, it helped the bite of the cold. It was a bit sad to say it was the nicest thing someone had done for her in a while.
“Thank you,” she said, her teeth chattering significantly less.
The more they waited, though, the more the shadows decided to start copping a feel, tendrils sliding and circling her breasts. Was he doing this on purpose? She stifled a moan. She neverthought she would have to worry about a pervy shadow sweater, but here she was.
When the cold started to bite again, despite the sweater, she admitted defeat. This obviously wasn’t the answer. It hurt her ego more than she cared to admit. Shenevergot a riddle wrong.
Then, only a few steps away from the tree, they heard it.
A cackling sound sliced through the branches.
They stopped in their tracks, slowly turning to face the noise.
“Felix?” Avery asked, still trembling.
“I see it, witch.”
They stared at the face now carved out of the wood of the trunk. A young woman with flowing hair of bark stared them down.
“Come closer,” the voice hissed.
Avery went to take a step forward before Felix shot his arm out, gripped her wrist, and pulled her behind him, putting himself between the talking tree and her.
“What are you doing?” Avery whispered.
“Not walking blind into something that could be dangerous,” he snapped back.
Avery hadn’t even thought of it being a trap, too preoccupied with solving the riddle. The real puzzle was why he’d saved her.
“I don’t bite,” the tree crooned at them. To be fair to Felix, it absolutely sounded like the kind of voice that would bite.
Felix could have let go of her wrist by now, but for some reason, his touch lingered. The heat of his fingers wrapping around her cold wrist was a comfort she hadn’t expected. It felt nice to be protected. His broad shoulders obscured her vision of the tree. Absentmindedly, she snuggled into his back, a solid wall ofhim.
The tree’s mouth stretched into a smile, splitting the bark like a pair of wooden chapped lips. Avery didn’t like the sight of it at all.
“You have done well to answer my riddle,” the tree said, its voice otherworldly.
“Who are you?” Avery demanded in a small voice.
Felix’s fingers tightened even more, warning her off saying anything further.
“Never mind that,” the tree said. But Avery minded it very much. Was it the goddess? Had she heard Avery call her a bitch in her head?Fuck.
“To get what you seek”—the tree’s wooden eyes gleamed with mischief—“a kiss must be freely given, and the tree a witness to your bond.”
