“Caelan. Be serious.”
He grunted. “Do your worst, Evangeline.”
I dove back in and examined the threads more thoroughly than the others. They were all tied to shallower wounds, which was unusual. I followed the threads back to the shifters. Six females, two males. The males felt younger to me. I pulled their bodies down from the surface deep underground and held them there, ensuring they had a pocket of air.
I examined Caelan closely, looking for something to sever their threads and couldn’t find anything. Another scan of his body revealed no other wounds, nothing else I could heal. Frustrated, I chewed on the side of my lip. Could I somehow transfer this bond away from Caelan?
I racked my brain. I’d need something extremely long lived, something I could fortify with magic. Shifters were immortal, so I couldn’t tie their bond to something that would have a short natural life cycle.
I’d need something natural to suit my magic, yet alsounnatural.
There were a few trees with unusually long life spans. Not native to Texas but Joy Springs didn’t have the typical Texas climate. I could tweak Caelan’s land a little in one spot—adjust the soil and nutrients, maybe cap his land in sort of a bubble that would keep the tree thriving.
“How do you feel about a new tree?” I murmured.
Caelan stiffened. “As long as you aren’t trapped inside, I’m amenable.”
“If everything goes well, I won’t be. Titania is dead, so the odds are looking good.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” Caelan growled.
“I don’t know if this will be painful. This is all theoretical.”
“Comforting words.”
I sent my power soaring through the world, searching far and wide for a specific seed.
Caelan gasped. “Evie. What are you doing? I feel…”
“Looking for something.”
He sucked in a breath. “Gods. Is this what you feel like all the time? Like you can touch the inner heart of the world?”
“It’s a recent thing, no thanks to that hooker Danu.”
I stopped at something familiar, paused, and examined. Close but not exact. Discarding it, I kept searching.
There. A teeny tiny, dormant seed. I pulled it to me, yanking it from its habitat toward me. “Where do you want it?”
“Back of the property,” Caelan said. “There’s a dense canopy of trees and no structures. Few go back there.”
I searched until I found the spot, carefully cradling the seed in my magic. “Alright. Here goes nothing. Hang on tight.”
Caelan gripped my thigh.
I changed the soil, adding more limestone and rock, and built up the space as closely as I could to its natural environment. “Your land in this spot will be colder. Can’t be helped.”
Caelan gently squeezed my thigh in the affirmative.
I nudged the seed to grow, smiling when I saw the seedling break through, encouraging it to grow, grow,grow. The seedling poked through the dirt, growing and spreading, its trunk twisting like a braided vine. Ten feet, twenty, thirty, it climbed until it slowed at forty-five, fifty, then sixty feet. Mature, but still young.
“I’m going to try to transfer the bond.”
Caelan went still. “To what? That tree?”
“Yes. I’ll know if it worked in a moment. Stay quiet.”
I gently plucked those golden threads, double checking to ensure all the wounds were healed. Once I was satisfied, I gently unwound the threads from Caelan’s psyche, holding them tightly in my mind.
