Page 51 of Evergreen

And there, under the stars in his grove, I drifted off, knowing that every silent wish I’d ever made had come true.

Chapter 22

Linden

Iwoke before dawn, comforted by the warmth of Cass sprawled across my chest. I reached down, my fingers trailing through his hair. He stirred slightly at my touch, a soft sound escaping his lips. I smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and just breathed him in. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have him.

The northern lights had faded completely now, leaving only the faint pre-dawn glow filtering through the canopy above. In a few hours, we’d have to head back to campus, back to the real world where we couldn’t just exist in this bubble of our own making. But for now, in this moment, I allowed myself to pretend that time didn’t exist. That we could stay here forever.

Cass shifted, his arm tightening around my waist as he drifted deeper into sleep. I could feel the slow rise and fall of his breathing, the steady thud of his heart beneath my palm. He looked peaceful like this, all his usual defensiveness stripped away. There were no sharp edges, no sarcastic remarks ready to launch. Just Cass in his most serene state, trusting me completely.

I thought about what had happened last night. About him telling me he loved me. The trust in his eyes, the vulnerability. It had shifted something fundamental inside me. Before, I’d been terrified of what would happen after graduation, of how we could possibly make this work. But now, with his confession still ringing in my ears and the memory of him inside me fresh in my mind, I felt something that resembled hope.

The graduate assistant position wasn’t just an opportunity anymore. It was a lifeline. A way to stay close to him while he finished his degree. A way to build something real with him instead of watching it crumble when I graduated.

But there were still obstacles. His parents, for one. The fact that we were both still figuring this out as we went. There were a thousand ways this could fall apart.

I tried not to think about that.

Instead, I focused on the weight of him against me, the way his magic hummed beneath his skin even in sleep. It was a soft, gentle hum now, like a cat purring. Content. Satisfied. Loved.

My own magic responded, golden light flickering beneath my skin in response. I wondered if that would always happen. If every moment with Cass would feel like this, like my entire being was singing in harmony with his.

The sky was growing lighter now, that pre-dawn blue deepening toward actual daylight. I knew I should probably start thinking about packing up, about heading back before anyone noticed we were gone. But I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to break the spell of this moment.

Cass made a small noise in his sleep, something that might have been my name. I couldn’t be sure. Because, at that moment, something monstrous roared to life in the distance.

For one brief moment I thought it might just be a car or a tractor a long way off. Someone in the nearby town having vehicle issues. But then, as my skin started to tingle, and I felt the grove start to cry out in pain, I knew something was terribly wrong.

I bolted upright, my magic flaring instinctively in response to that primal cry of distress. Cass jerked awake beside me, his eyes going wide as he felt it too, that wrongness vibrating through the earth beneath us.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded, already scrambling to his feet.

“I don’t know,” I said, though I was already reaching out with my magic, trying to sense what was happening at the grove’s edge. The trees were panicking, their root systems thrashing beneath the soil like wounded animals. “Something’s attacking the grove.”

We threw on our clothes haphazardly, abandoning any pretense of packing up. The roaring came again, louder this time, and I heard the unmistakable sound of something massive crashing through the forest. Heavy machinery. The kind that didn’t belong anywhere near my sacred home.

“Fuck,” Cass breathed, his eyes going dark as his own magic crackled to life. “Is that⁠—”

“A bulldozer,” I said, my voice coming out flat and cold in a way I rarely heard from myself. “They’re clear-cutting the grove.”

My feet were already moving before my brain caught up. I could feel it now, the vibrations of the machine cutting through the protective barrier that had been maintained for centuries. The trees were screaming, their life force being severed like tendons. This wasn’t just an attack on land. This was an assault on my home. On myself.

Cass was right behind me as I pushed through the underbrush toward the edge of the grove. The transition from my sanctuary to the outside world was jarring. It was suddenly much colder, the grove’s protective warmth behind us. And down the edge of the grove, I saw it. A massive clear-cutting operation. Heavy equipment tearing through the forest like it was nothing. Like it wasn’t sacred ground. Like it didn’t matter.

I had no idea they were there.

“No,” I whispered, the word torn from somewhere deep inside me. “No, no, no⁠—”

One of the trees, an ancient oak that had stood for over three hundred years, toppled with a sickening crack. I felt it like a physical blow, like someone had reached into my chest and torn out a piece of my heart. My knees buckled.

“Linden!” Cass caught me before I could fall, his arms wrapping around me. “Linden, what do we do?”

I couldn’t answer. I was too busy trying to hold the grove together, trying to reinforce the barrier that was crumbling like wet paper. My magic was bleeding out of me in desperate, frantic waves, but it wasn’t enough. There were too many machines. Too much destruction happening too fast.

Another tree fell. And another.

“We have to stop them,” I said, my voice shaking with rage and grief that threatened to overwhelm me. “If they kill the heartwood…”