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The muscles running through Alice’s sturdy frame tensed. The guys had stopped, Aaron backtracking. “What’s going on?” hesaid.
“I think there’s a trap in this tree,” Alice said, jabbing a taloned foot toward it. “But Serenity is the one it’s set to activatefor.”
Marco sniffed the air. “There is a whiff of fae around here. I assumed it was from their arriving at the meetingplace.”
“It sounds like there’s an easy way to find out,” I said. “Why don’t we see what the tree does if I come closer? Unless you don’t think it’s worth the risk.” Alice clearly had a lot more experience in this kind of situation than Idid.
Her mouth flattened, but she nodded. “Slowly. And be ready toretreat.”
I edged one careful step and then another along the path. Nothing moved in or around the tree. Maybe she’d been wrong? I trusted her instincts, but we were also all a little onedge.
I eased my foot a few more inches forward—and all at once the entire tree lunged. Its trunk wrenched forward and its branches dove down as if to swallow me in theirgrasp.
I ducked, stumbling backward. Alice leapt to meet the tree. Her leg slashed through the air, talons severing one branch. Her elbow slammed into another to snap it. A shower of leaves rained down on me. I spun back toward it, a shift already prickling under myskin.
Alice stood panting, her lips curled in a fierce grin. Twigs and broken branches scattered the path. The battered tree had pulled back into its original pose as if it had nevermoved.
“What the hell was that?” Isaid.
“Alice was right,” Aaron said. “There must be an enchantment on the tree. It was set to descend on you when you came by. As soon as you backed away, the effectlifted.”
“Afaeenchantment,” West spat out. “What else could use magic likethat?”
My heart thudded. “Do you think—themonarch—”
“She wouldn’tdare,” Nate rumbled in a low, dark voice. A grizzly’s rage flashed in hiseyes.
“She wouldn’t,” Marco agreed. “But we’ve already seen that her underlings don’t mind finding ways to circumvent the treaties. A few bad apples, I’m sure she’dsay.”
West bared his teeth. “It doesn’t matter. We take responsibility for the rogues. Every fae is hers to dealwith.”
“And we’ll make sure she does,” Aaron says. “When we meet her. It’s almost time.” He glanced at me. “If you give the tree a wide enough berth, the trap shouldn’t activateagain.”
I nodded. With one last glare at the juniper, I picked my way through the brush on the other side of the path. The tree didn’t stir. I let out my breath when I’d come around the bend, back onto the somewhat clearerground.
“I’d better get back to the skies in case they’ve got more surprises for us,” Alice said. Her legs flexed to spring into theair.
“Thank you,” I said quickly, catching her gaze. “I’ve never seen anyone fight a tree before, but you were pretty amazing atit.”
Her grin came back. “Nothing’s ever gotten the better of me yet. I’ll have your back,Serenity.”
I appreciated the promise, but I approached the neutral meeting spot with my nerves even more on edge. I was finding it less and less easy to believe that the fae monarch was an ignorant bystander in all this. Whatever friendship there might have been between fae and dragon shifters before, something had gone very, verywrong.
The trees thinned and then fell away completely. We came out into a wide clearing, nothing but grass and a dabbling of little pink flowers from one end to the other. The sky was stark blue overhead. The warm breeze warbled faintly through the branches aroundus.
We’d only taken a few steps into the clearing when the fae delegation appeared on the other side. There had to be at least ten of the tall, emaciated-looking figures with their blue-white skin. The cloying smell of them made my nosewrinkle.
At the front of their procession strode a woman even taller than the others. The silvery blond waves of her hair streamed across her shoulders and down over her filmy dress all the way to her ankles. Her large eyes glittered like black diamonds. A faint shimmer rose off her hair and skin. A crown of living vine coiled around the top of her head, but even without that, I’d have known she was themonarch.
My back stiffened, but I kept my expression as calm as I could manage. We walked to meet the fae in the center of the clearing, Aaron and Nate drawing close by my sides, West and Marco flanking us. The other avian shifters circled in the air justoverhead.
“Monarch,” Aaron said, with a slight dip of his head. “We appreciate you coming out to speak withus.”
The fae woman’s gaze barely glanced off him. She looked me over, her face impassive. “So this is the new dragonshifter.”
So this is the woman who killed the last one, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. Direct accusations of murder weren’t very diplomatic. “Here I am. It’s good to meet you.”So I can finally get someanswers.
“And what is the reason for this parlay?” the monarch asked, her gaze sliding back to Aaron now. As if he were more worthy of her attention thanme.
