Tangled Heart

by Zenina Masters

  Aster smiled as Huron resumed his elk form, and she clambered up to his back, yawning the entire time. She was too used to a normal schedule. This was an adaptation she would be happy to get used to.

  Sleep, Aster. I won’t let you fall. The pathway back is clear.

  I might doze, but I should still be awake if you need me.

  Good. Are you going to put leaves on as clothing again?

  She sighed and looked down at her skin. There were tiny dark bruises where his hands had marked her, but she had encouraged every bit of it, so she wrinkled her nose and put on a swimsuit-typed outfit of shingled leaves.

  She looked back at the spot where the cabin had been, and she gasped. A fairy tale forest was thick and looked aged in place, not as if it had sprung up over a few very entertaining hours.

  She faced forward and settled comfortably on Huron’s back and let him take them back to the Crossroads.

  When he stopped moving, she looked around, and they were standing in front of the Open Heart. She blinked, and he snorted.

  Dira was on the porch, and she was smiling. “So, I am guessing that you would like a balancing ceremony?”

  Aster slid down. “We would. We also need you to make sure that the mage won’t explode when they do this.”

  Dira nodded. “You have good timing. Trill is here today, and she can help Tomas with the balancing. She can bleed off some of the extra energy.”

  Aster yawned. “I need a bit of a nap.”

  Huron was naked in his human form. “I am fine. Delightfully refreshed.”

  Dira laughed. “Right. Come on inside. I will make the arrangements, and you can go to your rooms.”

  Huron put his arm around Aster’s waist.

  Dira snorted. “Fine. Room. But let her sleep. Being awake for the balance ceremony is key to full success.”

  Huron nodded, and Aster walked inside the building, yawning all the way.

  * * * *

  Dira knocked on Tomas’s door, and he opened it after a minute, wearing nothing but a sheet around his waist.

  “My apologies for interrupting you and Trill, but I have a couple who needs a balance ceremony... today.”

  He groaned and leaned against the doorway. Trill came up behind him, her charcoal skin tracing the glyphs that bound her husband. “Why does it have to be Tomas?”

  “Melwiss is pregnant again, and I don’t want her exposed to this much power. The couple is a forest god and a demi-god.”

  Tomas perked up. “What?”

  “A forest god and a dryad who is close to four hundred years old.”

  Trill blinked. “Is that the dryad that the bride is courting?”

  “It is. Pointing her toward the forest god was part of her price. She wasn’t expecting to take him as mate, but someone was because this was all arranged very carefully.”

  Trill nodded. “We will do it. Do we have a few hours?”

  Dira inclined her head. “Three hours.”

  “Good. We can complete our reunion.”

  Dira smirked. “That might be a good idea.”

  Tomas narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

  “He is a lust god. When the energy is running through you, you will be both very interested in your mate and very interesting to any unattached females in the area. If Trill can help bleed off some of that, it might be a nice balancing.”

  Tomas chuckled. “I pity you for hosting them during their joining.”

  “Oh, they won’t be doing that here. They will be returning to his forest and her tree. Their first connection as mates is going to revitalize hundreds of acres. Their first sexual encounters created a thousand-acre forest at the distant edge of the Crossroads. It is an old-growth forest as well. It looks like it has always been there.”

  Trill whistled softly. “Okay. So, three hours to drain the hormones. I can do that.”

  She grabbed Tomas and pulled him back into the cabin. She shouted, “Show yourself out, Dira.”

  Dira nodded, laughed, and closed the door. Tomas would need this practice with Huron and Aster. When it was time to link Larion and Eilonwy, he was going to have to be on his toes.

  * * * *

  Aster yawned and stretched. She turned, and Huron was busy putting on a tunic. She smiled. “So, it’s time?”

  “Yes. I was going to wake you, but I could feel you rising.”

  She sat up and looked around, finding the green silk slip on a hangar on the bathroom door. She shed her leaves and slipped the green silk over her head. She looked at herself in the mirror and sprouted a coronet of roses and daisies around her head.

  “Where is the luggage?”

  “Already at the Meditation Centre. They are going to perform the ceremony. We sign the contracts, and then, we are whisked back to the forest. Is that all right with you?”

  She grinned. “It is.”

  He looked at her forehead. “How do you do that?”

  “With enough travel and enough exposure to the plants of the world, I have integrated them into my hair and different parts of my body. I can create roses anywhere.” She smiled.

  His horns had grown to the size of a young buck.

  She smiled. “Ready?”

  “Centuries ago. Let’s go.” He offered her his arm, and they left the room, headed down the steps, and Dira fell into step with them as they made their way to the rear of the Meditation Centre.

  There was a couple. A mage in formal wear and a young dark elf wearing the livery of the Queen’s Guard.

  Aster smiled. Things were beginning to click together.

  Dira leaned in. “She had nothing to do with it, but you two are a means of stretching our mage so that he will be able to manage the fey king and the shifter queen.”

  “That makes sense. Well, he is going to get a good workout.”

  It took a bit of management to get everyone situated. The elf stood in front of her mate. He was pressed to her back. Her hands were on his forearms.

  Tomas smiled. “I am sorry that I can’t say I have joined those like you dozens of times.”

  Huron chuckled. “I would be more worried if you did. I will release the power slowly, and if it gets to be too much, let me know.”

  Tomas nodded. “Aster, you will pass your power to Huron, he will pass to me, I will pass back to you, and soon, we will form an equal circuit. Once new power stops coming, I will clear your energy out of me and Trill and close our arm of the circuit, while keeping the power moving between the two of you. When it is even, I will slow it, and it will settle into you, and consummating your union will lock it in place.”

  Aster grinned. “We will save that for the forest.”

  He inclined his head. “Thank you.”

  He took on a formal tone. “Aster, do you take Huron for all that he is and all that he may become?”

  “I do.”

  “Huron, do you take Aster for all that she is and all that she will become?”

  “I do.”

  Tomas took a deep breath, Trill gripped his arms tighter, and he whispered, “Here we go.”

  Aster began to feed her ancient energies into Huron, and he smiled, and then, Tomas’s hand clenched. Trill’s eyes went wide, and soon, Aster could feel the trickle of green energy that Huron was passing along.

  The power took on a heavier course, and they all stood together while power began to build and build and build.

  Tomas was sweating, and all of Aster was flowing past, so Huron provided the last of the power that he contained in his physical form, and they were all standing while the energy that could raise an island from the sea was pulsing in the circle.

  The flow from Tomas increased, and the power had ceased to flow past Huron. They were filling up again.

  She looked at her mate and smiled as the power built and built. The energy continued to flow through her until there was no more to be had, and then, she clung to Huron’s hand as the power was moved between them
, equalizing under Tomas’s control. The mage and his mate were coated in sweat, and dark elves did not easily sweat.

  She felt an itch on her forehead, and she chuckled. Of course, she would get horns as part of this trade.

  Huron grinned.

  The power gradually slowed, and finally, it settled.

  Tomas released them, and he and his mate staggered back.

  Aster stepped toward Huron. She raised her brows. “Horns?”

  He chuckled. “They are lovely.”

  She sighed and leaned up for a kiss. They kissed, and she grabbed his horns to hold him in place.

  Dira called out. “Paperwork and then you can go home and jump him.”

  Aster broke the kiss and released her handles. “Spoilsport.”

  Huron was amused. She grabbed his hand and took him to the contract where they registered as land-based fey with spiritual control over their territory. Aka wood gods.

  Dira hugged her, kissed her, and then said, “Now, please, get out of here before the entire place greens over. I have given a lot of thought to the arrangement here, and your excitement is messing with it.”

  Aster looked around, and the forest was alive with energy, reaching for them. “Ah. Right. We can go back to Huron’s forest?”

  “Right where we got him.”

  She grinned, and they raced Teal and Tony to the building, held tight while a ward was put around them to keep any energy from blowing a hole in the Crossroads.

  There was a surge of power, a flash, and then, the world turned green.

  Huron whispered in her ear. “We are home.”

  She looked around, and her senses told her where it was before she saw it. She ran to her tree and placed a shaking hand against its trunk.

  “Ah, my tree. I have missed you.” Tears tracked down her cheeks, and she smiled up into the wide canopy of her English oak tree, which had very little reason to be in the Canadian forest.

  Her tree whispered to her, joy, excitement, and delight. She heard her tree talking of acorns and of needing her to create the next generation, so happy to see her again.

  Huron was crouched nearby, watching with a happy smile.

  She grinned at him, leaned against her tree, and backed into her tree.

  Chapter Eight

  Huron watched the tree for hours. He could feel Aster inside it, but it was only at the sixth hour when he saw the first green hand emerge.

  She stepped out and looked at her tree and laughed. There was such a bright, carefree tone to her laugh that his concern melted.

  He walked up to her, and she took his hand in hers. “Thank you. She is the best present ever!”

  He blinked in surprise. “I said you could touch her again as my mate.”

  “I know, but I have spent so long blocked from what I wanted that to have it come true, I am so excited.” She squealed and smiled at him.

  He took her hands and kissed her. “I understand completely.”

  She looked into his gaze and smiled. She raised her eyebrows. “Up against my tree?”

  He grinned. “Wherever you like.”

  She led him the few steps to the tree, and she slid her gown down off her shoulders while hiking the silk up her body.

  Huron didn’t hesitate, he lifted her up against her tree, opened the closure of his trousers, and he slid into her, pounding into her as she sighed and pulled his head to her breasts.

  It wasn’t a three-way, but her tree was gaining energy from the contact, and when Huron bit down gently on her breast, she shrieked as an orgasm swept through her far too soon.

  He kept thrusting, and she writhed against him while energy pooled in them again, surrounding them and wrapping them together.

  He lifted his head and kissed her while she was jolted up and down on his cock, until finally, after what seemed like hours, she felt the electric pulsing again, and he groaned, holding himself against her while their bodies throbbed and the magic swirled outward.

  Aster was still gasping, and she looked around at the bright green touch that swept through the forest. “Oh, next spring is going to be amazing.”

  He looked up at her, and his eyes were dazed. “I am very interested in this one particular moment.”

  She stroked the hair from his forehead, smiling at the growth that had happened in the last few days. He would soon have bangs. “Are you now? Not interested in our next moment?”

  He blinked and smiled. “That too. Have you reconnected with your tree?”

  “I have; she is planning her acorns and wanted to know how many I would tend for her.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I would tend to twenty of her daughters.”

  “That is a lot of dryads.”

  “Only twenty-five percent normally make it. Nature holds onto the strongest.”

  Huron stroked her neck. “She chose well with you.”

  She was about to reply when she heard the careful footfalls of a human in the woods. She sighed and slipped the straps of her gown back up onto her shoulders.

  He removed himself from her, closed his trousers, and looked at the incoming being.

  A man in an orange vest and hat came into their clearing. He paused. “Huron, is that you?”

  Huron grinned. “This is my guardian. Hector Metiskow. Hector, this is my mate, Aster.”

  Aster smiled and stepped forward. “I am pleased to meet you.”

  He blinked. “You speak English.”

  She grinned. “As do you. I am guessing you are familiar with my tree?”

  His eyes widened even further. “That is your tree?”

  “It is. I am very happy to be reunited with them.”

  “Them?”

  “My tree and the forest god. I saw him on the first day, the day I planted her here.” She took his right hand between both of hers. “I know how Huron came to be fused with him, and I am sorry that your family knew such loss.”

  He blinked and swallowed. “So, you know...”

  “That you are either his father, uncle, or grandfather. I know his older brother is already married and you are not him.”

  “His father. His mother passed when he was born, and my sister was raising him, but he was always happiest in the woods. We were celebrating his birthday when he wandered away.”

  Huron was standing next to them, no expression on his face.

  “When we realized he was gone, we ran down the stream, and then, there was this creature with kind eyes lifting him out of the water and laying him on the bank. He was blue. There was no life in him, and then, the elk joined with him. Water flew out in a gush, and he sat up, but now, there was no joy in him, only those ancient, kind eyes.”

  “But you raised him here.”

  “I did. He can’t leave the forest, so we did the hardest thing we could. We reported him as missing, and the creature inside him helped. It took the memory of the creature and the resuscitation out of their minds, and we all mourned the loss of my son.”

  Huron nodded. “I had to hide where they could not find me, but they stopped looking after a few months.”

  “And you can’t be seen by others now.” Aster looked at him and smiled. “Well, actually, you can.”

  Hector frowned. “It is hunting season. It isn’t safe for you to be here right now.”

  Aster nodded. “I can understand how you would think that, but things are about to change around here.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  Huron smiled. “I will listen for a gunshot. If I hear one, we will confront our opponent.”

  Aster chuckled. “Mr. Metiskow, we have also expanded the protected area. I will be filing to make this a protected habitat in the next week.”

  “Call me Hector. How are you going to do that?”

  She smiled. “I am a registered fey. I am entitled to the land surrounding my tree provided that there isn’t a home in the vicinity.”

  “What
do you do then?”

  “I buy the house at twice market value.”

  He raised his brows. “Do you have that money?”

  “I can have. There is a trust for me.” The silver dragon who had transported her had made sure she knew what was needed in the human world.

  Huron smiled. “You always said I should marry money, Hector.”

  Hector said, “No, I said you needed someone to take care of you.”

  “Yes, that too.”

  She snickered. “It is fine. I have walked in the world for over three hundred years. I have a legal identity, and my tree is on record. It will take a lot of paperwork, but it will get this area put into a holding category. After that, I am working on ways to keep the surrounding areas free of encroachment.”

  He looked at her with surprise. “This is prime hunting land. What would you do to change that?”

  Aster looked at him and asked, “Where did you put up the fake headstone?”

  “Oh. Oh.” Understanding dawned. “You want to put bodies here?”

  Aster waved her hand through the air as she said, “Green burials. Wrapped in muslin, you return to the earth from which you sprang, and the earth welcomes you.”

  “Do you think it can work?”

  She grinned. “I set up a plant nursery in the greenest area I could find. They still were after what I could produce. They didn’t even know about this skin.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  She pulled herself into her human-seeming, and he blinked. “You are white.”

  She wrinkled her nose and went green again. “I have a number of skins that I can wear. This is the one that I wear in suburbia. The first people I met looked like this.”

  She pulled on her complexion with black hair and coppery skin.

  He smiled. “Your eyes are still green.”

  “My eyes are always green.” She settled back into her green self.

  Huron walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “I did not recognize her until she changed her skin to this.” He kissed her neck.

  Hector asked quietly. “What is the deal with the horns?”

  “Ah. He started to grow them after we...” she flipped her hands. “I got mine when we were balanced at the Crossroads.”