by Amber Burns
Cerridwyn blinked in confusion. “The stump? But…why do you want us to take you to mother’s grave?”
“Consider it the last request of a dying man,” Coeden rasped as he began shuffling with Klaryssa and Cerridwyn’s help towards the door.
“Please don’t talk like that, father,” Klaryssa entreated tearfully before watching with admiration as Dresdyn wordlessly took Coeden from her and Cerridwyn only to then lift him into his arms as though he weighed no more than a piece of kindling. “You’re going to be around to see your first grandchild enter this world.”
Coeden smiled weakly as Dresdyn carried him out of the house. “I would love nothing more than that, my dear. But, alas, I will not survive the journey to the castle.”
Klaryssa’s hand found Cerridwyn’s and gently squeezed it in comfort. “You can’t possibly know that,” she sobbed softly as she and her sister walked beside Dresdyn.
“But I do, my dear,” Coeden rasped. “I have nothing left. I could not even make the walk to the oak stump on my own power. I have enough strength left within me to tell you something of great importance, and then once I finish, I want the two of you to leave me beside your mother’s grave. Leave me, begin your new lives, and don’t look back.”
“What? No!” Klaryssa cried.
“You can’t expect us to simply leave you behind like that,” Cerridwyn protested.
“Yes, I can,” Coeden replied. “Because you must. It’s just ahead, lad,” he instructed Dresdyn.
“I see it,” Dresdyn answered softly.
“But, papa,” Cerridwyn protested sadly.
“Please, my dear, don’t fight what can’t be reversed,” Coeden interjected wearily. “My fate...my demise was put into motion four years ago when the oak tree we so loved was chopped down while we were visiting the village. I would rather not use what little strength I have left to argue with you. Please allow me to simply enjoy being with the two of you one last time.”
Upon reaching the stump, Dresdyn, under the direction of Coeden, placed the older man down on the ground beside a grave that was marked by a small stone. He then settled on the opposite side of Coeden while Klaryssa and Cerridwyn settled on either side of their father.
“Your mother loved this tree,” Coeden began with a wistful smile. “Back when this farm belonged to your grandfather, your mother would spend her free moments here...under the branches. She would sing, weave flowers together, or simply sleep in the shade of the branches on a hot day. It was where I first fell in love with her.”
“You visited her under the tree?” Cerridwyn said with a sad smile.
“I was the tree,” Coeden uttered fervently.
“What?” Klaryssa asked in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Coeden sighed and reached out to rest a trembling hand weakly upon the flat top of the hewn trunk. “I am a dryad, my dear saplings,”
7
Klaryssa and Cerridwyn both stared at their father in disbelief. Neither of them could believe what they had just heard from the man they thought they knew, and it was Klaryssa who broke the silence by speaking at last when she found her voice.
“You’re a what?”
Coeden sighed softly. “I am a dryad. This tree...my tree was part of me, just as I was part of it. We were once connected. We were one. I had spent years on this land, centuries, in fact, watching families come and go, but it was not until I saw your mother that I desired to take human form. I had watched her grow from a little girl, but it was the woman she became that stirred me and made me want for the first time in my existence.” Coeden sighed again and lowered his hand, so it rested lovingly upon the grave. “And so, I made myself flesh, and I wooed your mother until we were wed shortly after.”
Klaryssa looked back and forth between her father, the trunk, and her mother’s grave as she thought back on her entire life and mentally searched for any clues that might have hinted at Coeden’s true identity. Cerridwyn, for her part, could not take her gaze away from her father as he continued speaking.
“We were so happy, your mother and I,” Coeden whispered with a smile as his eyes watered with tears. “And our happiness only grew with your births, my darlings.”
“All this time...and you were never even truly human,” Cerridwyn whispered. “Did mother know the truth?”
Coeden nodded. “She did. She was the one person I told up until this moment, and she kept my secret until her dying day. It mattered not to her what I was...only that I loved her and treated her well, and I did love her. She was my reason for being, and I was utterly devoted to her.” Coeden hung his head. “Her untimely death left me broken, and were it not for the two of you, I would have forsaken my mortal form and returned to my tree for the rest of eternity.” He slowly raised his gaze and looked back and forth between his daughters. “But I could not abandon you, my sweet girls who reminded me so much of the woman from whom you sprung. The two of you became my new reason for existing this life, and that held true even after my tree was cut down.”
“I don’t understand,” Cerridwyn said sadly.
“A dryad’s life force is tied to the tree from which they emerge,” Dresdyn explained while touching the trunk with respect. “So long as this oak was alive and thriving, so too was your father, and land he tended.” He sighed softly. “But when the tree was cut…”
Klaryssa gasped softly and covered her mouth as the pieces finally fell into place in her mind. “That’s when everything changed.”
Coeden nodded sadly. “I should have died on that day; and, had my tree not been old and so closely connected to the land, I would have died instantly...and the two of you would’ve been left all alone in the world, and I simply couldn’t allow that.”
“How did you manage to stay?” Cerridwyn asked.
“The land,” Klaryssa whispered while looking her father in the eye. “You said your tree was closely connected to the land. You stayed alive by feeding off that connection.”
Coeden nodded. “But in doing so, I siphoned off what was needed for our crops to grow and thrive. I tried to take only a little at a time, but I kept weakening.” He breathed a shaky sigh. “Have you any idea how horrible I felt? I stayed to ensure that you two were cared for, but in doing so...I only made things more difficult for the two of you.”
“Don’t say that,” Cerridwyn sobbed while hugging her father’s arm and resting her head against his shoulder. “You did what you did out of love, and we love you for that, papa.”
Klaryssa nodded. “We do. We love you so much and telling us now that we must leave you behind is breaking our hearts.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “How are we supposed to simply leave you to die? At least let us stay so we can bury you next to mother.”
“My precious saplings,” Coeden murmured while weakly wrapping his arms around his daughters. “When I die, there will be nothing left for you to bury, for my body will simply return home as I once again become one with the earth.” His breath rattled in his chest, and his grip tightened around his daughters as much as he was physically able considering his lack of strength. “Know that I love you, my precious dears, and that I have loved you from the first moment you were each placed into my arms.”
“Papa,” Cerridwyn sobbed softly.
“Don’t be sad for me, my young sprout,” Coeden soothed. “I won’t feel any pain, I promise. I will simply lie here beside your mother and go to sleep as my body becomes one with the earth once more.” He turned his head so that he could kiss the cheeks of his daughter’s in turn. “Be at peace, my dears, and know that I will continue to love you even after I have returned home to the bosom of the earth.” He gave them a final, weak squeeze. “It is time, my darlings,” he whispered.
Nodding wordlessly as they sniffled and wept, Klaryssa and Cerridwyn shifted so they could both gently ease their father down onto his side. They watched as Coeden weakly draped his arm across their mother’s grave, and then tearfully leaned down to kiss his cheek in turn.
> Coeden’s dulling gaze found Dresdyn’s. “Remember your promise,” he rasped weakly.
“I swear it on the blood of my clan,” Dresdyn replied solemnly.
Nodding silently, Coeden weakly turned his gaze to his daughters. “Live well, be happy...and love,” he whispered before his eyelids heavily drifted closed. Moments later, his last breath of life left him, and his gnarled body became still.
Klaryssa wrapped her arms around Cerridwyn as the younger woman fell into her with a loud sob. Weeping quietly, she held her sister and rocked her gently. She did not see Dresdyn move from his spot across from her, but when Klaryssa felt a pair of strong arms encircle her, she did not fight them as they held her against an equally strong body. She needed them all, as well as the support they gave.
Especially when Coeden’s body began sinking into the earth as it slowly opened beneath him.
While he had not met the man before today, Dresdyn nevertheless remained quietly respectful, and did not attempt to fill the moment with idle chatter. That was not what Klaryssa and Cerridwyn needed. What they needed was the security and closeness of being in a pack. Dresdyn was not blind to the close bond Coeden had shared with his daughters, and all he could do was silently reassure them that they were not alone, not even in the wake of their recent loss. Dresdyn said nothing but continued to hold the sisters close as they watched their father’s body become enveloped by the earth. He nuzzled tenderly into Klaryssa’s hair before kissing the top of her head as she leaned heavily into him, and not once did he rush the pair.
It was not until Dresdyn sniffed the air and caught an unfamiliar scent that he was pulled from the moment, and he raised his head from his mate’s hair so he could turn his head in the direction of the scent. “Someone’s coming,” he said while pulling his hood low over his head. He only scented one person, so he did not bother calling to Kelder and Olaf.
Cerridwyn blinked. “How do you know?” she asked tearfully.
Dresdyn pointed back towards the cottage. “There. A man approaches.”
Looking where Dresdyn looked, Klaryssa sighed and hurriedly wiped her eyes. “It’s Bailey,” she said before slowly disentangling herself from the group embrace and standing. “I’ll send him away.” She looked to Dresdyn when he suddenly grabbed ahold of her hand. Her eyes warmed and her womb clenched with want despite her obvious grief when her future husband growled possessively in his throat. “I will come back to you,” she murmured fervently. “You have nothing to fear.”
Dresdyn remained silent, but nevertheless nodded after a few moments before gently squeezing Klaryssa’s hand while brushing a kiss to her knuckles. “Don’t be long,” he uttered while giving a subtle but pointed glance to Cerridwyn who was beside herself with grief.
Klaryssa shook her head and hurriedly gave her cheeks another wipe once she had both hands free. “I won’t,” she answered before turning and striding towards the man to whom she had been previously promised. Meeting him halfway, she stopped and waited for him to come the rest of the distance. “Hello, Bailey.”
“Do you take delight in worrying people?” Bailey asked while narrowing his already squinty eyes that were the color of mud.
“You mean my not returning last night?” Klaryssa asked while canting her head to the side.
“What else would I be talking about?” Bailey snapped. “Dynol’s balls, woman. You truly are more beauty than brains, aren’t you?”
Klaryssa blinked as a swell of indignation rose within her. “Excuse me?
In the past, whenever Bailey had belittled her or spoken down to her in any way, Klaryssa had simply taken it because she thought she had no other choice. She truly believed that she could do no better, and so she had resigned herself to Bailey’s putdowns. While Bailey was never violent towards her, he was nevertheless nasty in other ways.
Funny, how Klaryssa never truly realized it until now.
But, now she belonged to a very different sort of man. With Dresdyn, Klaryssa felt truly valued, and the fact that he was encouraging her to better herself by learning how to read only served to firmly differentiate between him and Bailey. Not only did Dresdyn appeal to Klaryssa’s heart, body and soul in ways that Bailey could never possibly hope to match, but he encouraged her to come into her own power and person so that she could effectively rule by his side.
To think that she had tried to leave him!
“I’ll have you know that I was nearly attacked and brutalized by brigands,” Klaryssa bit out evenly. “They chased me through the woods. I’m fine, by the way, in case you were wondering,” she snapped while putting her hands on her hips. “You can hardly blame me over something that I had absolutely no control over.”
“Well, if you had any brains at all in that pretty head of yours, you would’ve known better than to go off to the village unattended,” Bailey retorted. “I’ll have you know, that sort of headstrong behavior won’t be allowed once we are wed.”
Klaryssa crossed her arms and squared her shoulders while setting her jaw. “Fortunately, for me, that day will never come.”
Bailey canted his head to the side. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that I am not going to be your wife,” Klaryssa replied simply.
“Oh, really?” Bailey scoffed. “And just where do you think you’ll find someone else willing to take both you and your sister into their home?”
“I have no need to look, for I have already found him,” Klaryssa replied with a smile.
Bailey snorted and rolled his eyes while crossing his thick arms over his chest. “And just who would that be?”
“Lord y Blaidd,” Klaryssa replied with a growing smile.
Bailey regarded Klaryssa silently for a few moments. “Lord y Blaidd?”
“Yes,” Klaryssa answered with a nod. “You see, while you were busy thinking me to be stupid and inconsiderate, he was busy rescuing me from being defiled and murdered in the woods. He then declared that I was to be his bride.” She smiled smugly. “Who am I to disagree with our lord and master? Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to my sister and future husband.” She turned to leave.
“Fucking whore,” Bailey snarled while roughly grabbing hold of Klaryssa’s wrist. “So eager to spread your legs the moment riches and finery are dangled in front of you, eh?”
“What I do or don’t do with my legs is none of your business!” Klaryssa cried once she recovered from her shock.
“It fucking is my business,” Bailey snarled. “You were mine first!”
“Let go of me!” Klaryssa cried. She struggled to free herself and resorted to kicking Bailey hard in the shin when her former betrothed refused to release her.
Rage burned in Bailey’s eyes, and he raised his free hand to strike Klaryssa. “You ungrateful little--”
Suddenly, Dresdyn was there.
Gripping Bailey’s wrist in a bone-crushing grasp, he loomed over the farmer and bore his teeth in a snarl as a growl rumbled deeply in his throat. “Remove your dirty and unworthy hands from my bride,” he ordered in a guttural, inhuman voice. The moment Klaryssa was free, Dresdyn positioned himself protectively between her and Bailey, and only then did he release the farmer from his grip. “I should take your head here and now,” he snarled.
“Dresdyn, please don’t,” Klaryssa pleaded softly from behind her betrothed while shrinking into his back and clutching his cloak. “There has been enough death already. Please, can’t we just go?”
Dresdyn slowly breathed out through his nose as Cerridwyn came running over. “As you wish, my sweet,” he replied with an underlying growl while not once removing his glare from Bailey. “Leave. Now,” he bit out.
“How dare you treat my sister that way?” Cerridwyn demanded angrily before kicking Bailey in the groin with a wordless shriek.
Dresdyn grinned then threw his head back with a laugh as Bailey fell to his knees with a wordless groan. “Nicely done,” he praised.
Cerridwyn bea
med, even as she wiped away her residual tears. “Thank you. I never liked him,” she said while stepping behind Dresdyn so she could catch Klaryssa’s gaze. “Are you alright?”
Before Klaryssa could answer, two howls rang through the air, and she felt Dresdyn stiffen. “Dresdyn?” she asked worriedly.
“We have to go,” Dresdyn growled while turning and ushering Klaryssa and Cerridwyn towards the horses without paying any heed to Bailey who was still prone and gingerly clutching his groin on the ground. It was then that he finally noticed the unmistakable scent that he had been too distracted to notice until that moment. “Klaryssa, take your sister and ride. Ride back to the Keep as fast as you can,” Dresdyn instructed while hurriedly helping his mate and sister-in-law onto the back of the same horse. “It will be safer for the both of you if you stay together. Less chance of one of you falling behind. Now go!”
