ALDER

by Melody Robinette

  “He…he didn’t make it through the battle, Crys,” Autumn said finally.

  “No.” Crystal shook her head slowly back and forth, eyes filling with tears as she pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. “Are—are you sure?” she said thickly. “Did you—did you check to make sure? I mean, he could’ve just been unconscious like me. He—”

  “We’re sure,” Luke said, his voice saturated with pain. “We checked… He’s gone.”

  Watching Crystal learn of Forrest’s death was almost as bad as hearing about it for the first time. She cried for a long time, sobbing at first, then sniffling, then settling into quiet, constant streaming tears. Luke had underestimated Crystal’s strength—or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to see her hurt so soon. But she could handle death. She had to. She was a Warrior.

  * * *

  KYNDEL lay in Ember’s arms with a flow of relentless tears leaking out of her tawny eyes.

  Ember brushed a strand of hair out of her face and gently kissed her cheek. “You’ve got to quit crying sometime, Baby. Your eyes are going to swell shut.”

  “My best friend is in a coma, Ember,” Kyndel said thickly. “I can’t just turn off my emotions like you.”

  Ember sighed and rolled over. “I don’t know why I even bothered coming here if you aren’t going to let me comfort you and just throw insults at me to make yourself feel better.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s true!” Kyndel said, sitting up. “Sometimes I can’t even tell if you really even like me. Sometimes it seems like you’re just with me for the sex or the control or whatever. Sometimes you’re so emotionless it’s like you’re one of those metal creatures Outsiders make.”

  “A robot?”

  “I guess. I don’t read their books like you do.”

  “You ever think that maybe there’s a reason I turn my emotions off, Kyndel? Or that I feel the need to always feel in control? That maybe something horrible happened to me that forced me to learn how? No. Because you only worry about your own problems.”

  “My best friend might never wake up!” Kyndel yelled. “What problem could be worse than that?”

  “Oh, gee, I don’t know. Maybe being repeatedly raped by your stepfather since you were eight years old? Or your own mother knowing about it, but doing absolutely nothing to stop it? Or moving in with your older sister and her husband—who really don’t want you around—to get away from that disgusting pervert, but still having nightmares about him every single night? Maybe that.”

  Kyndel’s mouth fell open, all words of anger disintegrating into thin air. “That happened to you?”

  Ember’s bottom lip trembled, and Kyndel could tell she was fighting hard to keep her tears from spilling over. Kyndel approached her cautiously. At first, Ember pushed her hands away, but on the second attempt, she let them envelop her before she collapsed in on herself, her body shaking with sobs. In all the time they’d known each other, Kyndel had never seen Ember cry. Not even a little tear. So, to see her sob like this made her hurt even more than she already did. Then at some point, her cries disappeared, and her lips were on Kyndel’s, kissing her hungrily, desperately, as if she were trying to forget something.

  Kyndel let her even though she knew she was just feeding Ember’s problem. She didn’t care. She wanted to be the one that made it better, the one that made her forget. They ripped at each other’s clothes, kissing trails of fire across each other’s bare skin. Ember had even carelessly let herself lose control of her Power enough to unknowingly burn the delicate skin of Kyndel’s stomach, welts blossoming up in angry red splotches where her lips had been.

  The two of them let themselves go in a way they never had before, holding nothing back—moaning and breathing so loudly that it wasn’t until Kyndel was being yanked violently up by her hair that she realized her father had even entered her room.

  8

  Diamond Rose

  When Autumn wasn’t sitting by Crystal’s side in the Healing Tree, she was sitting alone on the hill by the waterfall boundary, looking out at her home. She felt an overwhelming sense of protection for Arbor Falls. Being one-half of its diarchy, she had the responsibility to keep it safe. But this week…she had failed. Many of its residents had died at the hands of Shadows. Warriors, Casters, elves, warlocks, families, parents, and children. She felt an overwhelming—suffocating—sense of guilt. For someone whose primary goal in life was to help people, a loss like this was almost unbearable.

  So, there she sat, at the highest point in town, where she could see everything, watching over the people for whom she felt responsible. She considered having a throne planted where she now sat crossed-legged on the ground so she could always watch over them. What good was she inside Arbor Castle?

  Only Crystal, Avery, and Luke knew that she came up there for solitude and reflection, so she was surprised when she saw Kyndel appear through the trees, her face blotchy and red, eyes swollen from crying.

  Autumn’s first thought was, “Oh, No. Please tell me Charlotte didn’t—”

  “No,” Kyndel said coming to sit beside Autumn, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks.

  “Are you—?”

  “No, I’m not okay,” Kyndel said, more tears leaking out of her swollen, tawny eyes. “I haven’t stopped crying for the past two days, my best friend is in a coma, I just found out horrible things about my girlfriend, and—” she stopped, biting her trembling lip. Autumn put a comforting arm around her, waiting for her to continue. “And my father kicked me out of his house.”

  At these words, she broke down into sobs and Autumn pulled her into a tight hug. “Why would he— Oh. Did he, uh, did he find out?”

  “Yes, in the worst possible way. And he told me that he no longer considered me his daughter and that I should change my last name because he didn’t want people to associate me with him. I know I said he would disown me if he found out, but I didn’t actually believe it until now. I mean…he’s my dad. He should love me no matter what shouldn’t he?”

  “What about your mom?” Autumn asked.

  Kyndel shook her head, water slinging from her eyes. “She’s too afraid of my dad to go against him. Besides, I’m sure she even agrees with him on this. They were raised extremely traditionally. She just watched me pack my things from outside of my room and said nothing as I left.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kyn,” Autumn whispered, squeezing her tighter.

  “I don’t know what I expected to happen. I couldn’t exactly keep this up forever. I’d been hoping to at least be in my own house and everything before I—” Kyndel cursed then, apparently realizing something.

  “What?”

  “My dad owns nearly all of the tree houses in Arbor Falls. Where am I going to live?” she said, a new wave of tears coursing down her cheeks.

  “You’ll stay at Arbor Castle,” Autumn stated.

  Kyndel’s eyes widened as she turned her head to look at Autumn. “What? Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. You can stay as long as you like. In fact, my old branch is still vacant. You can stay there.”

  Kyndel started to sob then, saying, “Thank you, Autumn. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. I know we hated each other in the beginning, but now that Charlotte is—is… Well, I’m just glad we’re friends now.”

  She squeezed Kyndel tighter, trying to take away some of her pain. She couldn’t help but feel that everyone’s lives were crumbling around her, and no matter what she did or how hard she tried, she couldn’t put them back together again.

  * * *

  AVERY closed his eyes as the cool breeze blew his hair away from his face. His pegasus, Knight, flew out over the forest, gliding like a floating leaf in the wind. Looking down at Arbor Falls, Avery smiled. The town had been put back together, the fallen trees had been removed or repaired, and everything was back in its place. All because of Autumn. She honestly didn’t realize how incredible of a leader and a person she was.

  Ever since they’d made love,
the day before the worst loss in the history of Arbor Falls, Avery couldn’t stop thinking about this particular trip. Except for maybe briefly during the battle. With their world quickly crumbling around them, the only light and driving force in his life was Autumn. She was everything. Everything. And he wanted her to know just how much she meant to him. She’d been so stressed and guilt-laden after the attack that they’d barely had a chance to speak alone. Her mind was far away all the time now, and it took her much longer than usual to come back to him. He had a plan for tonight, though. And, hopefully, it would manage to break through the darkness that she’d been engulfed in for so long now.

  As he landed atop the hill of diamond roses, his heart swelled just at the thought of the look on her face when he offered it to her. Diamond roses were unlike red roses in that they wouldn’t allow just anyone to pick them. If the person placing their hand on its stem wasn’t ready or had impure intentions, the rose would refuse to be pulled up. So when the stem effortlessly gave way to Avery’s touch, he smiled to himself.

  Placing the diamond rose gently in his bag, he urged Knight to leave Diamond Hill and steered him in the direction of Fay Forest.

  * * *

  AUTUMN, sitting alone again, watched the Underground sun sink low in the sky like an orange and pink flower caught in golden tree sap. Her stomach was knotted and filled with dread, and she couldn’t quite figure out why. A shiver trickled across her skin. Being September, it had been unseasonably cold lately, the temperature barely rising above sixty degrees.

  Unwelcome thoughts of the recent attack filled her convoluted mind for the thousandth time that day. She still couldn’t figure out where the Shadows had gone the day of the attack. It had been so bizarre. They’d just stopped fighting, stood upright, and retreated all at once—as if someone had called them back. Like remote control robots. Deadly remote control robots.

  Had Victor called them back? He was able to control them, after all. Vyra said so herself. But, if he had ordered them to retreat…why? Why not just let them kill everyone and get it over with? Was he just trying to mess with her and Luke? Get them to give up or even offer up their crowns to save the remaining elves? For a moment, Autumn wondered if that would work. She wanted her friends and family—because that’s what the Warriors were—to live and be happy more than she wanted anything else, including being Queen. But could she actually relinquish her crown, placing it in the evil hands of Victor Vaun? What sort of life would that be…living under his reign of terror?

  Sighing, she stood to leave her spot on the hill. Luke had asked her to meet him at the castle for some reason—probably to talk about their retaliation plan, the thought of which completely exhausted and terrified her. Brushing the dirt off her pants, she turned towards the path that led down into Arbor Falls but stopped with a gasp.

  Victor Vaun stood in the middle of the opening between the trees, watching her with mild interest.

  “Leaving so soon?”

  9

  Proposition

  “Victor,” Autumn growled, immediately moving into a defensive stance.

  For a moment, she contemplated hypnotizing him with her Song and killing him right then and there. She had her Warrior knife with her. She had her bow and sheath of arrows. She could do it. That was, of course, in theory. Unfortunately, Victor knew exactly the extent of her Power, and he knew exactly how to stifle it. He was an Ellock, after all. He had more power than even she was aware of.

  “Hello, Autumn,” he said with false politeness. “I believe we were in this exact spot when we last saw one another, correct?”

  “Yes, I do believe it was,” she said, mocking him right back. “Such a shame we didn’t have much time to talk then, what with you striking me mute and invisible and killing your sister and everything.”

  “Do you regret the death of my sister?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Of course not. But I do regret that I didn’t figure out her plan before she could kill my grandfather.”

  Victor nodded. “Yes, well. It was either him or you. But, knowing you and your painfully selfless nature, I’m guessing the latter would have been your first choice.”

  Autumn stayed silent because he was right. If given the choice, she’d have taken her grandfather’s place. “What do you want, Victor?” she said now, tired of humoring him. “Surely you didn’t come here for pleasant chatter. Come to kill the queen finally?”

  “On the contrary, quite the opposite. I have a proposition for you,” he stated, moving forward by a few steps.

  Autumn walked backward just as many. “I refuse to make any deals with you, Victor. That’s not the kind of queen I am. You should know that.”

  “Oh? Not even to spare the lives of the elves of Arbor Falls, the Warriors, and Casters? Not even to save those you love the most—Crystal, your brother, Avery?”

  “The Warriors and Casters are completely capable of protecting our town,” Autumn said, though her conviction wavered. She knew this wasn’t entirely accurate. Not anymore, that was. The Shadow attack a few days ago had proved that. If the Shadows hadn’t retreated, the whole town would likely have been destroyed. They both knew this.

  Victor spoke the words she’d been thinking. “Is that so? You mean if I hadn’t called for my Shadows to return to Alder Island, your Warriors would have been able to save your town? If I send them again, how well do you think you will fare with a quarter less of your people? Who would you lose this time?”

  Autumn clenched her jaw, loathing the man who stood before her more than anything or anyone she’d ever hated combined. He was still just as beautiful as he had been before. He looked much older now, though, as if taking all of those innocent souls had aged him somehow. Like Luke, he’d let his facial hair grow out slightly, as if to convince the world that he was a man now. His emerald eyes still shone in the setting sunlight, as green as ever. Autumn was reminded of a man she had grown to care for, who had those exact same eyes—Rion Lavigne. Victor’s father. Vyra had killed him barely a month ago. Autumn wondered if Victor even cared.

  “Okay,” she said darkly, looking up at him with a glare that said exactly what she wished she could do to him. “What is your proposition?”

  The shadow of a satisfied smile floated across Victor’s face. “I knew you would come around. Don’t want to be responsible for any more of your friends’ deaths, I’m sure.”

  “Just get on with it already,” Autumn spat. “What do you want?”

  “You,” Victor stated laconically.

  “Me?”

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and her heart raced—not in her chest, but in her throat. “What do you mean? I thought you said you didn’t want to kill me.”

  “I don’t.”

  Autumn’s mouth tugged down in perplexity. “Then…what do you want with me?”

  “That will become clearer in time,” Victor answered cryptically. “For now, I just want you to agree to come back with me—to Alder Island.”

  Thoroughly baffled now, Autumn said, “Sooo…you want me to live there? In your lair?”

  “Yes.”

  “For how long?”

  “Indefinitely.”

  “No way,” Autumn said vehemently, shaking her head. “I’d rather die.”

  “Would you rather Crystal died? Or Luke? Avery? Remember, Autumn, that is the alternative. Either you come with me, and I completely remove the Shadows from the rest of the Underground, ceasing all attacks…or I release all the Shadows with the order to kill anything and everything in their path.

  “And, if you think the attack on Arbor Falls was devastating, you are sadly mistaken. The Shadows you saw then are only a small fraction of what will come if you deny my offer. Let me just say, you won’t be the only one dying. In fact,” he said thoughtfully. “I can make it so that you are the only one who doesn’t die. Did you not find it strange that you managed to get through the attack virtually unharmed? Not a scratch or a bruise upon you?”r />
  Autumn frowned. She hadn’t even thought about it. She’d been too concerned with the fragile state of Crystal and Charlotte, and distraught about the many deaths of her friends and fellow Warriors. Now, she realized, he was right. She’d made it through the battle without so much as a minuscule scratch when everyone else was covered in large, purple bruises and long, shallow gashes and cuts.

  “What, did you put some sort of protection shield around me or something?” she asked with a creased brow.

  The corner of Victor’s lip tugged upwards. “Something like that.”

  “Why?”

  “As I said, you will learn the details later. Right now, I need your answer.”

  Autumn’s mind reeled. She looked out over the little town she had grown to love, filled with the people she’d grown to love even more. How could she just leave them? Leave without so much as a goodbye? Then she realized a glitch in Victor’s plan.

  “You know, Luke and Avery will come after me. They’ll come to Alder Island to get me back and will likely die trying. Then this whole thing will have been for nothing.”

  Victor was already shaking his head. “I assure you, they will not come after you.”

  “What? Of course they will. They would do anything for me.”

  “Not…” Victor paused dramatically, “if they think you’re dead.”

  * * *

  LUKE sat in the Healing Tree clutching Crystal’s hand. She was probably tired of his constant doting, but she had no idea what he’d been through almost losing her.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Autumn at the castle soon?” Crystal asked, her voice still sounding weaker than usual.

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “I just hate leaving you.”

  “Avery needs you, Luke,” she reminded him gently, gifting him with a small smile. “He’s proposing to Autumn tonight. It has to be perfect. I’ll be okay, I promise.”