The Tree's Heart

XI

Dras was feeling awful. He didn't know what to do. Miss Clover had left with Lord Avery and he hadn't been able to stop her from going with him, which was one of the main reasons Miss Willow had told him to accompany Miss Clover – and he had failed terribly at that. He hadn't been able to stop her from going with him.

The thing was that he was afraid of Lord Avery. He was the king of all fae – and there were many rumours about how he had become king. It had happened a long time ago, so all Dras could go by were rumours. Fae were immortal after all. In a way. They wouldn't die of old age, but it wasn't impossible to kill them. Difficult, but not impossible. Either way, Lord Avery had authority over all the fae and to an extent over all the creatures in the forest. And that included him. He couldn't just disobey him.

How was he going to tell Miss Willow about this? She would be so disappointed and Dras hated disappointing anyone. But he had to tell her. Miss Willow would know a way of finding Miss Clover and she could possibly save her. Miss Willow was the only person that had managed to survive in the forest this long without becoming part of it. She would know what to do, but Dras didn't like to be the bearer of bad news.

Still, he had to go. It took Dras a while to get out of his shock at what had happened, but once he had gotten out of it, he quickly made his way back through the forest, clutching the vial with dryad sap tightly. He had no idea where Miss Clover could have gone, but it would probably be somewhere deeper within the forest. Somewhere that would be hard to get to, so Lord Avery would have more of a chance to keep Miss Clover all to himself. Which meant that she was in terrible, terrible danger – and all because of him!

Dras sped up, jumping over tree branches, and almost falling a few times on his way back to the cabin that Miss Willow lived in. He just hoped that it wasn't already too late. But Miss Clover was smart – surely, she wouldn't accept any gifts or any food or drink from Lord Avery. If she did... she would be lost. There would be nothing they could do for her anymore. She'd forever be bound to the realm of the fae.

How could she have done this? How could she have just gone with Lord Avery? And it seemed like the two of them knew each other already! He somehow must already have had a hold over her, some sort of spell. Or maybe it was just his mere presence. Dras knew that his presence alone could have effects that weren't dissimilar to a spell. What had he called Miss Clover again? His companion. This was bad...

He meant to marry her. He had set his mind to it and Dras knew that he wasn't going to stop at anything. Maybe he was charming now, maybe that was how he was lulling Miss Clover in. But Dras knew better. The fae could be cruel, they could be deceiving. Their morals were completely different to the morals of humans. Miss Clover had absolutely no idea what she was in for! They had to get her back soon.

Dras had finally made it to the river. He leapt over it. His lungs were hurting in his chest, and he wanted nothing more but to take a break, but he wasn't going to stop until he had made it to Miss Willow's cabin. He could rest there, at least for a little while, while he told her everything that had happened.

He felt so guilty about it. He should have been firmer when Lord Avery had appeared, but he was afraid of him. He was afraid of what he might have done if he had protested too much. After all, since Dras had been born in the forest, he was under Lord Avery's dominion. He couldn't just oppose him without any consequences, and those consequences might be dire. There were many rumours about Lord Avery's cruelty. Sure, some of them were probably exaggerated, but Dras believed at least a few of them to be true. He had to kill the former Queen of the Fae to become king, after all. And it was not an easy thing to kill a fae queen. But all that had happened before Dras was born, so he didn't know the details of it all. Either way, Lord Avery was bad news, that much was clear. And Miss Clover was with him right now.