The Tree's Heart

XIX

Clover woke up disoriented. She wasn't sure what had happened. She had gone out of the ward with Dras, that was what she remembered. They had gone to the river and then she had fallen asleep, because she was just so tired. There were flowers and Dras seemed to be upset about something... It took Clover a long time to piece the events together in the right order. She had smelled some strange flower and had pretty much immediately fallen asleep. By the river. Outside of the protective ward.

Clover sat up with a start. A trap. This had been a trap. She had been so hellbent on refusing any advances from Avery that she hadn't even been paying attention to what Dras was warning her about. And she had walked right into his trap – or that's what she thought at least. She couldn't be sure. But who else would try to make a trap just for her? Surely, this was Avery's doing. Clover groaned in frustration.

She looked around herself. She was alone, and this was definitely not the river. She was somewhere else entirely – a part of the forest that didn't look familiar at all. She was sure that she had never been here before. And this bit of forest also didn't look like a very pleasant bit of forest, if she was honest.

The trees that were surrounding her were tall and dark, their leaves not letting any sunlight in. There were bushes between them that seemed to be incredibly thick. It was a little cold, but not cold enough for Clover to be freezing. There was barely any wind out here and the ground looked dark – there was barely any moss growing, probably due to the lack of light. There were some mushrooms, however.

Clover looked down on herself and found that she was dressed differently as well. She was dressed in a long, dark dress. It was almost completely black, safe for some sparkling bits. Clover wasn't even sure what they were. The dress was tight around her upper body, but had many layers of material further down, making it look huge. The material felt nice against her skin, soft and silky. The dress had sleeves that looked like tulle or silk and that were loosely covering her shoulders. She seemed to also have some sort of cape attached to the dress, running down her shoulders and her back and dragging on the ground.

Clover almost wished she could see herself in that dress. It looked beautiful and she was sure that she looked absolutely regal in it. But the real question was who was responsible for this. Who had found her a dress like this and changed her into it? It had to be Avery. Avery, king of the fae. But what was he playing at with all this? Did he still want her? After everything that had happened? It seemed ridiculous.

Clover stood up, spinning around herself, watching the layered material of the dress swirling around her. It almost looked like the sparkling was moving ever so slightly different from the black material, creating a beautiful and extravagant effect. Clover felt like she was looking at the night sky when she was looking at the dress. She was sure that had been the intention of whoever made it. And she was also sure that it had been made with some sort of magic. Clover sighed. She would have loved this if it wasn't for all the implications that came with it. The implications that Avery had tricked her and knew exactly how to woo her.

She had to get away from here. She had to get out somehow, and hopefully she would make it back to the cabin. And she had to be on her guard not to accept any gifts. No water, no food. If she got caught out like that by the fae, it was over for her. Clover wanted to cry. She didn't know why she had been so stupid. How had she fallen for such an obvious trap? Despite Dras' warnings? She felt awful.

Dras was going to blame himself for this, Clover already knew it. He would feel so guilty again and it would all be her fault. And Willow – she didn't even want to think about how much Willow was worrying about her. Would she go and figure out a way to get her out of this? And what was going to happen to her? Was Avery planning to keep her here and starve her, hoping she would eat some of his food, if she was hungry enough? Clover felt sick, just thinking about it. She couldn't imagine what he was thinking.