Chapter 4: Thessalia’s Unwanted Suitor

Dane POV

Kodi’s purple eyes, like those of his identical brothers Bentley and Tau, looked just like their mother Lilia’s. But the thick messy cap of black hair that never seemed to stay brushed or fail to attract paint from Uncle Kyon’s studio was definitely from Dane.

And so was the triplets’ knack for getting into mischief and making Dane pull his hair out. Dealing with the entire Shifter Federation seemed less taxing.

Still, when he held Kodi, he knew he’d gladly shave off his hair and his wolf fur if it meant keeping his children safe. 

Even after raising four brothers, five if you counted his ex-enemy Cyran, Dane was wholly unprepared for how utterly and completely he adored his and Lilia’s children. 

With complete devotion, his mate clasped Kodi’s siblings Bentley and Tau to her breasts while they nursed. It would be Kodi’s turn to nurse soon, but for now, Dane walked with him around the Great Hall, looking into those jewel eyes.

“You know you cannot go so far from home and run away from Uncle Dirge, don’t you?”

Kodi shook his fist. “NO!”

Dane sighed. “And how, exactly, did you get from the meadow outside the city to where the wildfires were in the north?”

Kodi made sucking sounds as if nursing. “I want Ma.”

Dane stared into his son’s eyes. “Wait just a moment, little pup.”

“NO!”

Dane’s mountain of a brother and right hand Kyon Cresta, the pack Beta, had managed to slip into the Great Hall undetected, and he stood with his arms folded and a smirk on his chiseled, handsome face that had a smear of yellow paint on it. He was almost unrecognizable without his toddler girls Fairmont and Primrose and their brother Winston climbing all over him. 

“Did you want something?” Dane growled.

“Apart from the joy of seeing you deal with a tiny version of you, I wanted to inform you that our hero brother is here with the wood elves,” Kyon said in his best innocent voice.

Lilia had just finished telling Dane about Princess Thessalia showing up just in time to help save Kodi. Thank the Moon Goddess for loyal allies who appeared in their time of need without being asked!

“Elves, Daddy! Elves,” Kodi shouted.

Was it possible to melt into a puddle this fast seeing Kodi’s innocent joy? “I know, son. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

Lilia grinned playfully, with a tired look on her face. She looked more beautiful to him with each passing day. “I guess elves can make him forget his mommy.” 

“Only for a little while,” Dane assured her.

Seconds later, Dirge marched in proudly with Princess Thessalia of the Brighmere Grove and a green-haired wood elf he didn’t know walking gracefully behind him. 

Kodi kept babbling, “Elf, Daddy. Elf is here.” He reached out for Thessalia and the other elf.

Cuddling Kodi close to him, Dane bowed his head. “Princess Thessalia, welcome back to Evenhide lands.”

“Permission to enter your territory, Alpha,” Thessalia said, her hand on her heart. “I’m happy your little one is safe.”

The green-haired elf bowed. “He’s a brave one, and beautiful. Calyx Hopsage, handmaiden and Tree Maiden to the princess.”

“He’s safe thanks to both of you, I’m told–and you will always have permission,” Dane said in his best charming voice. “I wish we’d been informed of your visit. We would have prepared a proper reception for you both.”

But truthfully, despite his gratitude to Thessalia and Calyx, Thessalia’s sudden appearance set his wolf off. His wolf smelled something afoot. Wood elves did not just casually travel away from their grove. They did travel, but they didn’t like to leave their grove without good reason or preparation. He looked at Lilia, who, despite her exhaustion, observed the wood elves with a serious expression, her own suspicions raised.

Lilia juggled both toddlers. “And the new naming convention has been adopted among your people, I see.”

Calyx rolled her eyes. “It was easier than always saying ‘Calyx of the Hopsage Tree’ to refer to myself. I know elves live hundreds of years, but that sort of thing gets old after the first fifty. And can you imagine elves that have longer tree names? Not to mention a lot of elves don’t want to endanger their trees. Hopsage and Bearpoplar just sound like normal last names.”

Dane chuckled and exchanged glances with Dirge, Kyon, and Lilia. “Calyx sounds just like–”

“Patch,” all the other adults and Kodi said. 

Kyon’s warm brown eyes gleamed. “And Anneliese too. With a little bit of Jiro and Garnet mixed in.”

Dane smiled, thinking of his witch sister-in-law and Alpha brother and Luna sister-in-law. He really needed to mind-link with Jiro today. Even as the busiest Alphas in the Shifter Federation serving on the Shifter Parliament, they always made time for each other. Besides, Jiro would be interested in wood elves just showing up, and Jiro and Garnet would dig deep until there was nothing left to uncover.

Dane nodded at the tea service on the table with a plate of fresh seasonal fruit and Lilia’s mother Ravyn’s goldenberry pastries. “Please, refresh yourselves. You’ve traveled such a long way from the shade and fruit of your tree.”

“We owe you more than that for saving Kodi,” Lilia said softly. “We owe you a boon.”

Thessalia’s face fell. “That’s how my problems began. That’s why I’m here.”

Dane waved her over to the table. “Sit down and tell us everything. But know this: you have the protection of the Evenhide and Crimsontail Packs, as well as all the Crestas.”

Thessalia plunked down in a chair, settled in with a cup of tea, and began to relate her story.

* * * * *

Thessalia POV

ONE WEEK AGO

Her identical twin brother Prince Narbeth clamped his fingers on her arm like a flesh-eating vine, terror in his green eyes. 

“Thessalia, if you don’t marry him during the spring equinox in two weeks, I’ll lose my throne. And possibly my tree.”

She tried to pry his hand from her sensitive flesh. “YOUR throne? We rule together!”

His voice turned pleading, and charm dripped from his voice. At a hundred years old, he still acted like he was fifty, thinking he could get his way. And after their parents had died, their bodies feeding the forest, he usually could talk Thessalia into whatever he wanted.

Not this time.

“Thessi, it’s not as if he’s foul-tempered and ugly. You’re of age to marry someone and High Lord Ilbryen is an excellent match for you. You didn’t object when I told you about this.”

“Because I was in shock! I’ve recovered.”

His eyes narrowed. “And what made you ‘recover,’ exactly? Who have you been talking to? Your Tree Maiden?”

It was true Calyx never hesitated to speak her mind about Lord Ilbryen. “I don’t always do whatever she says. And she’d support whatever was best for me.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

She leaned against her bear poplar tree, listening to its whispers and the way it shuddered whenever Narbeth mentioned Lord Ilbryen. Her tree did not like the idea in the least, and that was enough for her. A wood elf’s tree was to the elf what a shifter’s wolf was to a shifter. A part of their being. Their conscience. A source of wisdom. A guide. 

Even if she didn’t sense something dark and disturbing about Lord Ilbryen, she would never go against her tree’s wishes and insight. 

“He is perfect,” she admitted, flinching as the man himself entered the grove, looking for her, no doubt. 

He had no less than ten elves fawning around him, with good reason. With his hair the same rich green as her tree and broad well-shaped pointed ears, a chest as solid as an ancient tree trunk, and a lean, wiry physique, he had half the females in the kingdom desiring him. His archery skills were even better than hers and her brother’s. He came from a bloodline that stretched back to the dawn of the wood elves. His tree and its ancestors had withstood everything from lightning storms to curses to black locusts–hence its name. Compared to his tree and family, Thessalia and Narbeth were upstarts. And he spoke to each elf he encountered with kindness and graciousness in his beautiful, soft voice.

But something about him didn’t feel right, and her tree and her Tree Maiden, Calyx, agreed.

She just wished he hadn’t cured her brother’s bronze willow tree of a nasty plant blight. In effect, he’d saved her brother’s life. A wood elf might survive after his tree had been destroyed, but no one ever wanted to take that chance.

Narbeth smiled, smoothing his blond hair. “Then what’s the problem?”

She decided to be honest. “My tree–”

“Tell your tree to get over it,” Narbeth said rudely. “Mine is grateful and so am I. Your tree is just being selfish.”

Thessalia gasped and felt faint, which she seldom did. No elf insulted another elf’s tree. And he wasn’t just talking about the tree.

“Brother, please, there must be some other boon we can grant him. I’d … I’d even make love to him.”

It wasn’t a physically unappealing idea. Ilbryen reeked of sex appeal.

“Do you hear what you’re saying?” Narbeth looked like she suggested she uproot her tree and move somewhere outside their kingdom. 

“I know it’s unusual but not unheard of.”

“And unacceptable to him.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You mean you–”

He lowered his head, deflated. “I tried before I even approached you. I don’t like this any more than you do, but you don’t break a boon. It would dishonor our family, and our trees might wither and die anyway.”

“That’s just a myth.”

He scowled. “Shifter wizards were a myth too, and by the way, Lord Ilbryen supported our fight against Hades Ombra. And then went on to tell anyone who would listen that this is why we should all stay in our kingdom.”

Whether he knew it or not, he was just strengthening her resolve. “We did for a long time and Hades would have come after our kingdom. I can’t marry someone like that. Fortunately,  Calyx has a plan.”

He rubbed his feet in the dirt, grounding himself. “I’m surprised she hasn’t thrown you into a sack and taken you to the glaciers.”

“She hates winter. She’s got someplace closer–a place that owes us and doesn’t exactly take kindly to outsiders. And she’s got a lead on that project of hers.”

His eyes widened. “That fantasy she’s been pursuing? Never mind that. The Crestas are our greatest supporters–”

Lord Ilbryen sidled up to them in time to hear this. “As long as they keep their troubles on their side of the border they’re useful allies, up to a point.”

Thousand-year-old gnarled oaks were more flexible! Thessalia gave him her most winsome smile. “They’ve protected us against Absalom Sinsworth.”

“And unleashed those tree-devourer zombies,” Lord Ilbryen sniffed. It made his handsome nose less appealing. “If I could steal you away to talk about our wedding finally?”

“I’m at your disposal, milord.”

When she turned to follow her betrothed, Narbeth held her back. “We’ll talk after everyone has gone to bed,” he whispered. “I can always just say you ran off and I knew nothing.”

She loved her brother so much her heart would burst.

* * * * *

In the present, Thessalia sipped the bracing wild bittersweet tea and drank in the empathy from Dirge, Dane, Lilia, Kyon, and Kyon’s mate Azandra, who had joined them. 

“Good deed or no, he sounds JUST as bad as Marcus Mond,” Azandra said. 

“Which is why we should offer her sanctuary,” Dirge argued.

Thessalia leaned back, exposing her throat. “My fate and my brother’s and my kingdom’s are in your hands. Please protect me and I’ll do anything.”