Chapter 27

But sleep was also out of the question. So she spent the next few hours thinking about all sorts of things. About her family, about this castle, the garden, today and especially about the king. This man didn't seem to want to get out of her head. Was it because she had discovered another side to him? What if his tyrannical side was just a facade? These thoughts tormented her until she realized it had to be almost midnight.

Nervously, she left her warm bed and slipped into her new slippers. Since her beloved fur cape was still with Alisen, she grabbed a coat from her closet. It didn't keep her warm very much, but it was still better than just wearing the thin nightgown. She listened one last time at her door and then ventured outside.

As always, everything was dark and only the moon gave her enough light to move forward without

any problems. But now she found the way to the garden without really thinking about it. This place

just attracted her in a magically way. But when she turned into the corridor this time, the door was

still locked. She suspected that she was earlier than the nights before. So she hid behind the curtains

again, hoping that she would be right. However, her curiosity was so great that she became impatient and soon lost hope. However, she forced herself to wait a little longer and was rewarded for it.

Just like the first night, the second door in the corridor opened and she could hear footsteps and

jingling keys.

A door was unlocked and the footsteps grew quieter until they finally faded away. Lyana only heard

her own breathing and it didn't take long and she had the courage to move again.

It was a risk to go out into the garden so early. Who could assure her that the king actually went there to sleep? Still, she was ready to take that very risk.

She walked down the stone corridor until she could feel the breath of air on her skin again like last

night. Her gaze immediately wandered to the tree in the middle of the garden. As she had already correctly guessed, the king lay leaning against the wisteria in the grass today.

She stepped a little closer but not much, since she was afraid he could be still awake and discover

her. But at that very moment a cloud that had covered the moon moved on and the light shone again

on the tree. It looked like it made the tree glitter. But then Lyana noticed how the glitter was moving

and she realized that it wasn't because of the tree or the light of the moon. She could hardly believe

her eyes, but what she saw had to be tree spirits. Little magical creatures she'd only heard of before.

She thought they were just mere stories. But the closer she dared to get, the more certain she

became.

You could hardly see them properly, because they were so small. Looking almost like small people, but their skin was slightly transparent and their silver hair went all way down to their tiny feet. Now she could also see that the glitter was coming from the wings, which were otherwise completely transparent and in the shape of butterfly wings. And all of them flew around the tree and King Ulric.

It almost looked like some kind of dance.

One of the beings was suddenly flying straight towards Lyana. Without knowing what she was

doing, she raised her hand and reached out to the little creature. It landed gently on her finger and

suddenly a feeling of great sadness overwhelmed her. She felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore

because of the pain and fell back on the grass. The tree spirit flew back to its companions and as

suddenly as these figures appeared, as quickly they disappeared again. Only the moonlight lingered,

still shining through the leaves. But Lyana heart didn't stop hurting and tears ran uncontrollably

from her eyes. With the last ounce of her strength she managed to get up again and run out of the

garden.

When she was back in the corridor, these feelings subsided slowly and her heart calmed down. She

had never felt anything so intense. Completely distraught, she ran back to her room and threw

herself onto the bed.

She tried to get a clear thought. Were these feelings caused by the tree spirits? She had never paid

enough attention when being told about them. For her it was just a pretty fairy tale. But now a few facts about these beings would have been useful.

After some time Lyana decided that there was no point in worrying about it. She was completely

exhausted and hurriedly slipped under the covers. Whatever had happened tonight had to mean

more than she was currently aware of. She felt that.