Page 423 of Kingdoms of Night

CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE

VIRIDI

Viridi thought through the agony that the sudden severing of his bond with the trees had burned into him. His vision fogged and he leaned against one of the oaks, pulling breath into his shuddering lungs.

Isa couldn’t do this alone.

He had to transform.Fully. Only with his full power could they hope to somehow free Nico without them killing him first.

Father appeared from the forest. “Destroy them all, my son. Everything will return to peace and happiness if you let go of that human woman and that boy and be who the jeweltrees insist you are.”

“I know who I am. And peace and happiness are not the result of hiding from the world and shutting loved ones from your heart. Isa is my mate.”

“Such a terrible disappointment.” Father threw something silver.

Viridi raised his arm; tough bark grew over his flesh and deflected the short sword. The weapon bounced wildly back and lodged in Father’s thigh. Blood spurted from the wound and Father dropped to the sand, blood spreading like roots beneath him.

“You created your own fate,” Viridi said through gritted teeth. Unshed tears seared his eyes and he felt as though he were falling apart.

Blood blackened the sparkling sand at Father’s feet. He jerked. His eyes widened and he fell onto his back, his chest heaving.

Viridi swallowed bile and reached out a hand. “Father, I…”

But Father’s chest stilled.

The king was dead.

Cold washed over Viridi. The voices of the jeweltrees hissed louder and louder as the sensation of change shivered over Viridi’s flesh and snapped and crackled along his bones. The magic surged through him and he felt like he was every tree in the world, every leaf and branch and root. He let the power wash through him completely, but he silently repeated Isa’s words, holding them clear and bright as the ringing of a wind chime.

I feel your strength…Isa’s voice said in his memory.Rouse the monster in you and put it to work, Prince.

That was the key she’d given him. Stop trying to hold back the horror and instead claim it as his own.

Destroy…The trees began rumbling in his ears, their voices blending into one powerful force that was difficult to keep separate from his own mind.

“I am the Thorned One,” Viridi repeated, now saying it out loud. “I know my own mind and my heart. Bend and bow.” He focused on the forest behind him as branches extended from his fingers and head in snapping bursts, as his limbs grew stronger and stronger. “Bend and bow to me.”

The jeweltrees warred with him, magic tugging at his arms and legs, at the roots that were now his feet and toes. Bright green magic, spun with a sickly yellow-white hue, whirled around him like a storm, tearing at his hair and nipping at him like thousands of small teeth. The scent of abhorrent magic hit his nose, sour and pungent.

He had seen magic that color once before—when the pirate witch had thrown her spells. His guess had been right. This was a curse she’d set on the jeweltrees.

Without his will, his branched arm shot out toward Isa.

He saw red, the blood he would take.

He saw fire, the energy he would drain, he would absorb.

Shaking his head, he lifted his chin to the stars. “I am the Thorned One.”

The sickly yellowish color faded.

“I rule here. Not the trees. Not the witch’s curse. I rule this island.” Imagining his hands reaching around his own head and heart, he claimed the power, his fate, and the magic that wove him into who he was. “I. Am. The. Thorned. One.”

The scent of rot dissipated. The pale yellow haze fizzled away completely. The earth beneath him quaked and he went cold all over, frozen to stillness.

Then a burst of warmth shot from his chest, from his heart, to spread over his body. His vision cleared, the stars sparkling, blurring as he moved his gaze to Isa.

The jeweltrees sighed inside his mind and any signs of the pirate witch’s curse disappeared.

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