Page 193 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

She was still arguing with him about going back when they made it into the bank.

She froze.

Where before the mosaic tiles had once been perfectly aligned, atreerose out of the ground. As if its roots had sprung up through feet of cement and cracked the floor to burst fifteen feet into the air.

“There is a tree in the middle of the room.”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you and Gen.”

“That somehow atreeis here?”

“Our tree,” Ethan explained. “It’s our magic.”

She glanced at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“When we were connected as a triskel, I took way too much and blasted the magic into the floor. You’d already passed out by the time it happened. We all left, and when we came back, a tree had appeared where I released the power. It’s been growing steadily ever since.” Ethan touched thetrunk and closed his eyes as if connecting with it. “It’s part of us now.”

“How?”

“Niamh thinks our triskel magic created a new sacred tree.”

Kierse’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that possible?”

“It hasn’t been done before, but they said that a triskel can do great magic.”

Kierse stepped hesitantly forward and put her hand on the tree. It reacted to her magic with a sigh. No, it wasn’t reacting to her magic; itwasher magic. Primarily hers, at least. There was a tiny thread of Ethan and Gen in there, too. Just like when they were linked and she was the torrent of power that suffused them.

She could hardly believe that this great thing had come out of their joining. She knew that a triskel had saved her life. But this somehow felt so different to that. So precious.

Her mind recalled another sacred tree she’d seen—Sansara. Had Cillian Ryan channeled his own magic to recreate the tree he’d destroyed? Was that how Sansara still stood? Was that evenpossiblewithout a triskel?

And then another question—could Cillian Ryan be part of a triskel?

“Thinking deep thoughts,” Ethan said.

“It’s been one of those days.”

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

She sighed. Sheshouldconfide in Ethan. She always had before. “I have a block in my memory.”

Ethan’s brows furrowed. “Gen said that you were starting to remember things from before. I can’t believe the spell took your memories.”

“Yeah,” Kierse said on a sigh. “How much did she tell you?”

“That you went into the market to get a memory potion and you remembered that they’d had the spell put on you. I didn’t know you’d done more than that.”

Kierse shrugged. “Well, with Graves’s help.”

Ethan sighed. “Do I even want to know?”

“Maybe not,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s been fine. He’s just helped me recall the rest of my memories. And there’s a block when I try to remember the moment when the spell was cast, like a skip in my mind. I can’t get through it to see it happening. No matter how Graves or I push, it’s not there.”

Ethan looked uncomfortable. He’d come around a little on Graves, but Kierse didn’t know if he would ever be fully convinced.

“You know what, forget about it,” Kierse said with a shake of her head. “This is why I didn’t tell you to begin with.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Ethan said quickly. “I want to know more. What does that mean? That the memory isn’t there?”

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