Page 14 of The Sapphire Dragon Prince
Azurus wasn’t half as deterred as I was. “If the orchard is a constant cycle, how do we find a specific one hundredth tree?” he asked.
The farmer shifted his weight and scratched his beard. “I suppose the only way to give the trees numbers would be if you planted them yourselves,” he said. “There would be the first tree you planted, the tenth, and the hundredth.”
Azurus smiled. “Perfect,” he said. “Then if you’ll allow us, my mate and I will plant a hundred trees and take a cherry from the last.”
The farmer nodded cheerily. “All of us here would be glad for the help with our tasks. If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to a prepared field, find you several trays of seedlings, and explain the planting process.”
Azurus seemed completely satisfied with the arrangement, but as I followed him and the farmer to one of the outbuildings, my heart sank.
“How can we plant a hundred trees?” I asked once the farmer provided us with everything we would need for the task and led us into an empty field. “Planting trees is hard work. I…I must admit that I’ve never had to do manual labor in my life.”
Azurus, who was lining up the two-foot-tall saplings and the tools we would need to plant them, turned to me with a smile. “You can do this, Misha. I know you can. Have I not said all along that you are stronger than you look?”
I tried to smile at his kind assessment, but I didn’t feel strong at all. “You overestimate my abilities,” I told him with a sigh, putting on the gardening gloves and hat I’d been provided with.
“And you have no idea how wonderful you are,” Azurus told me.
He stepped closer to me and surprised me by sweeping me into his arms when I wasn’t expecting it and planting a firm kiss on my lips. His rain scent surrounded me, and for a moment I felt something loosen and soften inside me. I wanted to embrace him in return, keep kissing him, and see where the kiss might go.
It was the closest I’d come to going into heat since the two of us had met, and it encouraged me.
“How do we do this?” I asked with a different sort of sigh entirely when he let me go.
Azurus seemed as happy as could be as he took me to the line of saplings he’d made next to the small ridge of dirt where the trees needed to be planted. “In theory, it’s simple,” he said. We dig a hole deep enough for each sapling’s roots, then we put the tree in, fill the dirt back into the hole, and water it.”
I drew in a bracing breath and nodded. “It sounds simple enough,” I said.
Then I glanced down the long, long row where we needed to do all the planting. It seemed to stretch on forever. The task Queen Gaia had set us might not have been impossible, but it looked like it would be difficult and take forever.
Just as my fear and anxiety started to well up at all the work ahead of me, the Queen’s voice sounded in my head again. “Do you want to be made better?”
I sucked in a breath, using it to help me stand tall. “Yes,” I answered aloud. “I want to get better.” And to do that, I needed to do the work.
Azurus had gone to fetch a shovel. He walked back to the ridge of dirt like he would dig the hole and do all the work for me, but I stepped forward and held out my hand.
“I can do it,” I said.
“Not if you think it’s too strenuous,” Azurus said, hesitating instead of handing me the shovel.
I shook my head. “This quest is to makemebetter. I need to do the work.”
That seemed to be enough of an answer for my alpha. He handed over the shovel.
I walked to the ridge, and with only a bit of hesitation to take a deep breath, I thrust the blade of the shovel into the ground, digging my first hole.
It wasn’t as difficult as I’d thought it would be. The dirt was moist and loose and came away easily as I put my back into it. Azurus stood at the ready with the first sapling, and as soon as the hole was deep enough, he lifted it and placed it just so. I shoveled dirt back into the hole, and together we patted it securely before watering it.
Once that was done, I glanced up at Azurus and smiled. “That wasn’t so hard,” I said.
“Not at all,” Azurus agreed.
He looked so proud of me, which warmed my heart in ways I wasn’t sure it had ever been warmed. I’d never been cared about the way Azurus cared about me before. It made moving onto the second tree so much easier.
We worked together to plant the second tree, then the third, then the fourth. Azurus and I worked so well together, which became apparent almost immediately. We fell into a sort of rhythm with each other, me digging and Azurus placing the tree before we filled in the dirt and watered it together. We were a partnership, a team, and the whole process felt good.
Until we got to the twenty-fifth tree.
“How are you holding up?” Azurus asked, concern hiding behind his smile.
