Page 67 of Power Shift
At my freaked-out look, he laughed. “Your land is content and healthy. No need to worry there. What I’m saying is the land is hungrier than normal, and you might have sensed the seed sooner if you communed as often as you used to.”
“You are really good at making me feel guilty,” I muttered, even as I knew he was right. I communed with my land as often as I could, but I still felt its yearning. Part of me felt like I might sully my property with my Chimera magic—a foolish thought, but shaking it proved more difficult than expected.
Magic was magic was magic as Ash so often reminded me. It wasn’t the power itself, only the wielder. Finn was evil in a way, but he’d also shown up to warn us about Rhona’s presence. Probably to save his own ass, but by extension, he was saving ours, so I guess that would be a good deed. The jury was still out.
“You’re an excellent steward of the land,” Ash said. “It will always hunger for your presence no matter how often you feed the property. I’m only saying the seed appeared when it needed to. Perhaps it would not have appeared to your senses sooner. I’m merely speculating.”
Moira leaned forward. “Tell us why you’re being so cagey about this seed.”
“And where it is,” I added, promising myself I’d do better when it came to my Floromancy. I had some ideas about that,thoughts brewing in the back of my mind after I’d woken up to my greenhouse in chaos.
Ash was right about the magic, as he was right about most things, and I needed to siphon off my power more often now that the Chimera was rearing its ugly head more often.
Ash shifted, his eyes glowing emerald. “You may want to shield your eyes.”
“Absolutely not,” Moira said. “We’ve never seen you do what I think you’re about to do!”
I shook my head. “Blind away, tree boy.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Ash’s chest exploded in brilliant, verdant light, searing my eyeballs. Lifting his left hand, he reached inside the opening in his heart and pulled out a pearlescent, perfectly round seed.
“Holy shit,” Moira breathed. “You stuck it in yourheart?”
“Bad ass,” Tess murmured.
“It’s connected to your heart tree.” As a dryad, Ash had a special connection to his main tree and had to return periodically to refresh his physical and emotional health, boosting his magic each time he went. Its location remained a tightly held secret, and none of us asked. If Ash’s tree were damaged, the dryad would sustain the same pain. If the tree died…
None of us would ever ask its location because we loved Ash, and we wouldn’t risk a slip up or being used against him.
But to be able to store something inside of what was essentially a magical storage chest that doubled as a teleporter was so cool. I didn’t have a heart tree or anything of the sort, but I could hide something so deep in the heart of the earth even a mole couldn’t find it. Not exactly the same as pulling something from my freaking heart, but pretty cool, nonetheless.
The seed lay on Ash’s palm, glowing but inert. We all leaned forward and peered down.
“What does it do?” Tess asked.
Ash’s expression sobered. “This tiny seed has the potential to end the world.”
I sucked in a breath. “What?”
Moira gave him a considering look. “It’s not like you to be dramatic, Ash.”
“I can’t be completely sure, but when your mother showed up, I had a good feeling I knew why she wanted this little guy.”
I had no idea why she wanted it. All I knew was if she sought it, I wouldn’t give it to her.
“The tree to the other worlds must be dying,” Ash said. “If this seed has arrived, it foretells the death of the world tree.”
A long moment dragged on as I stared at him in stark disbelief. Everyone was aware of the world tree in a roundabout way. The tree represented interconnectedness and held the doorways to the other realms. If the world tree died, it would shut the other gods away, trapping them in their realms.
No wonder Cliona wanted the seed.
I held my palm out. “May I?”
Ash tipped the seed into my hand.
My breath caught and held. The seed shimmered as I rolled it around my palm, the amount of magic inside its shell staggering.
