Page 93 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Iwill kill her in ten seconds.
And I feel no guilt whatsoever.
I flex my fingers on the hilt of my knife while bitter rage claws at my chest.
If I can’t have my happily ever after, no one can.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Lavendera strolls into the thorn forest. Her beautiful pink and purple eyes are bright and clear, completely in the present, and she has an almost excited spring in her step. I have never seen her look this happy before. I’m not sure if it comes from being in the woods or from simply being away from her dragon shifter guards.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she dies.
Sunlight filters down through the green canopy above, painting bright highlights in Lavendera’s flowing brown hair as she walks past the tree that I’m hiding behind. The leaves around us rustle restlessly again. I turn with her when she moves, getting into position.
Isera steps out from the trees a few steps in front of Lavendera. Her sudden appearance makes Lavendera stop short. But to my surprise, she smiles as she locks eyes with Isera.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” she says, that strange smile still on her face. “I knew it would be.”
I slip out from my hiding place and quickly close the short distance between us.
“Who is what?” Isera asks, keeping Lavendera’s attention fixed on her.
Only cold calculation remains inside me as I sneak up behind Lavendera’s back and raise my blade.
I ram it towards the side of her neck.
“NO!”
Vines shoot out from every tree around me. They curl around my wrists and ankles like whips and yank me away from Lavendera.
“No!” that same furious voice repeats in a vicious snarl.
Chaos erupts as thick vines strike at my friends as well, leaving them battling opponents they can’t see that seem to be coming from every direction.
Lavendera whirls around to face me.
But to my utter shock, her eyes aren’t glowing. Which means that the vines are not her doing. And what’s even more baffling is that she looks as shocked as I am.
“Do not touch her,” that same voice hisses. “If you hurt her, you will face the wrath of every forest on this world.”
It all suddenly clicks in my head. The voice. The words. The vines.
Twisting my head to the side, I find the Dryad Queen gliding out of the trees. Fury flashes in her brown eyes as she glares at me. The intensity of it is enough to make my heart skip a beat. It feels as if I’m facing down the merciless power of nature itself.
Two steps away, Lavendera whirls towards her as well.
Anger, as old and terrible as the woods themselves, darkens her beautiful features when she lays eyes on the Dryad Queen.
“No!” she growls. “Not you!”
The Dryad Queen hesitates, the anger in her eyes disappearing when she shifts her gaze from me to Lavendera. “You can’t?—”
“How could you do that to me?” Lavendera demands, insanity starting to bleed into her voice. “How could you?”
“You know that?—”
“I don’t care!” Desperation and insanity lace her voice, making it sharp and high and unhinged. “You don’t know what it’s like!”
