Page 70 of A Kiss of Flame
Her mother was only slightly shorter, her dark brown skin glowing in the firelight, her shoulder-length dreadlocks braided neatly back. She dressed simply in a knitted sweater and green pants, needing no finery to accentuate her natural allure. Levian had always been envious of her mother’s elegant fae features—her pointed ears adorned with golden earrings and full pink lips. Trislana had always been the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.
The dryad wrapped Levian in a hug, and a breath Levian hadn’t realized she’d been holding escaped her. She returned her mother’s embrace, breathing in her familiar scent of birch and earth. “Come,” Trislana said gently. “Grate the carrots. I know you haven’t eaten.”
Levian swallowed her emotions and followed her mother into the kitchen. They settled into an old rhythm, preparing supper together—humming, chopping, stirring. It was a simple meal of carrot salad, pan-roasted vegetables, and fresh-baked bread with oil, herbs, and salt. Levian ate hungrily, realizing it might have been days since she’d had a real meal. Since leaving Barith, she’d lost the desire to do much of anything but throw herself into her work.
Satisfied that Levian had eaten her fill, Trislana asked softly. “What troubles your heart, my darling?”
Levian felt a heaviness settle over her, threatening to drag her beneath the weight of everything she’d kept locked away. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small square of cloth, setting it on the table. Carefully, she unwrapped it, revealing the silver-plated dryad ring she’d taken from Vane—The main reason she’d come.
The air around Trislana immediately changed, her expression darkening. “Where did you get that?” she asked, her voice hollow.
Levian took in a steading breath before she told her mother everything. About Barith and their last adventure. About Merlin and Vane. About her meeting with the Council—everything.
“I want you to destroy it,” Levian said finally, her voice trembling. “They deserve to be set free.”
Trislana took the ring, turning it over in her palm before shaking her head. “No,” she said, to Levian’s surprise. She looked at her mother, puzzled. “It’s not what you think,” Trislana explained. “It was forged from the bone of one of our elders long ago.”
“In the war between the fae for lands here in Sylthéa,” Levian added, recalling what Merlin had told her.
Her mother nodded. “It was a gift,” Trislana clarified. “A gift of power given by the Willow Mother during that horrible time. We are not violent, as you know, and the Willow Mother feared for our survival after the fall of the Dökk. She sacrificed herself and her magick to give her successor this gift.” Trislana set the ring back down upon the cloth. “It holds all of her power. Thanks to her sacrifice, the Willow Mother after her was able to craft a spell to shield the Veil of the White Wood from the outside world and the fae, ensuring our safety forever.”
Levian shook her head, her brow furrowed. “I thought it was something evil,” she admitted.
Trislana gave her a small, sad smile. “It can only be used by a dryad, and we are not evil by nature,” she said softly. “Though I’m glad you brought it to me and not the Eldreth.”
Levian nodded. “After Merlin told me what it was, I knew I couldn’t take it to the pixies.” It belonged here—with her mother’s people. Levian had a plan to deal with the Eldreth; she’d send Hugh and Artie a few valuable pieces from hercollection to make amends for breaking her arrangement and hope it would satisfy them. It wasn’t very likely, but she’d deal with them another day.
Trislana took her hand and squeezed it before pulling her into a hug. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. Levian sniffled, pressing her face into her mother’s shoulder.
“I don’t understand,” Levian said when she pulled away. “Why would Merlin steal it if it was useless to him?” Her mother’s expression darkened, her gaze shifting away. “Maman, what is it?” Levian pressed, sensing her mother was holding something back. Her heart pounded as Trislana hung her head.
“Merlin didn’t steal the ring,” Trislana said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I did.”
Levian sucked in a sharp breath, shock rippling through her. “Why?” she asked, horrified.
Trislana still wouldn’t meet her gaze, her eyes lingering on the ring. “He was curious about it, and I was in love,” she confessed. “I didn’t intend for him to keep it—only to study it for a short while.”
Levian’s mind whirled, trying to understand how her mother had done something so against her nature, even for Merlin. “You stole it from Iathana?” she guessed. Iathana was the leader of the dryads and their current Willow Mother.
Trislana grimaced, the expression ill-suited to her kind and vibrant dryad features. “I did,” she admitted. “I even tried to find it after Merlin went to The Prison, but couldn’t recover it. We all thought it was lost. Iathana still has not forgiven me.”
It hadn’t been lost. It had been sitting on Vane’s disgusting, evil finger for centuries. It suddenly dawned on Levian that what Trislana had confessed directly conflicted with what Merlin had told her.
“If you stole the ring for him,” Levian tried to puzzle out, “why did Merlin send me after Vane? Why would he lie and tell me he’d stolen it from the Eldreth? Why—” She gasped as realization began to dawn.
Levian had been ready to leave Merlin empty-handed during their last visit, but he’d mentioned Vane only after she’d asked about the objects her thieves had stolen. Merlin must have suspected Vane was one of her thieves all along and led her there to find out. He’d also sent her after something directly attached to her mother.
Levian’s fury and confusion boiled over as she explained everything to Trislana. “He could have told me he suspected Vane was one of the thieves,” she hissed at the end. “Instead, he sent me after him, and I nearly got myself killed!” Levian slammed her hands down on the table, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.
“Vane knew your father,” Trislana told her. “He was a young man but arrogant even then. They worked closely together on some research that interested Vane, though he was nowhere near as brilliant as Merlin. I don’t know what caused them to part ways or how Vane ended up with the ring, but one day, Merlin spoke of him, and the next, he refused to hear his name.
“Your father knew the loss of the ring pained me, and I think maybe he was attempting to satisfy us both. Sending you after Vane to uncover more truths about your thieves and possibly resulting in the return of the dryad ring.”
“How did he know I would bring it back?” Levian hissed.
Trislana looked at her, and Merlin’s words sizzled through her like a raging fire.You are indulgent, Levian, but your heart is pure—like your mother’s.Merlin had known just as Levin had that if she got the ring back, she would never take it to the Eldreth.
“If Merlin told you about Vane, he must not have known what he was capable of,” Trislana said definitively. “He must have had a?—”