A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(38)

“I’m not one to give up so easily,” I replied, unwavering in my stride.

“No one is asking you to give up. Just enjoy every moment like it’s your last. Do everything you would do if you knew that tomorrow was your last day in this world, in any world, for that matter. That’s all.”

His advice was sound and a blatant contradiction of everything he’d done and said so far. The Druid I knew was closed off and reserved, focused solely on protecting the Daughter of Eritopia and defeating Azazel. But the man holding my hand was filled with bottled up emotions and painful memories, secrets he’d never told anyone until I came along.

He gently tugged on my hand and pulled me closer, enough for my shoulder to bump into his arm. His skin on mine felt so natural, and the way our palms fit together was as if we’d been designed for each other. I couldn’t help but wonder whether there was more depth to what he’d just said about living every moment like it was my last.

Was his gesture a reflection of that? Was he stepping out of his comfort zone, reaching out to me? Or was I misreading everything? He confused the hell out of me, at first with his secrecy and now with his contrasts, but I didn’t find it annoying. There was a thrill there, something I’d never experienced before.

I squeezed and leaned against him to see where it would lead.

“Nightfall is coming. We need to find shelter,” Bijarki announced.

I felt Draven’s entire body tense against my arm. I straightened myself while Draven took his hand from mine and placed it back on my shoulder.

The day was coming to an end, and so was our moment away from everyone and everything. Reality once again settled around us with a cool evening breeze and a myriad of crickets chirping.

“There’s an old tree up ahead, where the road turns east,” Anjani spoke. “Travelers use it for shelter sometimes, because it’s out of sight.”

The prospect of darkness and spending the night in the jungle didn’t sit well with me. Shape-shifters were even more brazen then, and I didn’t want to think about other creatures lurking under the moonlight. I didn’t know enough about Eritopia’s wildlife, but I was pretty sure most of it wanted to either kill me or eat me.

Sensing my tension, Draven squeezed my shoulder again.





Jovi





[Victoria & Bastien’s son]





Nightfall came swiftly, covering everything in shades of dark green and black. The sky above, visible beyond the tree crowns, was a deep indigo with smoky cloud plumes stretching across a mass of bright stars. The moon was out somewhere, but we couldn’t see it from our position.

We found the tree that Anjani had mentioned. It rose heavily above the others, several yards away from the curve of the road leading up north. It was flanked by an abundance of shrubs and tall greenery, along with several limestone rocks scattered all around. The ground beneath was riddled with mounds and steep holes hidden under the grass, making it a challenge to reach on foot.

The trunk was enormous, covered in moss and rugged slate-colored bark. Its roots looped in and out of the earth like the arms of a giant octopus. Its branches curled upward and outward, wavy and dressed in heavy purple foliage. It was a peculiar sight for Serena and me, but it was endemic to Eritopia.

“We call them purple giants,” Bijarki explained as we left the battered road and headed toward the tree.

I had to be careful where I stepped, as Anjani had trouble jumping over all the stumps and rocks ahead.

“They grow for centuries,” Bijarki continued. “This one must be at least five or six hundred years old.”

“I’ve never seen purple leaves before,” Serena mused from behind.

“If you think this is weird, then wait till we get further north tomorrow,” Anjani replied. “The jungles around our tribe are quite… exotic.”

We reached the purple giant, and I helped Anjani sit down on one of the curling roots. A large crack slit through the tree’s base, from the ground to a few feet up, wide enough to allow one person to crawl through.

Bijarki lit a small torch, and we went inside to check it out.

Most of the wood had been carved out of the trunk for maybe five people to fit comfortably against each other. The raw wood glistened amber under the flame. It was beautiful, giving me the impression of standing inside a jewel. Other travelers had carved what appeared to be their names into the walls here and there, and there were a few leftover trinkets scattered on the mossy ground—a couple of metal pans, lumps of charcoal, and a spotted animal fur.

I figured the latter would be useful later that night with temperatures dropping every hour, so I picked it up and shook the dust off. It felt particularly soft, and it occurred to me that Anjani might like it.

I felt Bijarki watching me quietly and looked up to face him. He shook his head in disapproval, then walked out. He was still displeased with me taking a liking to the succubus, despite his warnings.

Well, it’s not like I can help it.

I wanted to call him out on it but changed my mind as a thought dawned on me: I had found something and figured it would please the succubus to have it. If I was going to publicly insist that she had absolutely no effect on me, the fur in my hand stated otherwise.

Bijarki informed the rest of our group that the tree was good for shelter. “We can take turns sleeping,” he said. “I’ll make the fire. One of you needs to pull out some large weeds and branches so we can cover the entrance in case someone or something comes by.”