Amarielle Everglimmer's Arc

Chapter 6 of 7

The moon fell toward the castle wall, and the sapling still glowed pink in the dark soil. The prince slept inside. Amarielle hovered over the young tree, her glow washing its petals. The elders were on the road, but a nearer threat waited. The ivy fairy had not truly gone. Amarielle felt her near, hungry, watching for the moment the glow dimmed and no one guarded the tree. She came as the wind died. The ivy fairy drifted down from the wall, green wings like torn leaves. Thorns climbed her dark dress. Flowers rotted in her black hair. Her eyes glowed cold. This was Vespra Nightbloom, Amarielle's old rival among the fairies, the one who had carried word to the elders from the start. "You can't sit on it all night," Vespra said. Her voice was soft and sweet. "Fairies tire. I don't." She trailed one finger along a low branch. A petal curled brown and dropped. Amarielle's chest tightened. One fairy could not hold vigil until the moon cycle closed. She would sleep. Vespra would wait. The rite would die one petal at a time. Then Amarielle remembered the loophole every fairy knew. She did not need to guard the tree herself. She called her glow into her hands and shaped it. The light folded and lifted. Wings formed, gold and pink and dusted bright. A butterfly rose from her palms and beat the air. "Watch it," Amarielle whispered. "Wake me if she touches a root." The butterfly settled on the highest bloom. Vespra laughed, but the laugh thinned. A messenger made of fairy light would not tire or sleep. It would watch while Amarielle rested, then they would trade. Vespra reached for the trunk anyway. The butterfly flared. Pink light burst across the branches, and the mossy stones at the tree's foot lit up, their small mushrooms glowing. The whole garden shone like dawn. Vespra flinched back, her hand smoking where the light had caught it. "The law," Amarielle said. "No harm falls on a planted tree. You knew that when you tried curses. You know it now." Vespra pressed her burned hand to her chest. Her cold eyes went to the castle, then to the road beyond the wall. "Then I'll bring the ones who can break your law," she said. She rose over the wall and was gone. Amarielle sank onto a warm stone. The butterfly kept its post above the blooms. The tree was safe tonight. She had beaten the lurking threat with light she made herself. But Vespra's last words sat heavy. The ivy fairy would stop clawing at the tree alone. She would go straight to the elders and hurry them to the gate. Amarielle looked at the moon, still too high. The tree needed days. The elders might now come within hours.