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Ken chews his bottom lip, looking past me as he debates his words. “It’s a… special lesson.” He stops talking, and I gesture for him to continue. He chuckles. “Like I mentioned, Viv and I guard the Cursed Wood. The trees feed on fear. We must practice overcoming our fears, train ourselves not to react. It’s the only way we can hope to survive out there.”
My forehead wrinkles in confusion. It makes sense what he’s saying in terms of overcoming his fear, but I’m still caught up on how the trees feed on fear.
It finally explains what I saw the day I ran and hallucinated the lord, lady, and Char. It was a firsthand account of how the trees can incite terror.
“Is that how I almost died?”
“Yep,” Ken says. “But you didn’t. You survived. Most don’t.” He cocks his head, giving me a serious look.
His words sink in.
“What does it mean?” I whisper. If the trees feed on fear, killing most humans who encounter it, but I survived, does that mean I am able to overcome my fears?
“That you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, little human.” He nods in Rainer’s direction. “That you give the prince his own twisted sort of hope.”
“Hope for what exactly?”
“That, maybe, he’s not as alone as he feels.”
“He’s not alone. He has you, and Fern, and Das Celyn, and the pixies, and—”
Ken cuts me off with a pointed look, pursing his lips at me. “There are different types of loneliness, and I’m not referring to friendship. I’m referring to the type of loneliness that’s bone-deep, only cured by finding the one who matches your soul.”
We sit silently, as I process his words. I almost laugh at the absurdity of his implication.
“Are you trying to set me, a measly human, up with your prince?” I ask teasingly.
He shrugs, his expression staying serious. “I smell something there. That’s all.”
“Gross.”
I shift around, plucking a few blades of grass. Not knowing how to respond to that. It seems as if there’s more Ken isn’t saying, but I push it aside for now, focusing on the forest instead.
“So the trees just… scare people to death then eat them?” I ask.
Ken lets his thick, curly hair down, shaking it out before retying it into a bun at the nape of his neck. “Funny story, actually,” he says, in a tone telling me it’s indeed not a funny story at all. “It was an enchantment gone wrong. The woods were normal some years ago, but magic was used in an attempt to keep the humans at bay.” He gives me an apologetic look. “I’m sure you’ve noticed, not all the fae like humans. It’s nothing personal, humans are just… careless about anything other than themselves. They would cross the Gleam, destroying our land for their own enjoyment.”
I tilt my head at him, waiting for him to continue.
“Initially, the woods were enchanted to bring one’s fears to life in an illusion of sorts. Just enough to scare them back across the border to where they came from. But over time, the trees began to grow sentient, feeding off that fear. It powered the dark magic, multiplying it. The enchantment spread like poison, throughout the entire forest, shifting into the curse it is today. Uncontrollable. Now, the trees manifest fears of fae and humans alike, literally scaring them to death and draining them of life.”
“So you and Viv? You two train yourselves to what, ignore your fear? So the trees can’t trick you?”
“Something like that. We train ourselves not to react—to not let our fears control our emotions. The woods only win when we react.”
A realization strikes me. “And I survived the woods—a mere, weak human with no training. That’s why you want to train with me? To better understand how I overcome my fears and use that strategy for yourselves?”
“It’s more than that. Rainer wants you to—”
“Human!” Rainer strides toward us, and his hypnotic gaze sends a shiver through my body.
“Speak of the devil,” I mutter, not breaking eye contact.
Ken snickers.
I try to tamper down my nervousness at his approach.
Rainer’s gaze narrows, shooting a zing of danger up my spine. I squirm as he draws closer, growing hot and unsettled in his proximity.
