Page 66 of Casting Butterflies

“A sacrifice is needed so that Anivivi can transfer to the seed.” Dasha made my murder sound so matter of fact.

Misha crossed his burly arms. “You’re talking about killing Flo.”

“An unfortunate necessity,” Dasha said with a shrug. “It pains me, for you know I’m not one for violence, but there is no other choice.”

“Actually, there is.” Cedric sat between me and Dasha, tail curling around his haunches.

“Well, are you going to tell us what that is, or you going to be a dick like the seers and give us the answer in riddles?” I snapped.

“A riddle would take you idiots too long to solve. And besides, you already know what the seed requires. It needs a soul.”

“I tried pushing the spirit out of me into it.”

“Correction. You tried shoving the magic it gave you. The spirit, however, is long gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” I blurted out.

“It happened the moment you touched the necklace. As you absorbed the magic keeping it bound, the previous soul of the tree, what you called the spirit, took that moment to pass on.”

“But…” My lips pursed. “I thought it possessed me.”

“No. Two souls can’t inhabit a body. And before you ask why I didn’t say anything before now, it amused me to have you think you were haunted.”

“You are an ass.”

“I’m aware.” Cedric smugly replied.

Dasha interrupted my epic glare to ask, “So if Anivivi is no longer, how are we supposed to return magic and vitality to the Luxalis?”

“Those things will return once the seed begins to grow. But for that to happen, it needs someone to give it life.”

Dasha eyed me, and I blurted, “I am not sacrificing myself.” Call me selfish, but I hadn’t come all this way, survived so much, just to kill myself for a tree.

“You carry our magic. I don’t see as we have any other choice.”

“There must be another way,” Misha argued, taking my side. He’d better if he ever wanted to feel my lips or my pussy wrapped around his dick.

“I never said it had to be Florence,” Cedric interjected.

“Then I will do it,” my big idiot Russian elf declared.

“No, it will be me. I’ve lived a long life, and this is for a worthy cause,” Dasha said, holding up the dagger, ready to plunge it into her heart. Had to admire her tenacity.

Before anyone could commit seppuku, Cedric snapped. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Can you all be quiet for just a second? No one has to die.”

“But you just said it needed a soul,” I reminded.

“It does, and I have the perfect one for it. Mine,” Cedric stated with his little furry head held high.

“What? I don’t want you dying for their stupid tree,” I exclaimed.

“Again, who said anything about dying? Have you forgotten I’m a dryad and that the seers said I would find a solution to my curse here?”

“But this isn’t your tree.”

“No, however, unlike most Earth-based seedlings, it wants someone to inhabit it, and who better than a very intelligent and handsome dryad?”

“What if it doesn’t work, though?” I murmured, crouching by his side.