Page 12 of Evergreen

Cass

Six rolled around and the last fucking thing I wanted to do was go back to the conservatory. But it was only day one. There was still an entire semester left to go. The work had hardly begun.

“Bro, they still got you doing that bullshit?” Tex asked as I was leaving the frat house. I’d been hanging out there nearly all afternoon, napping on the couch.

“Yeah,” I groaned, pushing myself up and running a hand through my disheveled hair. “For the rest of the semester too.”

“What?! That’s crazy!”

“It’s either that or get expelled,” I sighed.

“I’d just get expelled,” he replied, shaking his head. “Ain’t nothin’ worth that kind of work.”

“If you had my parents, you wouldn’t choose expulsion,” I said, my tone flat. “Believe me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“The worst.” I lifted my arms over my head and stretched, enjoying one last luxurious yawn before I went back to my forced labor. “See ya later, Tex.”

He nodded, holding up a beer in my direction. “Good luck, Cass.”

I trudged across campus toward the conservatory, my boots crunching on the packed snow. The sun was already sinking below the tree line, casting long shadows across the grounds. My muscles were still sore from this morning’s work, and I could feel the beginning of blisters forming on my palms from all the digging and debris clearing.

The conservatory came into view, and I could see the golden glow of the barrier spell still shimmering around it. At least that part had worked. I’d half expected it to collapse the moment I left, but it seemed to be holding steady. That was something, I guess.

I pushed through the entrance and immediately spotted Linden kneeling beside one of the planters, his hands glowing that soft golden color that meant his dryad magic was active. He was so focused on his work that he didn’t notice me at first. I took a moment to observe him without being observed in return. It was something I wouldn’t normally do, but fuck it, I was tired and irritable and apparently I was going to be spending a lot of time with this guy whether I liked it or not.

He really was actually handsome, now that I was looking at him properly. Both in the conventional way and an exotic way. He was big, but there was a strength to him that went beyond just physical muscle. It was the way he moved, confident and deliberate, like he knew exactly what his body was capable of. His skin was green with golden threads flowing through it like roots. Up until now I’d mostly only hung out with fellow witches and had never given the other more monstrous races much consideration. After all, I’d been raised under the belief that a mixed relationship like that was frowned upon. But the way Linden’s shoulder muscles flexed as he worked, and the soft smile always on his face had me questioning whether that belief had any merit. After all, he was a person just like me, right? And I didn’t give a flying fuck what my parents thought, that was for sure.

“Hey Sparks,” Linden said, looking up from his work as if he’d sensed my arrival. I hated that nickname. His gold eyes met mine, and I felt my stomach flutter. What the hell was that all about? “You made it back.”

“Yeah, well, expulsion sucks more than this probably will,” I replied, dropping my backpack by the entrance. “So here I am.”

He stood up, brushing ash from his jeans, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles moved under his shirt. Fuck. He was ripped. The guy hadn’t even flexed or anything. Did working in a greenhouse build muscle like that? Was I going to look like that after this semester?

“How were your classes?” Linden asked, moving toward one of the larger debris piles.

“Fine,” I lied. I’d actually skipped most of them. The idea of sitting in a classroom while the rumors about me were still circulating and my hands were blistered all to hell hadn’t appealed to me. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Same as this morning,” he said, handing me a pair of work gloves that looked new. “More debris clearing. We need to get to the eastern section where some of the rarer specimens were stored. But first, I need to show you something.”

I took the gloves, pulling them on over my sore palms. The padding inside felt like heaven against the forming blisters. “What?”

Linden led me deeper into the greenhouse, past the sections we’d already cleared this morning. The smell of ash and burnt plant matter was still thick in the air, but underneath it I could detect something else. Something green and alive. He stopped in front of a blackened planter, kneeling down beside it.

“Look,” he said, gesturing for me to join him.

I crouched down, peering into the charred soil. At first I didn’t see anything. Just more ash and destruction. But then Linden’s hands started glowing again, and the golden light illuminated something beneath the surface. A green shoot. Barely visible, barely alive, but definitely green.

“It survived,” he said softly, almost reverently. “The heartwood cutting I was working on. It survived the lightning and the cold.”

I stared at the tiny shoot, feeling irritation well up in my chest. This is what I was paying penance for? A tiny speck of green in a pot that nobody, except this muscle head, gave a shit about?

“Okay,” I grunted. “And? What’s so special about it?”

Linden’s expression shifted, and I watched as something flickered behind those gold eyes. Disappointment, maybe? Or just the realization that I was an absolute asshole who didn’t understand the significance of what he was showing me.

“It’s from my grove,” he said quietly, his voice taking on that patient, teacher-like tone that was starting to get on my nerves. “And against all odds, it managed to survive. That’s special in its own way.”