When Seeds Take Root: An Everleaf Series Novella Read online

  When Seeds Take Root

  An Everleaf Series Novella

  Constance Burris

  B.E. Publications

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Printed in the United States of America

  B.E. Publications, 2017

  Summary:

  After so many problems and setbacks, Coal and Chalcedony finally have their Happily Ever After.

  Or so they thought. One more secret lays in the wake. Is their relationship strong enough to survive the biggest hurdle of them all?

  To discover current and future stories by Constance Burris visit www.constanceburris.com.

  Created with Vellum

  Dedication

  For my husband Juba. Thank you for stepping up.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Giant Risk

  Confessions of a Giantess

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  Other Books by Constance Burris

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “Get up.” Chalcedony’s low voice pulled Coal from the shallow depth of slumber.

  Feigning sleep, Coal turned over on their bed and draped both an arm and a leg around Chalcedony before he pulled her closer. They had been together for three weeks, and he was still having a hard time believing it was real. For three weeks, they had slept together, woken together, ate together... all without shame or guilt. Coal was never sure it wasn’t a dream until he awakened and touched her.

  “Get up. No sleeping late today,” Chalcedony said, no longer whispering.

  Reluctantly, Coal opened his eyes. Chalcedony’s large red eyes were staring into his. “It’s still early.” He scooted closer, rustling the thin white sheets that covered them. The feel of her soft, warm skin was intoxicating. His heart beat faster every time he touched her.

  He rested his head on the side of Chalcedony’s neck. He loved how she always smelled of Jasmine and vanilla. He began kissing her neck, and she melted into him.

  “Coal, if I'm late again, Madoc will have my head,” Chalcedony reminded him, but she made no move to pull away.

  “You don’t have to worry about him,” Coal whispered into her neck. “You’re the queen.”

  “Exactly.” Her voice was breathy, but it held more conviction this time. “I’m the queen, and I have to lead by example.” She pushed him away, threw back the sheets, and jumped out of bed before Coal could pull her back.

  He groaned and fell back onto his pillow, instantly missing her warmth.

  “Come on get up,” Chalcedony commanded, standing naked above him.

  As he took in the sight of her round, delicate breasts, strong hips, and toned legs, he felt as if the last thing he wanted to do was get out of bed. He could lie there and stare at her forever.

  “Just ten more minutes.” He reached for her, hoping to pull her back into bed.

  “No.” She stepped away before he could get a good grip. “You said the same thing yesterday when your ten minutes turned into two hours. Besides,” Chalcedony continued, “Grigory is going to be upset when he finds out you’ve been neglecting the forge while he’s been away.”

  “Grigory and Haline are enjoying their time together. I know he’ll understand that we are too,” he replied, watching Chalcedony walk to the water basin on the other side of the room.

  He finally had to admit that she wasn’t coming back to bed when she began washing herself with the water from the basin.

  Their world had been shaken to its core when the wall separating the fey and the human realm had been destroyed, but despite the turmoil over the past few weeks, their relationship had been nothing but solid.

  Every now and then, he still caught himself waiting for something disastrous to happen. He feared Chalcedony would come to her senses and decide he wasn’t good enough for her. When his mind wandered in that direction, he reminded himself that she cared for him just as much has he cared for her.

  With a defeated sigh, he got up from the bed and followed Chalcedony. “We should install showers.” He took the moist rag from her and began washing Chalcedony’s back. From the few months when he was exiled to the human realm, he missed showers the most. He loved turning a knob and feeling the water stream down his body, washing away the dirt, grime, and stress.

  “I’m not even sure that’s possible. Besides, Legacy would have a fit,” Chalcedony said, referring to the giant sentient and temperamental tree they lived in.

  “It’s possible,” Coal replied. “In the human realm, I saw treehouses with showers on the internet while I was on the google.”

  “It’s not the google. It’s just Google,” Chalcedony corrected him. “Even if it’s possible, we can’t do it. I can’t use human technology if I don’t allow other fey to use it. I have to set an example.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Coal conceded begrudgingly.

  Coal dipped the rag back into the basin. Once it was soaked, he lifted it out and squeezed the excess water from the cloth. The water cascaded over his fingers and crashed back into the water. He prodded Chalcedony’s shoulder. She lifted her wavy, brown hair, and he washed her neck. The soapy water left a trail of bubbles along the center of her back. He stopped the water with his rag before it could reach her hips.

  When he finished washing her body, she took the washcloth.

  “Behave,” she warned, wiping his chest.

  “I am,” he replied. “I haven’t touched you, have I?”

  She pursed her lips, but Coal still saw a small smile form in the corner of her lips.

  “What are you doing today?” he asked to distract himself from the feel of her hands on his body.

  “More of the same.” She nudged his shoulder, and he turned so that Chalcedony could wash his back. “We’re still trying to figure out how to keep humans out of our lands, and more importantly, how to keep fey from going over there and bringing back human tech. Yesterday, an elf murdered his creditor with a gun.

  “There. You're all cleaned.” She slapped him on the back and walked toward the dressing screen.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in today?” he asked, trying one more time to persuade her to return to bed.

  “No.” She turned and pointed an index finger is his direction. “Today we're going to be on time.”

  Chapter Two

  The old, battered sword silently mocked Coal as he sat in the mid-morning sun, cross-legged on the grass bare ground outside of the forge. The weapon’s weight and balance were proof that long ago, it had been an expensive purchase. It had probably even been well-loved. Now, the metal no longer gleamed. The edges were dull and jagged from age, overuse, and neglect. The leather grip was scuffed and shabby. The previou
s owner, a seasoned soldier in Chalcedony’s army, had chosen to sell it rather than pay to have it restored.

  Before Haline and Grigory had left on holiday a few days ago, Grigory, Chalcedony’s swordsmith, had been teaching Coal how to use his magic to create sentient swords. Unlike shapeshifting, the ability to make a sentient sword was not coming naturally. With Grigory’s guidance, it had taken him a week of intense meditation to learn how to focus and gather magic into his hand.

  Now, the magic was clustered in the fingertips of his right hand. When he moved his fingers, it felt as if he was moving them through an energy field. He kept thinking he would be electrocuted, but there was no shock or pain, just an invisible friction.

  He took a deep breath. While he released it, he ran his fingers along the worn, steel blade, hoping his magic would obey his will and force its way into the metal. Coal released the last bit of air at the same moment his magic was spent.

  Coal had no idea how it felt when it worked, but he had plenty of experience when it didn’t. Once the magic left his fingertips, it simply dissipated into the air. Depending on the direction of the wind, sometimes, he could feel it bump against his skin as if to say ‘Goodbye. You failed.’

  He tilted his head back and groaned, his disappointment piercing the quiet as he felt the magic rise in the air. He had failed once again.

  “You’ll get it next time,” a voice spoke from behind.

  Instantly recognizing the voice, Coal jumped to his feet. “What are you doing here?” He hadn’t seen or heard from Royden since the day the barrier between the two worlds had been destroyed.

  “I don't get a ‘Good to see you, Mom,’ or ‘How have you been mother?’” Royden asked.

  Coal narrowed his eyes at the man standing before him. He had chestnut-colored hair that fell into his eyes, tan skin, and the blunt ears of a human. “You're not a ‘mother’ today, and it's been three weeks since I’ve seen you.” He couldn’t help but let the disappointment and anger creep into his voice.

  Royden lowered his head and looked down as if he was examining himself. “Oh, right. Let me fix the mother part.” With a snap of his fingers, he transformed from a human male to a slender female with tawny-colored skin, a short, curly red afro, and the prominent, pointed ears of an elf. Royden, or, more accurately, Jade, was a shapeshifter who loved changing both species and gender.

  Right now, minus the ears, she was that person who had raised Coal for the first few years of his life.

  Seeing his mother change shape reminded Coal that he wasn’t who he appeared to be either. He had lived most of his life as an ebon-skinned human before he discovered that he was really a shapeshifting elf with pale skin and red hair.

  “As for my absence,” Jade continued, “I owe you an apology. I should have come sooner, but it's been hectic since the wall fell. The humans were taken by surprise, and they have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. It took a while to calm them down.”

  Coal hated to empathize with Jade, but he understood. Chalcedony had worked nonstop for the first week following the collapse of the barrier separating the realms. But he wasn’t going to let Jade get away with disappearing again. If Coal was important to her, she would have made the time.

  “What do you want?” Coal asked, bitterly. “I'm working.” Long ago, he dreamed of knowing his mother, but he wasn’t a child anymore. He didn't know if he could trust the elf standing before him.

  “I just wanted to see my son. Maybe we can spend the day together.”

  Coal grimaced. “I'm working.”

  She cocked a brown eyebrow in direction. “Your point?”

  He shook his head and turned away.

  Before he could sit back down, she ran and grabbed his arm. “Please. Please. This is the only day I have free for who knows how long.” She looked up at him with her copper-colored eyes and blinked like an innocent child. “Please. Please.”

  Coal looked away from Jade and back to the lifeless sword on the ground. It seemed to mock him and his failure. Maybe taking a break wasn’t a bad idea after all.

  He sighed and looked away from the sword. “Where are we going?”

  She gave him a wry smile. “It's a surprise. You’ll love it. I promise.”

  “I need to be back before dark,” Coal added.

  “Done.” Excitement danced in her eyes. “But before we go,” she asked, biting her lip, “can you change into your elven form?”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “No,” he answered. Jade was referring to the body he had automatically shifted into when the spell that he had been under for almost seventeen years broke, causing him to turn into a pale-skinned elf. He’d only reverted back to that form three times. As the only human surrounded by fey, seeing himself as an elf had been a dream come true. But the new form felt too strange, too different. So he stuck with the body he’d worn for most of his life.

  Jade rubbed her chin. Coal could practically see the thoughts spinning in her mind.

  “How about you just shift into your fey ears?”

  Chapter Three

  Despite all of the effort to break away from Coal and get to her daily briefing on time, Chalcedony was still going to be late. Her stomach, acting with a will of its own, had taken her on a detour to the kitchen.

  Chalcedony hardly ever ventured to the kitchen; she never needed to. All she had to do was ask, and food was brought to her. But curiosity and hunger guided her steps to the kitchen in the back corner of the first floor.

  She was shocked by the hustle and bustle of the area. It was as if a small war was being waged inside of Legacy, and the kitchen was the command center.

  Two large stoves inhabited an entire wall, and the cook commanded five servants, three female, and two male elves, as they scurried back and forth, returning empty and half-eaten dishes. As far as Chalcedony could tell, the cook only had one assistant, a young girl with auburn hair who stood several inches taller than the chef. The flour on her cheeks and the grease stains on her apron gave Chalcedony the impression that the girl was new, or at the very least, she had the messiest job in the kitchen.

  Two children, a boy with raven silky hair and a girl with wild brown curls, sat at the table giggling with each other in between bites of their breakfast. Both had round, pale faces with cheeks flushed red as if they were either cold or perpetually in a good mood. It was too warm in the kitchen for the duo to be chilly, so it must have been from the latter.

  The way the servants and the cooks dodged each other while barking orders and exchanging personal jabs was remarkable and at the same time incredibly intimate. Before Coal had come to live in the fey realm, Chalcedony had wanted to laugh and joke with the staff. But whenever they noticed her in the room, the servants would always go deathly quiet. Not knowing what else to do, and more than a little offended by their silence, she had decided to pretend they didn’t exist. She was royalty, Madoc had told her, and they were staff. Never the two shall mix.

  But that was then; this was now. Chalcedony understood that if she had spoken and tried harder instead of getting angry and walking way, maybe they would have warmed up to her. Maybe they could have been friends.

  The impossible had happened with her and Coal finally being together; maybe she could tackle another impossibility.

  She cleared her throat, not once but three times, before anyone noticed her standing toward the back of the kitchen. Sahmuel, the cook, an older elf with a head full of silver hair and a rare elven paunch, gasped in shock when he noticed her. “Queen Chalcedony,” he croaked. His eyes turned from surprise to concern in an instant. “Is everything okay?”

  Except for the rapidly boiling water on the stove, the entire room went quiet. Chalcedony grew self-conscious under everyone’s gaze. A part of her wanted to turn and sprint away, but a larger, stronger part guided her to one of the empty chairs at the table next to the raven-haired girl. “There is nothing wrong. I just popped in f
or something to eat.”

  Chalcedony turned to the children and smiled. They both looked away, giggling. Their already red cheeks turned an impossible shade of crimson.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to a child. No, that was a lie. She did remember. It had been with Elizabeth. The human child Chalcedony had taken in an insane, selfish attempt to replace Coal. She boxed the memory and its accompanying guilt away, plastered a smile onto her face, and looked out at the elves in the kitchen. She would open the box and let Elizabeth and guilt have their way with her later. Right now, she had other things to do.

  “I can have one of the servants bring anything you like to the dining hall or your bedroom, my Queen.”

  Chalcedony clasped her hands together on the wooden table as she tried to ignore a mysterious substance sticking to her elbow. “I would like to eat here if you don’t mind.”

  The cook’s assistant laughed. “You’re kidding?”

  “Lark!” Sahmuel shot a glare at the girl. She turned quickly away and began stirring one of the pots on the stove.

  “If I’m disturbing you, I can leave,” Chalcedony added quickly.

  The cook raised his hands. “Of course not; you can stay as long as you like.”

  Chalcedony sat back, relieved. Her stomach rumbled, and she remembered the main reason why she had come. “The lamb and potatoes smell delicious.” Chalcedony made an effort to smile as her stomach roared. She was almost overwhelmed with the desire to have something fatty, greasy, and salty.