The Story of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book One

Chapter Eighteen

"Spit it out, Matt," Luis said. He'd found a crate with potatoes inside to sit on to my left.

"Married." I finally finished on a sigh. "f you become part of my court, you become my consorts, which I guess means you'll each be my husband." I sat down on a pile of full grain sacks and drew up my knees to my chest. "God, I'm so sorry, guys. First these crazy roots and now this."

"That's..." Dominic sat down heavily next to me on the same stacks of grain. After I scooted over, I looked up and met his eyes. He looked shell-shocked, but a strong emotion of complete elation like a hundred balloons shooting into the air poured past my defense. In surprise, I took his hand as hope filtered in. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad. 

"Seriously?" Adrian yelled. My gaze darted to him as he stood and paced back and forth. Shock felt like ice cubes down my back, and I jerked. So much for the hope.  

Dominic stroked the back of my hand with his thumb, which helped to ground me. I looked up at him, thankfully. He was staring at me with delight.

Luis wouldn't look at me at all, and I knew he was angry with me. I felt that emotion trying to sand away the delight that Dominic shared with me. I didn't blame Luis since I knew he didn't really feel like that for me. Even though it wasn't something I could control, if we were going to get out of here alive, we were going to go through what amounted to a shotgun wedding.

Luke met my gaze unapologetically and all that was coming from him was the soothing warmth of contentment. This was what he wanted, so of course, he'd be happy! Then he said, "We could have had this discussion in my study. Why are we sitting around like kitchen staff in this closet?"

Because being in his office would lead me back to that strange exchange we had, and I needed to remain focused. My face must have been explanation enough because he finally looked away.

Adrian stopped pacing and crouched down in front of me, so our eyes were level with each other, "So, let me get this straight. After this ceremony, we become your husbands? All of us?"

"Ugh. I know. Surprise!" I raised my arms and waved my hands around. "First, you find out I'm a girl, and now this. But wait! There's more!" I said this in my best infomercial voice.

"What more could there be?" Adrian's eyes were wide, taking on the tone of the shocked audience member as he joined into my sarcasm.

I gestured at Elsie and Jeanne. "My banmuinen aren't just something like maids or secretaries either. They help me out with you guys."

"What does that mean?" Dominic asked, and I felt his elation turn into horror. Horror felt like falling into a pit of ants. I pulled my hand away and wiped at my arms and legs.

After the itching had subsided, I told him, "They have your babies and stuff."

"No way!"

"No!"

"Not a chance!"

The guys were all yelling at once, except Luke, who'd already known everything. He was sitting with his ankles crossed. Elsie and Jeanne bowed their heads and looked dejected. All the emotions were overwhelming so I finally hollered, "Stop it!"

There was complete silence, then I waved my hands at the roots. "If you haven't felt it yourself, all our emotions have physical sensations to them, now. It doesn't feel good when we're having negative ones, so I hope you all can calm down, at least until we all learn how to block it."

The men all nodded and I felt a collective breath of calm between us as they tried to control their feelings. It was difficult, however. Despite their attempts, there were still muted stabs of negativity that filtered through.