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

Chapter Forty-Three

Big wishes like that have a way of backfiring; just ask a lottery winner. I missed my mother; I missed home; I wanted to win, but these were all wishes for me, and selfish wishes usually had a cost.

No, the reason for wanting a wish coin was to help Regina. She'd probably not appreciate it, but I didn't want bad blood between my remaining relatives and me.

"I wish that Regina's mother could be as she was before she bit the apple."

Regina gasped, then her cell phone rang. She dropped her mask and answered her phone. On her face, an expression of delight appeared, and she cried, "Mother!"

I smiled at her and felt like I really had made the best choice.

She babbled at her mother for a minute or two, then dropped her phone and nearly strangled me in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you, Thank you!"

I gaped at my friends over her shoulder, realizing what she just did. She was still squeezing me and sobbing with joy until Adrian helped me extricate her.

"Chill girl, Matt needs to breathe!"

She nodded and picked up her mask, then handed it to me. "No bargains with this gift. The mask makes you invisible. It's the least I can do."

Duir glared at us both, and I was glad that I had disappointed at least one person here. I walked over to Valenia and handed her the now useless wish-coin. As I handed it to her, I looked at Duir. "Better luck next time, Duir. My little band of misfits won the first trial!" I crowed.

She smirked. "Very Good, Elect Madeline, but there are still two more, and I don't see seven consorts with you. Such a pity." She shook her head and tisked. I hated her. Way to rain on my parade. Jerk! I wasn't going to bite.

"Well, it's not over yet, is it?" I challenged.

"Hmmm..." she smirked at me.

I walked away from the temple with my friends, and we took the car back home. On the way back, Luke let me know that we would have a day to rest, then it would be back to the grind again.

I thought about the beautiful blue dragon linked to me and tried to see if I could find it. I couldn't touch its mind, and I thought I might have been imagining it. No. I'd really seen a link, but now I had to convince such an alien presence that it needed to come to get married to me.

I had a few days to think about how I could convince it.

Dominic put his arm around me. He was pumped up with success since he'd been the one that had saved us all from being cooked.

"You did good, Dom." I squeezed his hand.

He grinned at me and winked. "I did, didn't I?"

He plopped a kiss on my head and squeezed me. Luke took my left hand in his and looked at the ring. I'd tried to remove the band from my finger during our trip back, but it was stuck.

"Such a wonder. I am curious who planted your other consort right under our noses?"

As we looked around our cabin, Ciaran winked.

"You!" I accused him.

He nodded. "Me. I figured out where the link led and found out the ring was part of a bridge troll's treasure. Nice, huh?"

"Very. I'm so glad you're on my side and not working for Marisol or something."

He laughed and patted my knee. "I think we should have a lake party tomorrow. There is a lake near to us that has escaped the frost. You will love it."

"I can't wait."

"Oh, if we're doing a lake trip, we definitely need barbeque there. I need to help Danela make the sauce. Oh, and the biscuits and the pie." Dominic listed all the foods he would bring until my stomach growled.

"Ugh, Dominic, stawwwwp!" I was so hungry after that!

Adrian laughed at me, and I went to punch him. He grabbed my fist and bit it. My mouth dropped open from his challenging look.

"Hey! That hurts, creep!" I laughed nervously as I pulled my hand away.

I shook out my hand then turned to Jeanne. "I can't finish this ride home without me asking why you never told me that you had the Midas touch!"

Jeanne shook her head, shocked herself. "I didn't have that gift until that fight with the gargoyles, My Lady. While that is indeed a power of Leprechauns to turn things to actual gold, I never had the gift."

"That's crazy..." I was looking at her soft little hands with new respect.

So many things had changed. I felt like I would not fail my mother, for once. That felt good. But Luis and I were mad at each other. I had two others, plus Luis, claiming the right to be the royal consort. I had a dragon as a chosen, and I needed to convince it to marry me. And now it seemed like Adrian might be changing as well. Or maybe he was just playing?

Whatever. I definitely needed a chance to breathe.

"Let's invite Regina to the lake trip," I said.

"Are you sure about that?" Luke asked.

I smiled and nodded. "Yes. I'm sure. We'll invite both of the remaining courts. I feel like getting to know who Zovria is will be important, and I want to get closer to Regina."

We spent the rest of the trip home talking about the lake trip, and I tried hard not to think about the hard trek before us. I had a victory, but I hadn't won the war. As I rested on Dominic's arm, I had a crazy thought. Everything seemed to go the way the trees wanted, at least most of the time. Even these trials were what the trees wanted. Maybe with Regina in my corner, and anyone else that was dissatisfied with the way things were run, I could break the hold Duir had on this world and bring peace.

It sure would be nice, I thought, as my eyes grew heavy.

==End of Book One ==

Please Read the next book in the story, The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring and Crown Book 2