The world Kael walked back into was a muted, colorless version of the one he’d left.
Morwen’s parting threat echoed in his mind, a venomous whisper that clung to him like Unseelie shadow-rot. I will personally destroy Rowan.
The words were a physical blow, leaving him hollowed out and breathless.
The Brooklyn street, with its rumbling traffic and distant sirens, felt like a dream. The only reality was the cold dread coiling in his gut.
He had come to this world on a simple, brutal mission: steal a heart to save a kingdom.
Now, the mission was a cage, and Morwen held the key.
He could not give her the Heartseed; her ambition would poison the very ley lines she sought to control, a blight that would eventually spread to his own dying world.
He could not steal it himself; the realization that Rowan’s life force was woven into the garden’s core had been a paralyzing shock. Taking it would be tantamount to murder.
And he could not leave. He could not abandon Rowan to Morwen’s mercy, because the Unseelie had none.
He pushed open the wrought-iron gate of the Green Haven Community Garden, the familiar squeal of the hinges a jarring note in his panicked thoughts.
The scent of damp earth and late-summer blooms rushed to meet him, a fragrance he now associated with a dangerous, impossible warmth.
Rowan was there, of course.
She was always there. She was on her knees by the central oak, her fingers buried in the dark soil at its base, her brow furrowed in concentration.
She looked up as he approached, her expression a mixture of lingering anger from their last argument and a new, worried curiosity.
“You’re back,” she said, her voice flat. “Had a nice walk?”
“Rowan, we need to talk.” His voice was rougher than he intended.
She stood, wiping her hands on her jeans, leaving streaks of rich soil. “About your secrets? About how you conveniently show up when a multi-billion-dollar corporation gets obsessed with my garden? I think we’ve covered the basics.”
He deserved that. He deserved all of it. “Yes. About that.”
He took a step closer, forcing himself to meet her wary, beautiful eyes. “I haven’t been honest with you.”
A bitter laugh escaped her. “No kidding.”
“Vex isn’t just a development company,” he began, the partial truth feeling like ash in his mouth. “Morwen… their CEO… she isn’t interested in condos or market value. She wants what’s in this land. An energy. A life force that’s centered right here.” He gestured to the ground beneath the ancient oak.
Rowan crossed her arms, a shield against his words. “An energy. Right. Is this where you tell me about healing crystals and ley lines? Liam would love this.”
The mention of her friend was a sharp jab.
Liam, with his dogged research and unshakable loyalty, was a far better man than Kael could ever pretend to be.
“He’s not wrong to be suspicious,” Kael admitted, his voice dropping. “He’s right that there’s more going on here. This garden… it’s special, Rowan. It’s powerful. And that power doesn’t just come from the soil.”
He took another tentative step, closing the distance between them until he could see the flecks of gold in her hazel eyes. “It comes from you.”
Her defensive posture wavered.
Confusion softened the hard line of her mouth. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not just a good gardener. You have a connection to this place, to its core. A real, tangible connection. You don’t just nurture the plants; you feed them something of yourself. It’s why everything grows so well for you. It’s why this place feels alive in a way no other garden does. And it’s what Morwen wants to control. Or destroy.”
She stared at him, searching his face for the lie, the trick.
But all she found was a desperate sincerity that unnerved her more than any deception. “You’re insane,” she whispered, but the words lacked conviction.
She thought of the uncanny way plants responded to her touch, the intuitive knowledge she had about what they needed, a sense that went beyond horticulture.
“I’m not,” he said, his voice urgent. “And I can prove it. Let me show you.”
His hand came up, palm open, an invitation. For a long moment, she just stared at it, her mind warring with every instinct. Liam’s voice screamed corporate spy, but the memory of Kael’s hands healing her roses, the jolt of energy that had passed between them, told a different story.
The quiet desperation in his eyes right now felt more real than anything.
Slowly, hesitantly, she placed her hand in his.
His fingers closed around hers, warm and strong.
The familiar shock of connection rippled through her, but this time it was different—less of a surprise and more of a homecoming.
He led her to the base of the oak, its gnarled roots like the knuckles of a sleeping giant.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured, his voice a low vibration against her ear as he stood behind her. She flinched but obeyed, the scent of him—ozone, moss, and something wild she couldn’t name—surrounding her. He placed her hands flat against the rough bark of the tree. His own hands came to rest over hers, covering them completely.
“Breathe,” he whispered. “Don’t try to think. Just… feel. Feel beyond the bark. Feel the water moving up from the roots, feel the pulse of the earth beneath your feet.”
She tried, but her mind was a whirlwind of doubt and suspicion. “I don’t feel anything.”
“You do,” he insisted. “You’ve just been taught to ignore it. Let go of what you think is real. Listen with more than your ears.”
He guided her, his voice a steady anchor.
He spoke of the network of roots beneath them, a silent city intertwined with mycelium, passing nutrients and warnings.
He spoke of the slow, patient conversion of sunlight into life happening in every leaf. He wasn’t just describing a biological process; he was describing a conscious one.
And as he spoke, he channeled a sliver of his own Seelie magic through their joined hands, not to compel, but to unlock. A key turning in a lock she never knew existed.
And then, it happened.
It started as a faint hum, a vibration under her palms that she first dismissed as her own pulse.
But it grew, deepening into a slow, powerful thrum, like the beat of a colossal heart deep within the earth. The world behind her eyelids exploded.
The darkness bloomed into a web of shimmering light—green for the life in the leaves, gold for the energy in the soil, silver for the water in the veins of the tree.
She could feel the entire garden as a single, breathing entity, its consciousness vast and ancient. She felt the lazy contentment of the sun-drunk sunflowers, the anxious thirst of the wilting hydrangeas, the steady, deep-rooted peace of the oak.
And she felt Kael. He was a pillar of light behind her, his energy a clear, bright silver-blue, flowing into her, showing her the way. He wasn’t just a man; he was a part of this magic, too.
A gasp tore from her throat, and her eyes flew open.
The world looked the same—green leaves, brown bark, darkening sky—but it felt utterly different. It was alive. It was aware.
And she was a part of it.
She turned in his arms, her face tilted up to his.
Her eyes, wide with wonder and terror, reflected the twilight. “What… what was that?” she breathed, her voice trembling.
“That was the truth,” he said, his own voice thick with emotion. The sight of her, awakened and radiant with the magic she now saw, was devastatingly beautiful. The last of his resolve crumbled.
His hand rose to cup her jaw, his thumb stroking the soft skin of her cheek.
The energy they had just shared still pulsed between them, a living current that had nowhere to go. It swirled in the space between their bodies, begging for release.
The garden seemed to hold its breath, the thrum of its life force syncing with the frantic beating of their hearts.
“You,” she whispered, a universe of questions in that single word.
“Me,” he answered, a confession of everything he couldn’t say.
He lowered his head, and this time, the kiss was not the desperate, surprising collision it had been before.
It was a conscious, deliberate fall. His mouth met hers with a searching tenderness that quickly deepened into a raw, consuming hunger.
She responded instantly, her hands coming up to tangle in his hair, pulling him closer.
It wasn’t just a kiss; it was a continuation of the magic.
The energy they had tapped into now flowed through them, amplifying everything. His touch sent sparks not just across her skin, but through the web of light she could now perceive. Her answering sigh felt like a breeze rustling the oak’s leaves.
He swept her into his arms and carried her the few feet to the softest patch of clover, laying her down as if she were the most precious thing in all the realms.
The world narrowed to the circle of grass beneath the ancient tree, a sanctuary charged with humming power.
As they came together, skin against skin under the rising moon, the garden responded. The night-blooming jasmine on the trellis unfurled its petals, releasing a heady, intoxicating perfume into the air.
The moss at the base of the oak began to glow with a soft, phosphorescent light. A lacework of ivy crept from the fence, curling gently around them not as a cage, but an embrace.
Their bodies moved in a rhythm that was both new and ancient.
Every touch, every kiss, was a magical act. When he was inside her, it felt as if their very souls were merging, the silver-blue of his energy intertwining with the wild, earthy green of hers. The power of the Heartseed below them pulsed in time with their movements, drawing strength from their union and feeding it back to them in a dizzying, ecstatic loop.
Pleasure and power became one and the same, a tidal wave that swept them both away, leaving them breathless and shimmering in the heart of their awakened sanctuary.
Lying tangled together afterward, slick with sweat and glowing with a faint magical aura, the silence was profound.
The garden was singing, a quiet hymn of contentment.
For the first time, Rowan could truly hear it. She rested her head on Kael’s chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart, a rhythm that was now as familiar and essential as the pulse of the earth beneath her.
She was in love. The realization was as shocking and as undeniable as the magic now humming in her veins. She was in love with this impossible, secretive man.
And Kael, holding her, felt the last of his crumbling kingdom slip away. In that moment, there was no dying court, no desperate mission, no Unseelie threat.
There was only Rowan, and the vibrant, thrumming life of the world she had created—a world he now knew he would die to protect.
The lie he was still holding onto felt like a shard of glass pressed against his heart, and he knew, with a terrible certainty, that it would soon shatter everything.