Her other self is quiet and wary, as Croi tries to endure the pain in her chest. Enbarr moves through the underbrush, the bushes not presenting an obstacle to him. The pain grows as Croi and her sand-horse get closer to wherever the keening is coming from.

Finally, Enbarr stops moving, and Croi takes a shallow breath. She opens her eyes to face whatever lies in front of her.

Wood nymphs, the Hag taught her, live in small gatherings of trees within the forest. Unlike dryads, whose primary form is a tree, wood nymphs have fae-shaped bodies that are bonded to trees. They can leave the tree and travel, but their health depends on the well-being of the tree they are bonded to. The copse in front of Croi is full of dead trees, and beside each dead tree is a wood nymph, their bodies hard and hollow. They are still in death.

A young wood nymph stands in the middle of the copse, crying. It is her keening that pulled Croi over. The nymph, scared by the sand-horse, hides behind the wooden body of an older nymph. Her grief clouds the air, turning it dank.

Do you think anyone will cry when we die?

Croi swallows at the question. She is not ready to think about her own end. Thankfully, the sound of horses behind her saves her from having to. She turns to see the Tine King, Lorcan, and Ceara, each on their own horse, looking at the copse with varying degrees of shock on their faces. The pixie is sitting on Ceara’s shoulder and flies over when she sees Croi.

“What happened here?” The pixie looks around. She darts over to the young wood nymph, who doesn’t seem as fearful of Tinder as she is of the others.

“I woke up this morning, and they were all gone,” the little nymph says. She’s shaking. “My sisters felt dizzy yesterday, so we rested early, but when I woke up this morning, they…” She sobs.

“Is it because of the missing HeartStone?” Croi thinks to her other self.

What other reason could there be?

Croi rubs her head and considers. According to what she has been told, the HeartStone, apart from keeping the elemental kingdoms separated, also facilitates the magick cycle. Kin are born with magick within them, they live with this magick, and when they die, the magick is returned to the element—in Talamh’s case, earth. In turn, the earth allows more kin to be born. If the HeartStone is no longer present, the magick cycle is broken. She looks at the wood nymph standing beside the dead trees. Is this what happens when the cycle breaks?

“We can’t leave her here by herself,” the princess says suddenly. “Father, how do we help her?”

“Would you like to come with us to the Caisleán?” Tinder asks the wood nymph.

The nymph starts at Tinder’s question before looking at the bodies of her sisters. “Will I be abandoning them if I go with you?”