He would be a fool not to want you back, my darling, she could hear her say. She smiled and clutched the moonstone.

The knock on her door startled her. “Who is it?” she called.

“It’s me,” Leo said, and Sera’s heart leaped like a sun trout jumping for a fly.

“Oh,” she said, standing so quickly she felt dizzy. She opened the door and the sight of him, in a sweater the color of the sea and his curls tied back in a low ponytail, set her mouth watering. What an unexpected reaction. Desire made her all out of sorts.

“I thought maybe we could explore the Arboreal grove together,” Leo said. “I can see it from my room; I don’t think we need Mckenna’s company.”

Sera would be happy to never have Mckenna’s company again—she nodded and said, “Let me put on a cloak.”

She chose a plum-colored velvet from the armoire by the fireplace, her hands shaking as she slipped it on. They walked down the staircase in silence—was Sera imagining it or did Leo keep glancing at her every so often? But perhaps because she was being unusually quiet.

“Your grandmother has a very nice house,” she said.

Leo laughed and the sound sent little shivers over her skin. “I don’t know if house is the word I’d use,” he said. “But it’s certainly impressive.”

They stepped out into the cold air and followed a simple flagstone path that led them to the Arboreal grove. Seeing so many of them together made her heart seize up and tears fill her eyes. Their faces were just like Boris’s, three eyes that formed a triangle and an odd slash for a mouth.

“Incredible,” Leo said, marveling at the blue-green canopy overhead.

They walked deeper into the grove, Sera touching each trunk lightly as she passed, and she felt the Arboreals stir, their leaves rustling, and without consciously thinking it, she called on the seeds of light and love as she had done with Boris. It was so much easier this time, she thought as she held her palms up, her magic slipping through her skin as lightly as a thread through a needle. Leo gaped as tiny glowing seeds with feathery stems floated up and away, filling the grove with their light and melting into the Arboreals’ leaves where they touched them. Sera heard creaking, tree-ish gasps of delight and cries of, “Seeds! Seeds of light and love.”

“What are they saying?” Leo asked. Sera found she could not look at him. It was easier to focus on the Arboreals.

“They call my magic seeds of light and love,” she explained. “And they are full of joy to see them.”

The closest tree turned its ancient eyes toward her.