A Life Earthbound (9 page)

Dumbfounded, Rohan pulled Rhiannon away from him so he could look her in the eye. He had never seen her act this way. “What is it?”

“I want to stay with him!” She struggled against him again, but he only held her tighter.

“You can see Liam later. I want you upstairs where it’s safe. Brock may retaliate against us. I can’t have you out here unguarded.”

He braced her on his hip and began to walk toward the castle. Unable to do more, she just looked over his shoulder at Liam and Lucian.

Although she didn’t know it, this was the beginning of Euphora shifting from her home and her safe haven, to becoming her gilded prison.

She watched them
through the glass walls of the Greenhouse with empty eyes.

Lucian with Blythe and Liam, all racing around playing together, so carefree. Despite a deep, hidden longing to join them, she knew now that she did not belong. She was an outsider to their cheerful trio; the lonely one.

She was eight years old.

Since Capri had been taken, nothing had been the same. She had lost her dearest, sweetest friend, and the loss had taken its toll on her. She couldn’t be around Liam and Blythe without Capri being there; they were too much for her to handle at the same time so she shied away. Her refusal to play and distant attitude confused Liam and irritated Blythe. Whatever small friendship she’d had with the Fire Dryad had slowly dissipated into a steady dislike that had at some point turned mutual.

Despite how hard he tried, Liam could not bring the two of them together as they had once been. Instead he had become the go between and the middle man; a shaky bridge that clung with all its might to not collapse under the pressure.

Rhiannon dealt with a pressure all her own, one that the others could never understand.

“Rhiannon, come here and concentrate, please,” Rohan urged her. He was standing before the globe over the tiny pond, planning shifts in the Earth’s crust.

She wandered over to him, looking repentant.

“Sorry, father,” she apologized, lifting her hands and focusing on the globe.

“Now, as we’ve been practicing, locate the fault line and trace it with your finger.”

She ran her finger along a fault line in the sea near Japan. It highlighted with white light at her touch, outlining the length of the entire line.

“Now hold your hands over the line and shift the plates. Be sure to concentrate.”

Closing her eyes, she felt the power surge through her arms and into her hands, and then push through to her palms. Using it, she moved her hands as if she were physically moving the plates, and she could feel it happen within her. The small earthquake, while barely felt by humans, rocked her down to her core, the sensation both thrilling and daunting.

Finished, she pulled her hands away and stared at him. He nodded at her.

“Good.” He began to locate the next fault line due for a shift, when he noticed his daughter staring outside the glass walls again. Noticing she was watching Liam and Blythe playing, he felt a tinge of regret for restricting her so much. But in the end he knew he was doing what was best.

She was the brightest of all the Dryad children, and of all the children on Euphora, second only maybe to Roarke’s son, Rian. He attributed it largely due to his and his wife’s stern and dedicated approach to her education. She spent half of her day excelling at her general studies and her afternoons were spent with him in the Greenhouse. He had to admit, she was already beyond his level when he had been her age. But he’d known that from the minute he’d first introduced her to her powers.

One day, she’d be the best Dryad Euphora had ever seen.

Determined to distract her from the other children, he put the globe back into the pond and shut everything down. He smiled when she looked at him questionably.

“I’d like to take you somewhere, Rhiannon. It’s time I showed you the world outside of Euphora.”

She couldn’t hide the smile that graced her face, excitement rising in her. “Okay.”

Seeing her smile, which was much too rare these days, warmed his heart.

He led the way out into the courtyard, where they walked side-by-side down the cobblestone path and headed toward the meadow and the giant oak tree that would transport them away from Euphora.

Rhiannon walked quickly, eager to go, forgetting all about Liam, Blythe and Lucian. The longing was pushed aside and replaced by her impatience to see what she hadn’t yet seen in person.

Rohan pressed his hand against the wrought iron gates, which melted away at his touch. He led her into the meadow, his head up and his back straight as always. She chanced a glance at him, marveling at how handsome he was.

When they reached the tree, he reached for her hand and placed it gently on the bark.

“Keep your hand pressed firmly against the tree,” he instructed, placing his own hand on it as well. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes. “Take me to barley field, Swan Valley, Bonneville County, Idaho.”

Rhiannon kept her eyes on her father as the tree began to glow with golden light. She had seen others coming and going before so she expected this. She was just happy to finally be going somewhere herself.

It happened so fast she barely had time to blink and suddenly they were no longer on Euphora. A mist surrounded them out of nowhere and just as suddenly disappeared, leaving them standing in the most beautiful field she had ever seen.

The sun was setting, its golden rays blanketing the area with warm light and casting a yellow glow upon the field of grain. She gaped around her, taking it all in, not wanting to miss a single detail.

The field was acres and acres wide, so that all the way to the horizon there was nothing but barley. Behind them were more trees and sloping hills, with the last dying rays of the sun filtering through them. Off in the distance, she could see a red farmhouse, standing alone.

And further in the distance, dark gray and blue storm clouds raged. Thunder rumbled faintly as the clouds churned.

“My father used to bring me here when I was a boy,” Rohan shared with her, taking her hand. “What do you think?”

“It’s amazing,” she replied, her voice soft as she continued to stare around her, breathless.

“Come on, let’s walk.” His hand still holding hers, he led her through the field. She reached out and touched the barley as they walked, mesmerized by the golden tips of grain and the way the entire mass waved in the wind.

The air felt different here than it did at home, almost as if electricity were sparking around her, brought on by the approaching storm. Wind the likes of which she’d never experienced whipped around her, sending her hair flying. It was exhilarating.

“Everything you see is the reality of what we do,” he said, motioning with his free arm. “The trees, the barley, the soil, the mountains…this is the beauty of what we create, and when all is balanced, this is the result.”

She stared in wonder, feeling small and important all at once. It was one thing to look at the globe, but to actually be there experiencing the glory of it fascinated her.

“Humans have several important uses for barley. It is important that it’s always able to grow here and that the harvest occurs every year. You see, while the Water Dryads ensure that the Earth is watered, we ensure that the soil is fertile enough to grow. Without the combination, none of this would be possible.”

“And without air, water would have no clouds to be carried in to water the soil,” Rhiannon added, glancing up at him thoughtfully.

He smiled. “Exactly. And sometimes when the flora becomes too exhausting for an ecosystem to handle, fire comes through and clears it out to prepare the cycle to start all over again.”

Rohan watched his daughter as she looked around, her innocence and beauty striking him all at once. Even though she was only eight years old, she was already pretty and neat as a pin. Her clothes were modest and pressed and her face was always clean. Her rich, earthy eyes brimmed with a serious intelligence that he wondered if she had inherited from him. And as she grew older, she had begun to lose the childish chubbiness in her face, revealing her true beauty.

Her sister Sierra had already proved to be the exact opposite. She was three years old and was already selfish and grabby. He loved both of his children, but Rhiannon was closest to his heart. Serendipity had warmed up to the idea of motherhood after the birth of Sierra, but that was because Sierra was a Muse and her legacy rested with the child. It pained him to see that his wife remained cold with their oldest daughter, critical and discerning as always.

A flock of birds soared out of the trees and into the sky, fluttering overhead, startling him out of his reverie. He watched them fade into the horizon and his thoughts turned to Clynn and Capri.

It had been three years since that terrible day and his friend had still not fully recovered from his depression. Sometimes he wondered if Clynn would ever be the same again, but he reminded himself that if the same thing had happened to him, he would perish into nothingness, unable to cope.

The thought of losing his wife, the woman he’d loved his whole life, the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes upon…if he didn’t have her, he would be empty.

And the thought of losing Rhiannon…that would be like having his heart ripped from his chest and ground into nothing but dust.

Her hand swiped diligently across the paper as she wrote, filling in numbers in the boxes to complete the multiplication table.

Behind her, she heard shuffling and muffled giggling, which annoyed her. They were goofing off again and disrupting everyone, as usual.

She glanced over her shoulder and gave Blythe and Liam an irritated look. Blythe just stuck her tongue out, which caused Liam to laugh behind his hands.

“Settle down and get back to work,” Serendipity scolded, gliding past them and approaching Rhiannon’s desk. Stopping, she held out hand. “Let me see.”

Rhiannon gave her paper to her mother, her eyes lowered.

Serendipity perused her daughter’s work, pleased that the girl’s answers were not only correct, but written with clear, precise handwriting. Without a word, she set the paper back down on the desk and moved on to where the Furies were sitting.

Rhiannon exhaled and then returned to her work. She’d grown accustomed to receiving silence instead of praise from her mother.

An hour later, they were dismissed for the day. Rhiannon neatly stowed her papers, books, and pencils into her bag. Behind her she could hear Liam and Blythe chattering loudly as they stuffed their bags and raced out of the room, excited to play in the courtyard. Rian helped Brogan put away his things and then the two of them left without a word.