to live among them. Diana predicted that in a few years, they weren’t going to have much of choice as the beings of the other worlds flooded in to share this plane of existence. She had no doubt that she would be around to see that day.
Diana squinted against the falling snow and sighed to herself. She was already making peace with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to stay forever. Not if she wanted to have any peace. Her world was nothing like the Eternal Forest. No one would accept that she wouldn’t age, and while she had serious doubts that they would be able to kill her, she knew that it didn’t mean that they couldn’t make life uncomfortable or even painful for her. She would stay for as long as it was safe, then she would pay her final respects to her family and move on.
She debated perhaps just departing into the forest. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that the resident spirits didn’t challenge her presence. The first time she’d seen the silvanus that guarded her wood they had both been surprised. Fear had raced through her, facing the male who had stepped out unexpectedly from behind a tree, and for a moment had regretted the fact that Anola remained stored in a trunk in the cabin rather than carried strapped to her.
Thankfully, Anola hadn’t been needed. The silvanus had bowed low, his twisted horns scraping the earth as he solemnly addressed her as ati. It had been an embarrassing moment, but he not only gave her wide berth when she entered his forest, he often ventured to her home to leave wild game at her steps when the days were particularly brutal.
She wondered if she would have the same reception everywhere she traveled.
As she passed a small copse of trees a movement in the snow caught her attention, breaking her from her ruminations. A shadow slipped from behind the trees. Familiar dark antlers branched regally, and the two arcs of his new horns that had sprouted recently betrayed his identity. His body was just as tall and beautifully formed as it had ever been, a long fur cape wrapped around him, his hair stirring in the light wind. Ears tipped toward her, his glowing eyes haunting as he watched her, his lips parting with confusion.
Instinctively she reached for their bond and encountered the same emptiness that she had discovered every time she sought him over the months. Nothing had changed. Her heart lurched painfully, and she turned away, pretending that she didn’t see him. He still didn’t remember her. He was just as surprised to encounter her as she was to see him.
She shook her head. What was Silvas doing here?
Her heart, which rarely stirred with any sort of excitement or stress anymore, picked up its beat, pulsing through her as she rushed forward through the snow at a rapid clip. She did not run. It was stupid to run from a natural-born predator, even a divine one like the lucomo silvani. Even though she didn’t hear his steps or even the exhalation of his breath, she knew that he was trailing after her at a distance.
That he wasn’t running up to her gave her a small measure of reassurance. He wasn’t attacking. He was watching and following her like just like one of her pesky want-to-be boyfriends. Couching his pursuit in those terms helped relaxed her more. It was nothing she couldn’t handle. If she ignored him long enough, he would just go away.
A confident smile pulling at her lips, she settled in an easier lope as she crossed the wide, open grounds between town and her home. She felt his eyes on her, but she was no longer concerned. No doubt he would follow her all the way to her home. Well, she would just continue to pretend that she didn’t notice him until he got bored and went on with his hunt.
A short time later, she was safely nestled in her cabin, sipping the last portion she had of hot cocoa that she had meticulously managed to stretch since the ravaging. It felt like a night that called for cocoa. Outside, she could hear the whistle of the wind picking up as she settled deeper into her crocheted blanket with a worn book in hand. She only got up to stir the coals back to life before settling comfortably into her chair again.