Enchanted Summer Page 25

  Ariadne blushed. “I look the same as I do in my other form.”

  “I swear you look more beautiful every time I see you,” he whispered in her ear, and she smiled.

  “We’re almost there,” she said, turning a corner and pushing a narrow door open.

  The music room was flooded with moonlight. It was entirely carved out of crystal, making it seem like the instruments floated above the waterfall. The muted sound of crushing water reached from outside.

  Nate froze by the entrance, his hand around Ariadne’s waist.

  “I’ve never seen a piano like this. What’s it made of?”

  “Crystal, as you may guess.” Ariadne smiled up at him. “In the daylight, the sunbeam usually penetrates it so that it seems to be fully made of rainbows.”

  “Beautiful.”

  “I know. It is.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the piano.” He leaned down to kiss her neck.

  Ariadne laughed, whirling to brush a hand through his hair. Moonlight danced in her eyes.

  “Will you play for me?” she whispered.

  Epilogue

  Nate pulled up the collar of his jacket as he entered the forest. The air was cool, and his breath clouded in front of him. There was a high chance it would snow tonight.

  It’d been just a few months but it seemed like an eternity had passed since Ariadne left his home. The school year had started, and all his friends were busy.

  Hanna and Ray left the town and now rented an apartment in the city. Ray was working a new job. They messaged Nate frequently, sharing the news, and promised to come home for Christmas.

  Mimi had started her own college life. She and Nate didn’t talk much these days, but Hanna mentioned in one of her messages that Mimi had made new friends and looked happy. That was all that mattered. Whatever came over her in the summer seemed to pass. She was also finishing up her new story and had come up with a brand new idea. Her creative life was going well.

  Ryan helped Nate in the diner on the weekends. He was a bit lonely without his siblings but still tried to stay as positive as ever, hanging out with his school buddies and Hanna’s brother in his free time. After being introduced to Nate, Chase picked up an interest in music, and Hanna’s parents begged him to give their son a few piano lessons. Nate was reluctant at first—remembering his own and Hanna’s childhood music lessons—but it was clear that Chase wanted it, and his parents would never force it on him. So from then on, Nate visited their house every week and taught Chase everything he knew. He made a point to guide the boy and never push him. Ryan joined them from time to time. Nate wasn’t sure he was that good of a teacher but the boys enjoyed the lessons, and that was all that mattered.

  Hanna nearly smashed her phone when she’d learned that.

  In the evenings, or when he had a bit of free time, Nate played at home and recorded himself. His friends nudged him to share his music online, and he knew that sooner or later he would do it. He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but he found he scarcely cared about that anymore.

  If anything, he didn’t care if he would have to work at the diner or do any other odd jobs to make a living all his life. He was certainly not the type to crave fame and fortune.

  He’d finally found his purpose in life. And someone he wanted to share that life with. That was all that mattered.

  Nate couldn’t hide a smile as he approached an old oak.

  The memories of that whirlwind of a night hit him all at once. He could picture himself enter the glittering hall where both Ariadne’s father and mother awaited him. His heart was fluttering, and his knees almost gave out.

  Back then, when they introduced him to the King for the first time … he just left.

  He couldn’t ask Nate to leave the castle, so he left himself, and refused to speak with him for a long time.

  Ariadne’s mother, though—she was very sweet to Nate from the start. Seeing her daughter recovered from her illness and learning that love—not some mysterious disease—was the reason for her condition was all she needed to know to be at peace. Knowing that Nate was a part-dryad and Lady Bronwyn’s great-nephew only made it better. She let them know right away that she approved of their relationship and would do all in her power to try to reason with Ariadne’s father. But she still could promise them nothing.

  Nate was allowed to stay in the castle for a few days, but he had to briefly return home, to make sure his friends didn’t think he’d gone missing.

  It was weeks before the King had agreed to see him again, and even more weeks before he announced his final decision. He didn’t look pleased in a bit as he declared it—if anything, he appeared defeated.

  His position was firm—for as long as he lived, he would not approve of such a marriage. He was clearly displeased with his daughter. But he could do nothing to stop Nate from coming to the Forest and seeing her, as both magic and their laws clearly allowed it. That was all that they needed to know.

  Nate was smiling as he pressed his hand to the door in the tree trunk. Living between the two worlds wasn’t easy, but he knew it was what he was supposed to do from the start.

  What he did now was something he’d never thought he would do. It fulfilled him like nothing else.

  The door opened.

  His audience awaited.

  And he would see her. So soon.

  ∞∞∞

  Ariadne walked through the forest, following a familiar trail.

  The smile never left her face. She felt so light these days it seemed like she could soar off the ground without using her wings.

  More than anything, she was glad to see the ones she loved so happy. Her mother was feeling well, and Lady Bronwyn smiled and laughed so often these days. She looked like a completely renewed person.

  She and her father didn’t speak much, if at all, since her return. He was still processing the fact that his own daughter had refused to marry whoever he had picked out for her and chose a part-human instead. She might have been the first one in the family to do that. He would obviously not allow for a part-human to become a future king, so Ariadne wondered if she would be the only ruler of the Enchanted Forest when the time came.

  But it was still so far off. For now, Ariadne was happier than ever to just be with the one she loved.

  She couldn’t wait to see him. Nate came to visit her almost every day, and more often than not ended up spending the night in the castle. Ariadne didn’t risk going into his world while she recovered, but she promised to come in the future, maybe for the holidays, to see everybody. No one in her family needed to know that she’d made friends with some humans, and visiting a human world every once in a while wasn’t prohibited.

  Nate had to learn a lot about his newly discovered powers. Firstly, she was determined to teach him the names of plants and how to care for some of them. Plants loved him, no matter what he said, and he took good care of his garden in her absence. Ariadne taught him everything she knew about dryads and their way of life, even though those lessons ended by them kissing more often than not. She didn’t mind that at all.

  She wondered sometimes if Nate’s powers extended beyond what she expected. They might discover a few unexpected surprises along the journey. But still, the most important one was already known. And he used it in a way he never thought he would.

  Ariadne’s heart fluttered as the sounds of a beautiful melody reached her ears. She pushed off the ground and flew, following it down the path.

  An already so familiar clearing gleamed with sunlight in the distance. And a most unexpected thing—a piano carved of crystal—stood in the middle of it.

  But it wasn’t the piano that made her heart flutter—it was the young man playing it. The melody spilled from his fingertips and flooded that entire part of the forest, making it come alive.

  Pixies and sylphs clung to the instrument, hypnotized by the sound. Butterflies and fairy lights mingled in the air all around it. But it wasn’t them alone that were drawn to the
music. Between the trees, souls of humans, both young and old, lingered, mesmerized by it. Ariadne recognized some of them. They came here every time he played and stayed for long.

  Careful not to disturb their otherworldly visitors, Ariadne folded her wings and walked out into the sunlit clearing.

  A memory sprang in her mind—herself watching a little boy play the piano in the Enchanted Forest. He couldn’t see her back then, while she so wanted for him to look up so that she could introduce herself. She could hardly believe that the boy was sitting right in front of her now. And both he and his piano were real. She so wanted to come close and brush her fingers through his hair; make sure he was real and it all wasn’t just a dream.

  As if in answer to her thoughts, Nate looked up from the keyboard and smiled.

  *Explanation For Chapter Twenty-Three

  Fanny is a character from another one of my worlds. And she is more than just a character to me.

  It might not make sense why I decided to include a character from the series I haven’t yet published in this book, but I envisioned her as a part of this story for a long time, and without her cameo, the story would lose half of its magic to me.

  Since her appearance doesn’t affect the main arc of the story, you can perceive her as just a figment of Mimi’s imagination.

  But I think it would be fun in the future, when that other series will be published, for readers to discover this story and find Fanny in it.