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  It’s not easy being green and kept from your tree. Aster is a dryad on a mission to reclaim her own.

  Aster was cut off from her tree in a weird turn of events that had her planting her tree in sacred soil and waking a forest god with the power of her oak. Her life was in a static spiral from there.

  She joined the human world, started a business, and enjoyed spending her time with trees that grew at her slightest request. Life was good until the fiancée of the fey king contacted her and asked her to join the queen’s court.

  Aster thought about joining the fey, and she agreed to do it, on one condition. She wanted to visit her tree.

  A flurry of arrangements brings her to the Crossroads, and she confronts the being who had possession of her tree and asks him to let her visit. He says yes on one condition. She has to visit as his mate or the barrier will remain.

  She has to think about this.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Tangled Heart

  Copyright © 2019 Zenina Masters

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-2689-7

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  Tangled Heart

  Enchanted Crossroads, Book 2

  By

  Zenina Masters

  Chapter One

  Aster parked the truck, and she hopped out of the cab, walking around to the back, unlatching the lock and shoving the door upward.

  She climbed into the back and smiled as she heard the approaching forklift.

  The landscaper walked up. “Do you have my twenty-foot trees?”

  “I do.”

  She waved at the contents of the truck. He climbed up and slowly looked at the trees she was offering. “I don’t know where you find these.”

  “I grow them from cuttings when I can, from seed when I can’t.”

  She grabbed the strapping from the side of the truck and looped it around the first root ball. When the tines of the forklift were even with the edge of the truck, she looped the straps around them and hauled the tree into the embrace of the steel struts. When the tree was fixed, she waved for the driver to back out straight. The tree was at a fifteen-degree angle, and when it finally cleared the truck, she gave the double thumb’s up. The driver lowered his tines and drove his giant spear through the site with precision and care.

  Aster looked at the landscaper. “You might want to be there to choose the placement. I just supply the trees; you have to pick the spot.”

  He nodded and scrambled out of the truck, sprinting across the site.

  Aster Winding of Aster’s Tree Nursery was happy to have these trees off her lot. They would thrive, but she needed the space. She may just have used some of her skills to coax a little more height out of the trees.

  She spent the next two hours unloading the trees and sipping tea out of her thermos.

  When she finished unloading, she grabbed the landscaper and got him to sign the receipt for the twenty trees. It had taken her a decade to get used to selling plants, but now, she was good at making sure she got paid.

  She closed up the truck, locked it down, and got back on the road to the nursery. She had two orders to coax into bloom for the morning, but then, she was free to go out to the movies.

  If she were lucky, there would be room for dinner before the show.

  The bride of the fey king had invited her for an evening of light entertainment. She was willing to listen to what was said as long as there were snacks on offer.

  Aster sat back with a destroyed nacho platter in front of her. “So, mistress, what do you want of me?”

  The young shifter smiled, the guard beside her groaned and covered her eyes. “I wish you to join the queen’s court.”

  “Why? You are not queen yet.”

  “Fair enough, but that is by my choice.”

  Aster looked at the woman, and she began to see the power that was kept under wraps. “Why me?”

  “You are the only one of your branch of the fey who interacts and blends in with humans, as one of them.”

  “Most of my kind can’t be bothered. They live with their trees and defend them against hikers.” Aster shrugged. “My tree is fine on its own, and our connection has been severed for centuries.”

  The bride frowned. “Severed?”

  Aster looked at the fey on the bride’s left. “You didn’t tell her.”

  Sebreel sipped at her soda and shrugged. “She said she wanted a dryad, and you are the only one who actually walks in the world.”

  Aster sighed. “I came here with the first wave of immigration, and I headed as far west as I could, looking for the perfect place to plant the sapling that I carried with me. I planted it, but I planted it in the soil saved for one of the local gods. He accepted my offering of a healthy and strong tree and locked it away from me. My link to my tree was gone.” She grimaced. “It was a bit of a shock.”

  The bride whispered, “When was this?”

  Aster squinted. “Four hundred years ago. I went to the court, but there was no place for me, so I set about wandering the new world. I learned to walk and look like a human, and this century, I came out of the woods and set up my business.”

  The bride nodded. “I am upset for your loss, but if you are interested, I would like to offer you a place in the fey court.”

  “Do you have authorization to do so?”

  “I do. King Larion is aware of my plans for the court. I wish for a more representational population. The high elves are wise, graceful, and powerful, but they are only five percent of the fey population. You, as a dryad who has actually walked in the world, have a unique perspective.” The bride smiled. “I want to have that perspective represented.”

  “Why me, why now? I have been out in the world for years, and your guards have been garnering a reputation for their peculiar skills and genetic mixes.”

  “Now, I am closing in on setting a date with Larion. I want my court set before I sit my ass in that throne.”

  Aster blinked.

  The bride gave her a slow smile. “If I can get you in contact with the god who has possession of your tree, will you join the queen’s court?”

  Aster paused. “If you can get me in contact with the one who holds my tree, I will join you.”

  The bride clapped her hands. “Excellent. Now, let’s go see the movie.”

  Their little group of strangers got up, and by the time they had all sobbed through the romantic comedy together, the friendship had begun to bloom.

  Two months later, Aster was working on the last order of the season, and her phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Aster, this is Sebreel. Eilonwy has a
line on the god that you are looking for. His current incarnation has surfaced.”

  A curl of hope ran through her. “Can I talk to him?”

  “That is going to be a little awkward. You can’t talk to him. He has gone to the Crossroads.”

  “What?” Her voice was less of a question and more of a shriek.

  “The god is in one of the shifters from his area, and that shifter has proceeded to the Crossroads to look for a mate.”

  “Since when do gods go to the Crossroads?”

  “It happens more than one would think. A lot of the natural fey are classed as forest spirits and therefore local gods. In this case, it is an actual spirit that inhabits animals and has ended up in a shifter.”

  Aster exhaled. “Right. How do I get to the Crossroads?”

  “You want to go?”

  “I want to talk to him, and if he’s there, that is the place I need to be.”

  “Do you know how it works?”

  “How what works?”

  Sebreel sighed. “The Crossroads. You go, and by entering, you sign up to look for a mate.”

  Aster paused. “I can look for a mate.”

  “Just like that?”

  “I have been without permanent companionship for several centuries. I can see the appeal of having a mate.”

  Sebreel chuckled. “Well, if you are willing to stay at the Crossroads until you find a mate, Eilonwy can send you a transporter tomorrow morning.”

  Aster finished her order and nodded to her assistant. “Why not now?”

  “Now?”

  “Yes. Why not right now? If he is there, I do not wish to miss him. Do you know who he is?”

  “He’s an elk shifter. Eilonwy didn’t give me a name.”

  “Find one if you can, have a transporter come and get me as soon as possible. Thank you.” Aster remembered the polite ending to her demand. Trees had different manners. They stated the truth at all times. There was no point in twisting and hiding it. Manners were ways to smooth the edges of truth.

  “Fine. I will come and deliver you to the Crossroads, but it is going to be a rough ride. I am not that good at it.”

  “I am strong, I will survive the transport.”

  “Fine. It’s on your head.”

  The threat was the last thing she heard before the call was over. Aster went to get her bag ready. She knew about the Crossroads, but she couldn’t transport herself. It was going to be agonizing, but she would do it anyway. Anything for her tree.

  Sebreel opened the portal, and Aster walked through. Her assistant, Robert, would close up for the season if she wasn’t back in a week. He was as trustworthy as any half-elf could be.

  Chapter Two

  Aster fell to her knees as she stepped into the safety of the Crossroads. That had been one rough ride.

  The guardians of the Crossroad came toward her with another woman walking behind. Aster looked at the other woman and smiled. “Dira, it has been a while.”

  “It has, indeed, Aster. I remembered the name when I saw it on the roster, and I came down here to wait for you, old friend.”

  Aster got to her feet. “I am not so very old.”

  “You are not very young either, my dear twig.” Dira smiled.

  “This is Teal, this is Tony. They are the guardians of the Crossroads.”

  Aster smiled. “I am pleased to meet you.”

  “This is Aster of the Silent Wood, also known as Aster Without-Tree.”

  Aster wrinkled her nose. “Dryads are not good at naming things.”

  Teal blinked. “Right. Um, well, we have your contract here, and I have the glyph ready for your wrist.”

  Aster signed her mark on the contract that stipulated she would remain until she found a mate. The glyph was a bit of ink and magic that stuck to her skin.

  Aster went back for her bag and picked it up. “So, where shall I stay?”

  Dira linked arms with her. “Come with me, friend. We have much to catch up on.”

  Aster nodded. “Please. Show me what you have done with the place.”

  Centuries earlier, the great dragon, Dira, had come to the Silent Wood with her sister’s children and raised them for a few decades in the forest and meadows where no humans were willing to set foot. They had moved on, but their family had enjoyed the security that her wood had offered.

  Aster had been just a little dryad then, a young sapling and a human form in her early adolescence.

  “So, why did you want to cross the sea?” Dira’s question was direct.

  They were pacing slowly on the pounded gravel path.

  “The wood was no longer silent. Humans moved in after the lord had too many children to fit in his built homes. They came through my wood, and I was too young and too alone to defend more than a few hundred acres. The humans moved in, so I dug up my tree and moved out.”

  “How did you come over?”

  “The silver dragon flew me over, out of pity. He had helped his mate to raise a family when my mother was in the Silent Wood a thousand years before my time.”

  Dira nodded. “Trimor. He was a good sort.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “After his mate passed, he simply faded.”

  They walked slowly through the bustling center of the Crossroads.

  Aster sighed. “That is the problem with being so long-lived. After a while, there is nothing more to live for.”

  Dira laughed. “That is why you have children. They are a reason to live for a while, and for some, they become a touch of immortality.”

  “Dryads do not have children. Not the way other species do.”

  “I know. There is a special seed that drops when you are ready to let your tree fade. That seed becomes the next generation. It is a lot more fun to have sex.”

  Aster snorted. “I have sex. I just don’t have it for reproduction.”

  “Well, as a relatively recently mated woman, I have to recommend it. So, why are you here?”

  Aster smiled. “I will ask you a question to answer that one. Have you seen a god walking around?”

  Dira blinked several times before nodding. “I believe that there is one hiking around here. Why are you looking for him?”

  “He has my tree on his sacred lands.”

  The dragon said the most succinct thing she had ever said to Aster. “Oh. Shit.”

  Aster nodded. “Indeed.”

  They continued the walk to Dira’s bed and breakfast in silence.

  After she was checked in, changed for flirtation, and sitting across from Dira in the sitting room eating cookies, Dira asked, “How did it happen?”

  “I was tired. So tired. I had hiked from the inner waterway to the central plains looking for a safe place to be.”

  “Another silent wood.”

  “Indeed. I found a place that was silent, young, and very alive. I planted my tree in the soil and smiled as I felt the roots expand to take on the new soil. I was just waiting to shimmer inside it when it disappeared. I looked around, and I could still see it, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t touch it.”

  “Shit.”

  “Precisely. I looked for the source of my pain, and there was a huge beast with moss draping his antlers looking at me. He radiated power and slowly walked back into the forest.”

  “A wood god.”

  “Yes. Normally there should have been some humans to trigger worship which would have summoned him, but there he was in the middle of nowhere.”

  “And you brought him a sacred tree.”

  Aster wrinkled her nose. “Yes. I am guessing that he was there from past worship, but I woke him up.”

  “And lost your tree in the process.”

  “Yes, but it is still strong and healthy, or I would not be here.”

  Dira nodded. “So, he has been able to defend it.”

  “Yes, which are points in his favour. So, I will simply explain myself and hope tha
t he can withdraw his influence.”

  “You are hoping that he gives you the piece of land?”

  “I would settle for visitation with my tree.” She sighed and ate another cookie. “I long for just one day without my physical self.”

  “Right, you need that to physically recharge.”

  “Technically no, it just feels so good to slip into a fresh body when you are well-rested, and the old one composts into the soil.”

  “That is called life and death for most species.”

  Aster shrugged. “So, do you have a name for the guy you think is a god?”

  “Huron. He is an elk who came here because his brother just found a mate here. He is strong, sturdy, and his rack is truly impressive.”

  Aster grinned. “I am shocked you aren’t describing his haunches.”

  “I would have to compose a sonnet to them.”

  “Speaking of haunches. Where is your mate?”

  “He is in the human world, working with our children and his family’s company.”

  “Children?”

  “Yes, our daughters are modelling for the clothing company. My face was out there a little too long. Folks expected me to age and were catching on that I wasn’t.”

  Aster smiled. “I think I have seen some of those ads. I don’t much care what I wear as long as it is washable, but I thought I saw your face on online ads and billboards.”

  “It was me. It was fun to get out and see the world again. I like to pop out and see how the world has changed, now and then.”

  “I have enjoyed how far they have come. The smartphones are remarkably handy. I can do all of my transactions on it and even get folks to sign for deliveries.”

  Dira looked surprised. “You are in the human world?”

  “I am. I own a small plant nursery, and we specialize in hard-to-grow trees.” Aster gave her a small smile. “They all grow for me.”

  “Of course, they do. How long have you been in the human world?”