Tree of Secrets: M/M Romantic Fantasy (Farbonnur Elves Book 5) Read online

  Tree of Secrets

  Farbonnur Elves Book 5

  Edie Montreux

  Copyright © 2022 Edie Montreux

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by: Natasha Snow

  To everyone trying to make it on their own. You're not alone. You're awesome! You've got this.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Demon of Darkness Excerpt

  Thank you!

  About The Author

  Books In This Series

  Books By This Author

  Acknowledgement

  Chapter 1

  Faraki

  Faraki wondered what would happen now. He'd done everything Alvarick had said. He'd used the contents of the vial, thought of Murcori, and allowed those thoughts to culminate. His satisfying release had spilled onto the Circle of Light and vanished. Now what? The gray walls and ceiling around him said he was still in Celastes. He scrutinized the vial in his hand, wondering if it held the answer to transport him to what he hoped would be his new home.

  He hadn't regained his breath yet when the Circle of Light darkened beneath him. He fell through it, spinning and weaving through time and space. It was enough to make him dizzy on top of the veritasium still coursing through his system.

  He must have lost consciousness. He opened his eyes to the midday sun through vines and tree boughs. He was flat on his back on a cool surface, his armor forming a tight barrier between him and his new surroundings. The way the floor beneath him teased his full power stores, it was another Circle of Light.

  He examined the nearest twist of flora. It was a root, upon closer inspection. He sat up and found the light beneath him far brighter than the weak winter sun finding its way through the leaf canopy above.

  "Murcori?" he called out. He'd probably been too enthusiastic to think Murcori would be waiting for him. They'd left on pleasant terms, with a scorching kiss, but Murcori had been upset with him, too. Faraki hadn't discovered why.

  Faraki's armor shifted into place as he pulled himself to his feet by one of the dangling roots. The root was deceptively strong and well anchored. Touching it centered him to his core, and his worldly wish for his true bond intensified in the pure Light of the Circle. He had been lonely for so long. Now that he was here, he wanted Murcori to want him the way Davri finally succumbed to Llawani, or how Velden had wanted Alvarick since the first vision of his true dream.

  Faraki tried to pull his hand back from the tree root and found it wrapped around him. Another root tendril swirled around his ankle and tightened as he tried to step away.

  Gods, this was not how he'd planned to greet his intended, with his limbs tangled in the tree. The vine around his foot crept to the other, binding them together. The tree thought him foe, or at least foreign.

  Maybe coming to Elsinor was a bad idea. Even their tree hated him.

  A musical laugh drifted down to him from the branches above.

  "Looks like we've caught a traveler, as forecast."

  Faraki looked down at the Circle and squinted his eyes shut as it became ten times brighter than the rising sun. He felt warm hands on his forearm and ankle, removing the restraints.

  "It's been generations since our last traveler," the owner of the hands and musical laugh said. "The tree is cautious. Don't take it personally."

  In his head, the voice belonged to a youngish male elf, but when he opened his eyes, he took in the older elf with eyes clouded with cataracts and a forehead bunched with wrinkles. Silver hair was pulled back into a frazzled ponytail and warm hands were knotted with arthritis.

  "Oh, child. Do not fret. You will find everything you seek here. The elves with power live higher off the ground, soaking in the sun. I will show you to the ladder."

  "Who are you?" he asked.

  "I am Tatiana, Keeper of the Tree. My pronouns are she and her, if you please."

  "It is a pleasure to meet you, Tatiana." He bowed. "I am Faraki, he and him."

  "Welcome, Faraki. The other traveler will be along soon. Let's get you on your way so we don't confuse the tree."

  She smiled at him, and then motioned to their surroundings as she stepped onto the expanding root system. She gave Faraki a hand up to the root raised off the Circle of Light almost to his height. It spread as wide as he was tall, where it connected to the gigantic tree trunk before them.

  "Do you know the tree's history?" she asked.

  Alvarick had shared some tidbits over the past two moons, gossip gleaned from Valorias and Davri, but Faraki feigned ignorance and shook his head. This was a tree of secrets, and he wanted to learn them all.

  "The tree exists to protect the Circle, much like Celastes's tower. The Circle keeps the tree alive. It is a symbiotic relationship but not that simple. The tree was once the great Ubishi, chosen to lead Elsinor when the god of nature ascended."

  Faraki shivered as he looked at the gigantic tree trunk before him. He'd been dropped near the edge of the Circle of Light because the tree, roots and all, covered all but the outer rim. Still, the tree seemed to glow with the Circle's Light, giving Faraki the impression he could restore power just as fast here as he did in Celastes, even if there was less room to stand on the Circle itself.

  "Ubishi betrayed Valorias and all of Elsinor by taking advantage of Valorias and Celasti's son," Tatiana continued. "This is his penance. He will either live forever this way or die protecting the Circle from the blood demon, never to be reborn."

  "What of your empiri?" Faraki asked. "Is he to remain without a bond?"

  Tatiana grimaced at the mention of the empiri. "No. The acting empiri's bondmate is my great-grandson. He is not old enough to mate. It is another punishment from the goddess, I believe. He was born too late to be of any use in the coming war."

  She turned and motioned for Faraki to follow her. "Come. To the ladder with you. Our Yule festivities will start at sundown, and I'm sure you'd like to speak with Jedali and Murcori before then."

  "Oh no." He patted his armor, knowing he had no pockets. He wasn't sure where the vial of lubrication went, and he feared he'd dropped it somewhere between Celastes and Elsinor.

  A vine tendril curled toward his hand again, and he jerked away.

  "Here." She took an object from the tendril and placed it in Faraki's hand. "You must have dropped this."

  He stared at the vial, his cheeks burning as he avoided eye contact with her. "I did. Thank you."

  "I hope to see you at the feast. Now, off to see Jedali. Continue up the tree's levels until you can't."

  She led him to the main trunk, where a ladder made from thick vines provided foot and hand holds for climbing. He followed them upward, wondering how he could squeeze through the thick foliage above. As he placed his hand on the vine just below the heavy layer of tree boughs, they parted, giving him access to crawl through. The vine continued to twine up, but not enough for him to use it as a ladder to the level above. He would need to find another way to the second level.

  He took a moment to study the strange new world in which he found himself. White light shone through the boughs below his feet and sunlight trickled in from above, casting a green glow through the tree's branches. He held out his hand to compare to the nearest five-pointed leaf and found the leaf almost twice as large.

  Maybe it was the veritasium making him feel closer to nature than ever before, but Faraki couldn't keep the delighted smile from his face as he found new creatures at every turn. A beetle crawled on one of the large leaves. A spider wove a web in a patch of daylight between two branches.

  Too soon, he came to the end of the landing and a staircase of branches leading upward. Each split after the three spans that formed the stair, widening into a mat of leaves and woven sticks. Here, he found a tiny bird hovering over a white flower which grew from a vine threaded through the tree.

  Higher and higher Faraki climbed without sign of another elf. Even if they were all inside resting before Yule celebrations, it made no sense that the landings and large seating areas would be empty.

  They're wary, and that is probably my fault. Faraki's eyes stung at the broadcast from a familiar voice. Gods, two moons apart had been too long.

 
Murcori stepped onto the fifth level's landing from a thick cluster of leaves. If Faraki hadn't seen it himself, he would have doubted there was enough room for an elf to fit within the foliage.

  Murcori overwhelmed his senses in an instant. Shirts didn't seem to be in the Elsini wardrobe, since his chest was just as bare as it had been when they met, though without the glowing green markings. In the tree's shade, his dark skin blended with the tree. Faraki wanted to touch all that bare skin, to grip Murcori's muscular shoulders as he greeted him with a kiss. The glower on Murcori's face stopped him.

  Faraki bowed to him instead and took a step closer. The scents of pine and winter berries hung in the air around them. From its root system, Faraki would have guessed the tree was a giant willow, and from its leaves, a maple, but it seemed to take on new varieties of greenery as he moved through each level. The room behind Murcori was filled with winter berries, and the branches hanging over the door resembled the kind of evergreens that made for cozy shelters during the winter.

  Murcori grabbed his arm and pulled him through the dense cover, onto a forked branch carpeted with braided mats. The branches closed behind them. Faraki swore he heard giggling outside the door, and then the sounds of folks returning to their usual routines.

  "I'll take that," Murcori said, peeling Faraki's fingers from the vial of lubricant. Faraki stared at him for a moment, wondering how Murcori could even touch him, but then he remembered. There were no rules against touching without consent outside the tower.

  "Alvarick said you wanted to check its history," Faraki said when his throat finally worked well enough to form words.

  Murcori's cheeks darkened. "It should have occurred to me sooner. I don't want to keep you, though. Jedali is waiting for you at the top of the tree. Climb until you can't climb any more. I'll come get you when I'm ready."

  Faraki had hoped for a kiss or a hug, but he would have settled for a handshake.

  Murcori noticed his hesitation and looked down at the floor mats. "I promise. I will come for you before sunset."

  That wasn't reassuring, either. At the latest, it was a turn past noon. Even on the shortest day of the year, sunset wasn't for several turns.

  Faraki gave him another bow, not knowing what else to do. The tree recognized his act as a farewell and parted so he could exit. By itself, it would have been the strangest thing he'd ever seen. After a quarter turn of odd occurrences, it was easier for his brain to process if he lumped them all together. Elsinor was the strangest place he'd ever been in his life.

  He heard a flurry of activity as he stepped from Murcori's sanctuary, but the only visible movement was the occasional shift of branches or leaves trembling with no breeze. He attempted to send tendrils of power into the tree for a head count, to see how many elves were there, but his actions couldn't proceed beyond his own protective shield, which extended only a few thumbs' width beyond his armor. When he tried to expand it, something pushed back, hard.

  The tree, he realized. The tree had placed a containment field around him. He also felt drawn upward. Any time he stopped to notice a new bug, plant, or animal, he was nudged from behind by an invisible sentinel.

  "All right, I'm going."

  He'd walked up fifteen levels, each with a smaller circumference than the one below, before he climbed into an area much like the tower pinnacle in Celastes, without the four glass walls. It held the circular shape of the floors below, and, like Murcori's space, was topped with pine boughs over three quarters of the space. The other quarter was open to the sunlight, with two slatted lounge chairs much like the ones in Celastes's sunroom.

  One chair was occupied by a tall elf with white hair and dark skin. He looked vaguely familiar, and then Faraki remembered. Eldrich had shared a memory of the elf who had both given him the ward on his chest and entrusted him with the healing stone, and this was the elf from his vision.

  "Jedali." He bowed. "I am Faraki, Celastes tower elf."

  Jedali snapped his fingers, and a flowing white robe covered his nakedness. He stretched and sauntered to Faraki, extending a hand instead of bowing with his fist to his heart the way Faraki did.

  "Well met, Faraki."

  Faraki shook his hand, the same as he would a human's. He tried to school his face to hide his surprise, but he must have failed.

  "This is not your custom?" Jedali asked.

  "It's a human custom I learned in Dovington, but no, it's not common among elves."

  "Julian. That troublemaker. 'Shake his hand,' he said. 'You'll be fast friends.'" His warm tone said everything his words didn't about his opinion of the former king's physician. Julian made everyone love him, even if they wanted to throttle him sometimes, too.

  "The physicians are here, then? That wasn't fancy talk from the goddess?" Faraki still shied from saying her name aloud.

  "They are."

  "I'm to relay a request for them to travel to Celastes in a week's time."

  Jedali nodded. "That will be arranged. For what reason?"

  "Valorias believes they have the knowledge Davri needs to control the stone of power."

  "The stone of power." Jedali shook his head. "If I'd known her true intention for sending Eldrich to Dovington with the healing stone, I wouldn't have let him leave. It can't be as powerful as Valorias thinks. They made it from a blood mage's focus and a simple love trinket, and only a human can wield it."

  "Or an elf still marked by a blood mage," Faraki said. "Davri died to remove Gerlix's hold on him, but he's still touched by human magic. He's already used the stone once, with disastrous consequences. He needs human instruction, so he doesn't kill us all."

  "So you say." Jedali paused. "I can tell the Rovingian healing stone is finally in the hands of the EmpiriRovinge. Why it took him so long to use it is beyond me."

  "You sent Eldrich without instruction, as I remember." Faraki's old frustration tensed his shoulders and put him in a fighting mood.

  "As soon as Veldani touched it, the healing stone should have melded with his power. It would have kept you both safe from the blood mage who attacked you. I thought the stone was the only way he would survive, but his link to Davri saved him instead. How is the EmpiriCelastes?" Faraki got the impression Jedali was asking more as a formality than because he cared.

  "He passed his turn so he could choose his true bond in the Yule ritual earlier today. That freed the rest of the tower to choose love over power."

  "He's happy, then." Jedali's voice carried more than a hint of bitterness. "I knew him when he was a child. If only I'd known Ubishi's plans …" Jedali motioned to the tree's main trunk, where it rose above the platform. "This is what became of my true bond."

  "You were bonded to Ubishi?"

  Jedali shook his head. "He refused the rituals. He filled Davri's head with the idea that true bonds were weak. He poisoned the young empiri's mind with the belief that power was stronger than love. He paid for it."

  "So did Davri." Faraki was surprised he was taking the arsejack's side, even in this. "He was twisted by a blood mage into foregoing his true bond three centuries ago, and then he died for it."

  "Even his death was foretold. It has all come to pass to fulfill his mother's prophecy."

  "I was exiled from Celastes when he died." Faraki's face burned as he talked. "I know what it's like to be manipulated into fulfilling prophecy. If that's what Davri's death was, it was still more than any one elf should bear."

  "Tell that to Ubishi."

  Faraki's hands balled into fists, but before he did anything more ridiculous than that, like raise one of those fists to strike an acting empiri, a gust of wind blew Jedali back against the trunk of the tree, and thick vines crept around him, holding him in place.

  "I yield," Jedali said after a few moments. "I yield, old friend. I am sorry."

  The vines receded, and Jedali took a step away from the tree, brushing bits of bark from his robe. He kept one hand pinned to the trunk, as though holding himself upright.

  Faraki stared at Jedali, and then at the tree. "What happened?"

  "Ubishi says there's nothing I can do for him now." Jedali huffed. "There were days when I wished Valorias would have punished me, too. Eldrich shared why he has the ward, yes?"

  "He said you interfered in his dreams."