THE FOREST LORD By Susan Krinard

Ordinary human voices and footsteps were lost in such a place. Claudia wove a path among the trees and the undergrowth of bilberry, wood rush, and holly, listening. Vigilance rewarded her; she found man and boy before she came too close to be heard herself. She hid behind a stately ash to watch.

They knelt upon the earth, studying the ground intently. Claudia saw nothing to account for their interest. Shaw glanced up at the boy, smiled, and passed his hand over the bare patch of dirt in a circular motion, like a conjurer plying his tricks. Donal pressed his nose almost level with the ground.

The patch of dirt heaved as if a hill of ants had been disturbed. But no insects appeared. Instead, a tiny speck of green emerged from the center. It grew larger, and then burst forth to become a stalk with new furled leaves.

Within a minute, it had grown into a seedling—an infant oak to match its fellow monarchs of the forest.

Claudia bit hard on her lip to keep from crying aloud.

“Now you try,” Shaw said. He took the boy’s hand, uncurled his fingers, and guided it palm down over a similar bare patch of earth.

Nothing happened. Donal’s face screwed up in concentration.

“You are trying too hard,” Shaw chided. “Let it come naturally. It is your gift. The acorn only awaits your summons.”

Donal tried again, with all the urgent determination of a child learning a new skill. Whatever he was meant to do did not occur. His shoulders slumped, and he looked up at Shaw in defeat. A sole tear ran down his face.

Shaw placed both hands on the boy’s shoulder. There was something deeply paternal in his touch.

“It does not matter. You will have much time to learn, and when we go—” He stopped himself. “You will learn. You need not be afraid anymore, Donal. No one will ever punish you again.”

Donal rocked back on his heels. Claudia experienced another stab of guilt.

I did not know. I did not know.

“Can I try the animals?” Donal asked Shaw.

“Of course. Who would you like to call?”

“The gray fox. Not Tod, but the other one.”

“Very well,” Shaw said with an indulgent smile. “Call the gray fox.”

Donal closed his eyes. His mouth moved silently. A slow murmur began in the surrounding shrubbery, gradually increasing in volume. Small animals burst from hiding. Even a shy red deer calf stepped halfway into the clearing. Claudia dug her fingers into the ash to keep from fleeing in sheer, instinctive terror.

The animals gathered about Shaw and the boy like subjects paying homage to their ruler. A badger nosed its way into Donal’s lap. He laughed with delight.

“You see? The animals aren’t hard,” Donal said.

“Your call is strong but unfocused,” Shaw said. “The beasts obey you. But where is the fox? Is he too busy to come?”

“I can’t find him,” Donal said. “Where is he? Why isn’t he with the lady fox now like he was before?”

Shaw’s smile faded. He gazed at Donal with an expression of sadness and regret. “There is a season for everything,” he said. “Nothing in this mortal world lasts, Donal.”

The pensive moment was interrupted by the arrival of a fox—not the dog but the vixen, trailed by her new cubs. The vixen sidled up to Shaw and rubbed herself against him while the cubs scampered to Donal and licked his hands like unruly puppies.

After a few minutes of rough-and-tumble play, Shaw waved the family back into the woods. They led a procession of beasts out of the clearing at various trots, scurries, shuffles, and bounds.

“You said you would show me the stag,” Donal said, sitting up on his knees. “You said you could change whenever you wanted. Show me now?”

Claudia put her back to the ash and closed her eyes. Her body shook as if from a palsy. She clenched her fists, her nails drawing blood.

Him. It was him. All the things she had felt wrong about Hartley Shaw made a terrible sense. And so did Eden’s inexplicable attraction to a common servant.

He had not disappeared as she had dared to believe. He had not gone back to whatever hellish place he came from. He was here—the creature who had ruined her life years before he met Eden Fleming.

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