Jade Fern Grove everything costs

None of it had to happen.

Of course none of it had to happen.

But it did happen, and there was no changing why, or that it did. It would have always been messy. Everett had seen that when he’d helped their father put Evander in his place. Their parents had built a tree and made themselves their roots. Look at what had happened when they’d driven them out!

But their roots had been shallow and built upon sand, and Everett knew he did not regret what they had done to them.

You’re wrong, he said softly, and though he confronted he did not advance towards her, even as she drew away. We needed you, we still do, and he meant it, seeing her now, being here now, and listen to yourself. You’re starving here. I see your bones! Let’s hunt together. Heal together. Please, he would not force her, but he found himself pleading with more words than he’d meant to give, I came here to find you, he said, and I saw you well, I saw you, dancing, alive in a place with crashing — waves. His ears fell back and he looked away.