Page 101 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

The sudden voice made me jump, knocking the book off my knee and into the grass. Phantasia stood beside the tree, her expression grave. Seeing her somewhere other than the clinic was almost as shocking as spotting that monstrous bird soaring overhead.

“You’re outside,” I said, my brain struggling to process the sight of her with a backdrop of grassy fields, sunshine, and blue skies.

“How observant.” She rested a hand on her hip. “I don’t live in my clinic, you know. I do have a life.”

“Of course,” I responded, feeling silly for thinking otherwise. “So what, um, brings you out here?”

“You.” She jerked her head toward the castle. “Come with me.”

Phantasia didn’t wait for a response before turning and strolling down the path. Salem squawked and flapped his heavy wings, hovering above her. I quickly gathered the fallen book and tucked it back into my basket before pushing from the grass and rushing after her.

One thing I’d learned about the demon physician? She didn’t like repeating herself.

I followed her down a narrow, stone-lined path that wound around the side of the castle and toward an orchard of trees. Green apples blossomed on the branches, while bright red ones grew on others. I loved using both in my apple pie recipe, giving it a perfect balance of tart and sweet.

Cobblers too.

There was a gnawing inside my chest as my thoughts, once again, returned to Onyx. Movement caught my eye from an upstairs window. The flutter of a curtain. As though someone had been standing there peering down at me.

“Phantasia?” I padded along behind her, casting another wary glance toward the giant bird as he landed in a nearby tree. “Quick question. Where are we going?”

Definitely not to the clinic like I’d initially expected.

“A sacred place,” she answered. “That’s all I’ll say for now.”

Well, that didn’t seem strange and creepy at all. Nope. Not one bit.

“Uh… okay.” I cleared my throat and tried not to let my imagination run wild. An impossible feat. Because as we passed through the orchard and slipped into a dense shroud of trees beyond it, I started wondering if this sacred place required a blood sacrifice of the saintly muffin variety.

“Worry not, boy.” She peered back at me with… I wouldn’t say a kind expression, but it was certainly a lot softer than the severe one she normally wore. “Now that your powers have fully awoken, I thought it best to visit the willow. She will provide guidance where none of us can.”

“The willow?” I asked.

“You’ve met her sister,” Phantasia explained, holding out her arm before the air stirred and Salem landed on her elbow, tucking in his massive dark red wings. “In Bremloc.”

I stumbled in step. I’d seen the willow the night Reign and Draven took me and my men to the Tower: the spies’ hideout. There had been a field of fluorescent blue flowers and a weeping willow that released a musical hum as the breeze swept through the long branches.

Now that I thought about it, it was exactly how the trees and grass looked in the Shadow Realm at nightfall.

“The seed of that willow was planted by Lord Onyx’s great grandsire as a show of good faith to the humans,” she explained, continuing down the path. “The arcane energy became a source of power for the Order of Magi. Peace reigned between our kinds for many years because of it. That is, until King Paris waged war on us.”

“What about the guardian?” I asked. The dark figure had stood beside the tree, seven foot tall at least, and had been wearing a hooded cloak.

“A spirit of the willow,” she answered. “Every willow has one. Think of it as a loyal knight guarding his queen.”

I smiled at that, thinking of my own protective knights. “So weeping willows are a source of magic?”

“Not a source. The source.” Phantasia left the path and cut through a section of the woods. A well-kept trail at least, no evil thorn bushes clawing at my legs or roots jutting up to trip me. “Rivers of mana flow beneath the soil of our very feet. Stronger in this realm than anywhere else on this side of the sea. Magic is all around us, in every blade of grass, drop of water, and in the air we breathe. All blessed by the willow.”

“Is that why the trees and plants glow?” I asked. “And the fish.”

“Yes. Also why this realm is home to so many marvelous creatures that are uncommon beyond the barrier. They thrive here because they require a greater degree of mana.” Her brow pulled together as she peered back at me. “As such, it’s my hope that you’ll thrive here as well. More powerful than the saint before you… and with a much kinder heart. Even if that heart is aching at the moment.”

“Did Onyx tell you what happened between us?” I asked.

She nodded. “Know that he aches just as deeply. The curse cannot be broken by any power I possess nor any of the spells held within the countless grimoires I’ve acquired over the centuries. Saint Vera gave him a fate worse than death.”

My throat burned. Seemed to be a constant sensation over the past two days.