Chapter 157: The Duchess Upgrade Came With Extras

There were no thousands of trees appearing inside her mind, no rivers, mountains, villages or borders.

Whatever this was, it was small. Local.

Bound to the land immediately surrounding her.

But it moved when she moved.

She crouched. Her fingers touched the soil.

Cool.

Slightly wet.

Granules stuck beneath her fingernails.

For just a moment, she thought she sensed something else.

Moisture.

Not against her fingertips. Below them.

Mirabelle pulled her hand back. The sensation vanished so quickly that she couldn’t be certain it had ever existed.

"What are you doing?" Kaelith asked. A little irritated about the strange behavior. Until now, her behavior had always been rational, but right now, he was having trouble following her reasoning.

"I have absolutely no idea."

That, at least, was true. She straightened and looked around. The forest appeared exactly as it had minutes ago.

Sunlight danced across the path.

Leaves moved in the breeze.

The rich scent of earth and greenery filled her nose.

Nothing had changed.

Except Mirabelle no longer felt entirely separate from it. Her attention drifted inward. The brilliant white current was still there. Flowing from somewhere impossibly deep within Luchsenstein toward her.

Mirabelle touched the signet ring on her little finger.

>Not only do you see the land, but the land sees you.<

A shiver ran down her spine.

"What did it give you?" Lucien asked quietly. Suddenly worried about their mate.

Mirabelle looked at him. Then at the earth beneath her feet.

"I don’t know."

Another faint sensation brushed against the edge of her awareness.bSo subtle that she couldn’t identify it before it disappeared.

Mirabelle’s ears slowly rose.

"But I think..." She hesitated. "...Luchsenstein is trying to tell me things."

Neither Kaelith nor Lucien answered immediately.

Mirabelle wasn’t sure whether that was because they didn’t know what to say or because Luchsenstein is trying to tell me things sounded just as insane to them as it did to her.

Probably both.

Eventually, Lucien exhaled slowly:

"We should tell your mother."

"And my grandmother."

Mirabelle looked at him.

"And no one else."

That, at least, they could agree on.Then they continued walking.

Mirabelle tried not to concentrate too hard on the strange new awareness beneath her feet, although ignoring it proved considerably more difficult now that she knew it was there.

Every once in a while, something brushed against her consciousness. A vague impression.

Moisture.

Movement.

Pressure.

Nothing clear enough to understand.

Nothing she could deliberately reach for.

And whenever she tried too hard, it seemed to slip away entirely.

So she stopped trying.bGradually, the forest around them changed.

The undergrowth became thinner. More sunlight reached the path, warming Mirabelle’s damp dress and bare shoulders. The heavy scent of wet earth slowly mixed with the sweeter fragrance of flowers and sun-warmed grass.

Then another scent joined it.

Mirabelle’s nose twitched.

Was that... Food?

Her stomach growled.vImmediately, both males’ heads snapped toward her. Mirabelle’s cheeks warmed. She hadn’t even realized how hungry she was. Then a thought occurred to her.

"How long was I with the Core?"

Lucien glanced upward. The sun was clearly visible through the thinning canopy now.

"It’s almost noon."

Wow. Okay.

That was... long.

The moments in which the forest had shifted around her had felt like mere seconds. And then there had been the Core itself, where time had been even harder to grasp.

If Mirabelle had been forced to guess, she would have said she’d been gone for no more than half an hour. Apparently, she’d been very wrong.

A few steps later, she heard it: Music.

Faint at first. Then laughter. Voices.

The distant rhythm of drums carried toward them on the warm air, accompanied by something higher and livelier that Mirabelle couldn’t immediately identify.

The festivities.

For a strange moment, she had completely forgotten about them.

While she’d been wandering through an ancient magical forest, bathing in healing water, speaking to an impossibly old Beast Core and developing the ability that let her feel trees about to fall over, the people of Luchsenstein had been celebrating.

Her.

The thought felt almost absurd.

They passed the last dense line of trees. Sunlight hit Mirabelle so suddenly that she squinted. After the cool green shadows beneath the canopy, the world outside seemed almost painfully bright.

Warm air touched her skin and dried her dress.

The sounds from Steinstein were much clearer here, laughter and music drifting across the distance in waves. Somewhere, bells rang. Mirabelle could even smell roasted meat and something sweet carried on the breeze.

And they weren’t alone. Her mother and grandmother were waiting. Both women stood several meters from the edge of the forest, their males gathered around them.

Mirabelle’s mother noticed her immediately.

Relief crossed her face so openly that Mirabelle realized she must have been far more worried than she’d allowed herself to show before sending her daughter into the forest.

Her grandmother reacted differently. The old lynx female simply studied her.

From her wet hairstrands... to the soaked green dress clinging to her body... to her bare feet.

Then her gaze settled on Mirabelle’s face.

And remained there.

Mirabelle slowed.

Kaelith and Lucien stayed close beside her as they crossed the last stretch of grass.

Nobody spoke at first.

Behind them, the forest rustled softly. Ahead, Luchsenstein celebrated loudly enough that another burst of distant cheering reached them even here.

Mirabelle suddenly became intensely aware of how she must look. Her mother had sent a future Duchess into the forest in a simple ceremonial dress. What had returned looked as though she’d fallen into a pond.

Which, technically...

She had.

Her mother’s gaze traveled over her once more.

"You’re wet."

Mirabelle looked down at herself. Apparently that was going to be everyone’s first observation.

"Yes."

Her grandmother’s eyebrows rose.

Mirabelle sighed.

"It’s a long story."

"Did it accept you?" her grandmother asked.

Mirabelle looked down at the heavy golden ring on her little finger. Then she felt inward. The brilliant white current was still there. Flowing into her from somewhere beyond the forest.

"Yes." She hesitated. "I think it did a little more than that."

Her grandmother’s eyes sharpened. Mirabelle could practically see the next twenty questions forming.

"And before you ask, that’s the long part."

Her mother exchanged a glance with the Matriarch.

"Then you can tell us on the way back."

That sounded reasonable. Especially because another delicious smell drifted toward Mirabelle on the warm breeze.

Roasted meat and something sweet. Her stomach tightened again. This time, thankfully, it remained silent.

Mirabelle turned toward Steinstein. Music floated toward them from beyond the park, accompanied by laughter, distant cheers and the rhythmic beat of drums. For several seconds, she simply listened.

Mirabelle glanced down at the signet ring again.

Duchess. She was actually Duchess now.

Fifteen percent. Apparently becoming Duchess had been the easy part.

Gravel crunched beneath their steps as they continued toward the castle, accompanied by the soft rustle of clothing and the occasional swish of a tail. Mirabelle could practically feel her mother’s expectant stare burning into the side of her face.

____

"Wait. It didn’t talk to you?"

Her grandmother stared at her.

"The Territory Core has never spoken to any Duchess of our bloodline."

Mirabelle nearly stumbled.

She had been walking between her mother and grandmother, recounting everything that had happened since she’d disappeared into the forest, while their males followed close behind.

And that was what they took from it?

Mirabelle stopped.

"I thought that was the whole point of this ’the Core has to accept you’ thing?"

She threw both arms into the air.

Her mother shook her head.

"Usually, you touch the Core, it lights up, and you feel its energy flow into you. It strengthens you. That’s how you know you’ve been accepted."

Mirabelle slowly lowered her arms. Then she narrowed her eyes at her mother. She studied her face carefully, searching for any indication that this was some elaborate joke.

There was none. Quite the opposite.

Her mother’s eyes were still slightly widened, and judging by her expression, she hadn’t even finished processing half of what Mirabelle had told them.

"So... it doesn’t drag you into some endless golden space and start calling you Sprout?"

"No."

"It doesn’t sniff you?"

Her mother’s brows drew together.

"Sniff you?"

"Never mind."

Mirabelle rubbed her forehead.

’Great.’

Even her mystical succession ceremony couldn’t just behave normally.

Somewhere behind them, one of their males stepped on a dry twig. The sharp crack briefly interrupted the otherwise steady rhythm of insects humming in the summer grass.

"But you knew about the healing water?"

Her grandmother rolled her eyes.

"We’re not stupid, Mirabelle. Everyone who enters it knows what it does. It’s rather difficult to miss. Everything else, however..." She gave Mirabelle a long look. "That’s new."

Mirabelle stared at her for a moment. Then a slightly manic smile began spreading across her face.

"Oh, if that already surprises you, wait until you hear what happened next."

Her mother visibly braced herself.

Her grandmother sighed.

Behind them, Lucien made a suspiciously amused sound.

And Mirabelle continued walking.