When I heard this, I initially thought he was joking, but he was serious. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the tree spirits actually granted him his wish.
Explaining the whole thing ... well, I don't know how to describe it. The spirits invaded his body and literally took his heart away from him. He screamed in pain but held still until it was over. After that, they put the heart inside the tree and it was all over. The tree spirits disappeared again without further ado.
To be honest, I don't know what I was expecting. A spell, more chants or a bright light. But nothing.
As if they had taken and given nothing. Sometimes I even thought I had imagined it all. It might have been crazy, but why shouldn't it have been just a nightmare?" The old man looked exhausted
and sadly at his hands. "It wasn't a dream. As the years passed, I got older and had a son. But my
king had stopped aging since that day." He looked up from his hands and straight into the tears-filled eyes of the sun princess. "Do you know what it means to let tree spirits have your heart? It's not like you're not able to feel anything anymore. Without this heart the king dies, so every night he has to sleep near the tree where his heart rests. This is the only way to get enough energy to survive the day. Worst of all, the pain of his loss is as intense today as it was then. Tree spirits feed on feelings and radiate them again. Therefore, every night he goes through the most terrible time of his life, over and over again."
Nevis was now at the end of his story, but Lyana was more confused than before. How was she going to help someone who had to go through the loss of his whole family over and over again for years? And Feronia ... she didn't looked her age in the painting, when she was only 15. She couldn't blame him for despising her and her family so much.
If all that had happened 49 years ago, some things made sense that she had never questioned before.
Besides, she now had the answer to the question why she hadn't heard a heart beating in the king's
chest and why he spent every night at the garden.
"Do you have any questions that I can answer?" Asked Baridis father and Lyana thought for a
moment while she wiped away her tears. "Do you think I might have a chance to get through to the
king? After all, he must hate my family incredibly for what they did to him. It seems to me like a miracle that he didn't kill me in the forest as soon as he found out who I was." She played nervously with her necklace.
Nevis put a hand on hers. "This necklace ... this is the one the king gave you, isn't it?"
The princess nodded. "Yes, why?"
"My king bought jewelry for a woman only once in his life and that was for his sister. I was there then. He said he would never give meaningful jewelry to another woman because no woman could ever touch his heart like his sister did."
Lyana still didn't understand what Nevis was telling her.
"This flower has a meaning that is definitely not unknown to the king. Feronia talked so much about
flowers and plants that we involuntarily learned about them. The Myosotis is also known by another
name. Forget Me Not.
It may have been subconscious, but I don't think he only chose this necklace because it is so pretty."
"Are you telling me that the king wants me to remember him? But why?" It just didn't make sense
to her. Could he want her not to forget him because he liked her too? But why had he rejected her so
strongly in the garden? No matter how long she thought about it, she seemed to be missing
something. Nevis couldn't help her with that either.
"Unfortunately, that's all I know, princess. I hope it was at least a little help to you." The old man
looked very exhausted. It must have taken a lot of strength and effort to tell this story.
With a reassuring smile, the princess took his wrinkled hand. "That helped me a lot. Now I know
why the king has such a grudge against us. It's up to me to find a solution. You should go now before you get discovered."
Nevis nodded, pulled the hood back over his head and then hit the bars a few times to attract the
guard's attention. When he opened the door, Nevis turned back to the princess. "May God protect
you, my child." He stroked her head like a father and then left the cell. The guard immediately locked the door again after he had led Baridis father out. Again Lyana was alone and immediately began to ponder what she was missing. But she just couldn't think of anything. The whole thing drove her downright insane. She even asked the guard to call the king, but the young man just ignored her.