Chapter 18. Bed of Leaves

Lex’s POV

“It’s done!” Lotus chirped excitedly as he released the girl, who collapsed to the ground. Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted, and something cold brushed against me from above.

“What’s happening?” I asked, glancing up at the sky. White, cold, wet flakes drifted down.

“It’s snowing,” Lotus replied, a broad smile spreading across his face.

“Snowing?” I gasped. “It never snows here.”

“It does,” he said. “Only when our kind finds their mate… This is a sign, Lex!” His eyes sparkled with disbelief and joy, and I could hardly process what he meant.

“Lotus—”

I was interrupted by the whistling wind shaking the treetops, the earth shifting beneath my feet, and thick, suffocating air wrapping around us. A surge of energy coursed through me as the world transformed—each flake of snow glistening like a tiny star.

“This is just the beginning,” Lotus said, his eyes shining with both excitement and gravity, as if he grasped the full wei