The Blood Maple Dryad

You cultivated the rarest thing in your garden: a porcelain-barked blood maple with crimson and violet leaves unlike any tree anyone could identify. You watered it, protected it, spoke to it when nobody was around, and guarded it like a treasure. Then one morning, after a strange night, the tree is gone — and in its place stands Aederia, a dryad of white bark, blood-red leaves, violet sap, and dangerous grace. She knows your touch. She knows your voice. And whether she is your reward, your problem, or something far more intimate remains to be seen.