“Humph,” was all Clayton was willing to say on the matter.
Some things couldn’t be spoken easily, but there was a good chance Mal knew it all anyway.
Whatever it had been before, their relationship was forever changed, and only the future would know what the fallout would be.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
CLAYTON
When the tremors in Clayton’s body subsided, Mal stood up, pulling Clayton to his feet as he went. He pushed a lock of hair out of Clayton’s face and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” Clayton replied haughtily, brushing himself off and refusing to meet Mal’s gaze. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to?—”
“No.” Mal’s hand was a vice around Clayton’s wrist. “Are you okay?” His voice was insistent, and he pulled hard enough to make Clayton stumble forward and catch himself against Mal’s chest.
“I’m… Actually, I feel pretty good.”
Fantastic, actually.
Clayton’s body was acting like a flower opening its petals to sunlight as it soaked up the ambient energy around him. Clayton would have assumed he would feel like garbage after having his insides yanked out and brought to light, but instead, he felt like he’d lessened a weight inside himself he hadn’t even known he’d been carrying. Now that it was gone, he was able to fill the void with something clean and pure, and the magic of the glade was happy to oblige him.
Was this what happened when a nightmare stole your fear but not your life? If so, this information could turn the Other upside down.
Mal stared at him for a long time without saying a word. When his grip loosened, Clayton reclaimed his wrist and said, “I really need to check on Marshall. I asked Astraea to distract him so I could help you. He knows what you are now, by the way, so try not to exist too loudly around him if you can help it. We’ll figure out how to deal with him later once we find the children.”
Mal huffed and strode over to Marshall, where he’d been attempting to talk to the strangers. He clapped Marshall hard on the shoulder and said, “What’s up, loser? Did you miss me?”
Clayton immediately lost the battle not to bury his face in his hands and succumb to a small panic attack.
Fortunately, Marshall seemed to be having a small crisis of the soul and did nothing more than shoot Mal a dirty look before beginning to pace while running his hands through his hair anxiously.
Losing his magic and being separated from his teammate was really taking a toll on him. Clayton’s illusions of Marshall being some all-powerful dreamwalker were shattering around him at an alarming pace.
While he took a moment to try to wheeze some air in and out of his lungs, Astraea popped into his mind and said,:Don’t worry, dear. The dreamwalker can’t do anything while he’shere, so no matter how much your mate toys with him, there’s nothing he can do about it.:
“Thanks,” Clayton gasped.
:You two should consider staying here once you’ve found your family. No dirty dreamwalkers will bother you in my realm. They aren’t welcome. Vis is a lying, cheating asshole, and I want nothing to do with them or their children.:
Clayton’s curiosity overcame his anxiety, and he asked, “The god of the dreamwalkers did something to you?” He instinctively went for his notepad and pen, but couldn’t find them because he’d chucked them at Marshall earlier and they were now lost in the grass.
He would simply have to pay close attention and write everything down once he was able. There was too little information on Vis in the libraries, and Clayton would eagerly soak up anything he could find.
:Hmmph. You ask them. They know what they did.:
“Um, I’m not exactly on speaking terms with any gods. It would be difficult to ask Vis.”
:Aren’t you?:Amusement colored Astraea’s voice.
Something about her tone had Clayton whipping his head around to look at the tree. Now that he had a second to breathe, it did seem familiar. Like he’d seen a drawing of it somewhere in a dusty old book long ago about ancient deities.
“Are you…? You’re not…? Are you the goddess of the fae?”
:Good job. I knew you’d come around to it eventually, little traveler.:
“What on earth are you doing talking to someone like me?”
