The day drew on, and fatigue and sadness dragged me closer to sleep. The book slid from my fingers and my head slumped on my shoulders. Simon came in and lit the fire for us and left steaming bowls of soup on the table. Jane came in and took Connor to bed. She and Kelly had a hushed conversation in the doorway that I knew was about me, but I was far too tired to lift my head to listen. Kelly kissed my forehead and left with Jane.
Pale moonlight poured in the high windows, illuminating long rectangles across the bed, like the stripes of prison bars. In two days time it would be a full moon, and the Slaugh would arrive.
Let them come.I was sick of waiting. I was sick of everything.
The door creaked open, startling me awake. Rowan scurried in, a steaming cup of my favourite raspberry and vanilla tea in his hands. “Hey,” he whispered. “I thought this would help you sleep.”
“Tea contains caffeine,” I reminded him, accepting the cup anyway. My fingers warmed on the smooth china as I lifted it to my lips.
“Not this tea. I checked. You make things good with Kelly?”
“Yeah. At least that’s one thing in my life I don’t have to worry about anymore.” I sipped the tea. A weary, heavy sensation spread across my chest. I wasreallytired.
I handed the half-empty cup back to Rowan. “Thanks for this, but I think… I think I’m going to be asleep any moment now…”
Rowan wrapped me in his arms and lifted me off the sofa. My eyes fluttered shut and my head lolled against his shoulder as he carried me down a darkened hallway, the still eyes of Ryan’s gilded portraits watching his every move. Rowan wasn’t as big as Arthur, so he stumbled a little, but I was too sleepy to care. His warm lips against my forehead dragged me deeper into slumber.
“Sweet dreams, Maeve,” he whispered. “Please, find Corbin.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but sleep claimed me instead, and I slipped into a dark, peaceful slumber.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THIRTEEN: MAEVE
Aloud cough startled me awake. My eyes flew open, expecting to see Ryan’s drab, unrenovated hallway, and Rowan’s kind face gazing down at me as he carried me off to bed.
I was in a very different hallway.
On both sides, dark walls of veined black stone jutted from a dirt floor. The gleaming walls were punctuated by alternative rows of wooden doors, each clamped shut with an enormous iron lock. Torches – the kind that adorned medieval castles in movies – stuck out from the walls between the doors, and from behind the wood issued tortured screams and choked cries.
I hung in the air for a moment, long enough for the stench of sulphur to scratch my nostrils. My feet slammed into the dusty floor, sending shock through my body. I threw my hand out to steady myself, and my palm slammed against the stone wall. I expected it to feel cold, but instead it hummed with shuddering warmth, as if something grew inside it, fighting for freedom against the brittle surface.
Footsteps thudded in the dust behind me. I whirled around. Big mistake. A cloud of dust flared up around me, obscuring my view.
I swung my arms at the air, trying to dissipate the cloud. Dust and sulphur scratched the back of my throat. “Corbin, is that you? I don’t want to see you.”
A dark shape stepped out of the dust cloud, the flickering light of the torches catching on his sleek black hair.
“Hello, Princess.” Blake grinned.
Rowan slunk out of the swirling dust and stood beside Blake, his head bent down, arms spread wide to keep his balance. He looked up, his eyes blazing into mine.
“What are you doing here?” I growled. “This ismydream. I didn’t invite you.”
Blake shrugged. “Dreams are free.”
“Not my dreams. You did something, didn’t you?” Blake’s grin widened, and realisation dawned on me. I glared at Rowan, who flinched and stared at his shoes. “You rotten bastard. You put something in the tea. How could you do this? I expect that from Flynn, but not from you. It’s a violation of?—”
“I didn’t think you’d be back.”
I whirled around, sending up another puff of dust. Corbin leaned against one of the doors, wearing the same clothes he’d died in and a wide, earnest grin. The shaft of a bone knife stuck out of his torso, on the left of his abdomen. He gave a coquettish little wave. “I see you’ve brought the others.”
“I didn’t bring them,” I glared at Blake and Rowan. “They drugged me so they could come here on their own.”
Corbin’s smile widened. “Let me guess, because you refused to believe I was more than a figment of your imagination?”
Blake gave Corbin a little wave. “You’ve got to come back, mate. Without you, she’s impossible to keep in line.”
