“I don’t,” Corbin said. “But you do.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, there’s no?—”
“—such thing as pecognition unless you subscribe to retrocausality,” Blake rolled his eyes. “We get it, Princess.”
“I don’t really know how to explain it, Maeve. Right now I exist outside of space and time, in your dreams. There’s a stream of energy, like a cord, connecting us all together, even when I’m all the way down here. It’s what enables me to enter your dreams. And it seems to allow me to use all your powers. Look.” Corbin held out his hand, and a small fireball appeared on his palm. “I could never do that before, either. If I think about Arthur, I can make fire.”
“I believe it,” Rowan whispered.
“Idon’t.”Wake up,I commanded myself.You know this is a dream. Just wake up and it’ll be over.
Corbin reached for my hand. “Come with me. I’ll show you. We have to hurry.”
I recoiled, not wanting his skin to touch mine. I don’t know what would be worse – to touch him and feel the icy pall of his death, or to sense the warmth of blood pumping through his veins and to know it is a lie. Why did my brain have to give me this nightmare? Why was I aware, but I couldn’t wake up?
Because Blake and Rowan drugged you.If it was the same drug that had helped me enter the fae realm to save the babies, I’d need to dig deep into my own pain and grief to find a nightmare that would jolt me awake. But wasn’t this nightmare enough? Or did some part of me want to believe what Corbin said was true?
“I’m never one to pass up an opportunity to meet royalty,” Blake thrust his hand into Corbin’s and knitted their fingers together. Rowan held out his hand to me, but I ignored him, falling into step behind Corbin and Blake. Rowan’s boots trailed after me, but I couldn’t bear to look at him. I kept my eyes focused on the tunnel ahead of us.
After navigating endless twists and turns, the hallway widened out to accommodate an enormous arch framed by human bones arranged in a rococo design. Beyond the dark holeI could see nothing but gaping blackness. The humming in the walls grew intense. Waves of a kind of magic I’d never felt before reached from the warm stone and caressed my arms.
Corbin paused in the entrance. “Can you feel Daigh in there?”
I moved to stand beside him, forcing myself to resist the urge to touch him. My eyes blinked as they tried to discern something in the darkness, but with nothing to focus on they strained and ached. I listened to the magic with my body. Corbin was right. Behind the malevolent gloom there was something that reminded me of Daigh, some faint whiff of his power, so forgotten note of his lyre.
Rough hands landed on my back, shoving me into the gloom. I flung my arms out to grab onto something, to hold myself back. I grabbed only air.
Sound rushed around me, screams of joy and terror, the crackling of a ferris wheel as it burned to the ground. I opened my mouth to scream, but the darkness choked my voice out of me. I toppled forward and fell into a deep abyss, the darkness swallowing me whole.
My body slammed against something hard. My eyes flew open as I bounced on the bed. Warm arms wrapped around me. Rowan’s lips pressed against my earlobe. “I got you, Maeve.”
I jerked out of his grasp and whirled around to glare at Rowan and Blake, whose eyes flickered open. Rowan reached for me but I jerked my arm away. Behind me, Arthur lifted his head off the pillow. I was surprised he’d even want to be in the same room as Blake, but maybe he’d calmed down. He didn’t look calm now. “What’s wrong?”
I glared at Blake. “Don’teverinvade my dreams without my permission again.”
Rowan’s lip trembled. “But we were just?—”
“You of all people should know how private grief is.” I placed my hand on Rowan’s chest, over his heart, and shoved him away. “I can’t believe you did this.”
Arthur grabbed Blake’s arm, his eyes wild. Orange flames flickered across his palm. “What did you do to Maeve, you bastard?”
“Arthur, don’t burn anything,” Flynn lifted his head off the pillow.
“I’ll burn him if he’s hurt her!”
“Stop!” I yelled, my hands balled into fists. “Just stop!”
Four guilty faces whirled around. Obelix gave an indignant howl and jumped off the bed. Flynn held out an imploring arm. “Einstein…”
“No, don’t Einstein me.” I pointed at the door. “Get out, all of you. I don’t want to see any of you right now.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FOURTEEN: MAEVE
“I’ve already done an initial survey,” said Greg the engineer, rolling up the sleeves on his checkered shirt to reveal muscled forearms. Beside him, Emily – lawyer for the Briarwood Trust – sucked in her breath. “The damage looks worse than it actually is. As we walk around I’ll point out some of the main issues that need to be addressed, and I’ll draw up a complete report when I get back to the office. You can take that to a builder and get a quote.”
“Thank you so much for sorting this, Greg,” Emily simpered, clinging to his arm and batting her long eyelashes. He must be hot if he met Emily’s exacting standards. I didn’t notice. I was too busy staring at the wreckage of my castle.
