A flash of panic tenses my shoulders. “Unwell? Is the drain on your magic a danger to you?”
“Not an immediate danger,” she says. “My magic won’t be as strong here, but I’ll get through it. It feels like when I was healing from my iron injury.”
My heart squeezes. I can’t imagine why she would put herself through this for me. In fact, I have a feeling there’s more to her motives than she’s letting on. “Why are you really doing this, Lorelei?”
“I told you. I won’t let you face this alone.”
“But why? I appreciate your company, but this goes above and beyond the duties of friendship, and I can tell you’re uncomfortable about all of it. What aren’t you telling me?”
She lets out a heavy sigh. “When you asked me if Aspen ordered me to stay with you, I answered by telling you I’d asked him if I could come. That is true, but he asked more from me. He asked me to watch over you so long as you’re here and until the situation with your mother is settled.”
My breath hitches at the mention of Aspen. “Why?”
“For the same reason I agreed. Because neither of us trust the humans.”
“But you trust me and I’m one of them.”
“You’re more than just a human. You’re my queen. You may not wear the crown and you may never hold the position, but until Aspen forces me to kneel before another female in your place, I will serve you.”
I’m at a loss for words. It’s strange to think Lorelei and I disliked each other so much when we first met. Even she and Amelie became friends before she and I began to make amends.
She continues. “If anyone tries to hurt you here, I’ll protect you however I can. I’ve protected myself once from them before, although I failed to protect another. I won’t make that mistake again with you. Aspen will have my head if I do.” The last words are said in jest, but her tone can’t hide the sorrow beneath.
I can’t imagine how deep her pain must go, the death of her lover still recent. Now here we are in the home of the man who helped save her lover’s murderer. WhereIhelped save him too. I aided Mr. Osterman’s amputation, eased his pain with laudanum, comforted him. It’s still difficult for me to reconcile the man I knew growing up with the man Lorelei despises, but I believe her now.
“How did it happen anyway?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. “Why were you at the Spring axis when Mr. Osterman found you?”
“Malan invited me to meet her parents in Spring,” she says. “I’d taken a week’s leave from King Aspen’s court and was on my way back to Autumn. Malan had decided to walk with me from the Spring axis to the Autumn axis, but we didn’t get very far. I was being careless, so caught up in our love that I didn’t smell the iron until the teeth of the trap were in my leg. That’s when the Butcher of Stone Ninety-Four came out from behind one of the trees near the wall. He’d been waiting for prey.”
My stomach churns. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei. I hate that you’ve suffered at the hands of my people. I don’t know how you can handle being here.”
“If I didn’t know there were humans like you, it would be impossible to be here. But you—and even Amelie, before everything with Cobalt—taught me that not all humans are to be feared.”
“I learned the same from you about the fae.”
From the light of the moon peering into the window, I see a smile form on her lips. “He won’t make her queen, you know.”
I wrinkle my brow. “Excuse me?”
“The new Chosen. I told you I’ll serve you until the king puts another in your place. But he’s never going to put her in your place. You know that, right?”
A lump rises in my throat. “It shouldn’t matter to me. It isn’t likely I’ll ever see him again.”
“It shouldn’t matter, yet it does, doesn’t it?”
I nod. “It does.”
We fall into silence, and exhaustion quickly sweeps all thought from my mind. But as tired as I am, I can’t seem to fall asleep. Even Lorelei finds slumber before I do. What she said about Aspen weaves its way into my consciousness, tickling my mind each time I’m about to slip into sleep. I toss and turn, but nothing seems to rid me of it.
So instead, I give in.
I open my heart and dig into the gaping wound where my mate should be.Aspen.I think his name, let it fill my mind. Like a bell, it reverberates through me and clears the fog from my head. In place of the fog lies a bridge—one I’ve seen before, spanning between two jagged cliffs. Last time I crossed it, the results were detrimental. What happens if I cross it now?
With hesitant steps, I make my way over the bridge, feet balancing on each precarious plank that lines the way. I don’t bother looking down, for I know what’s there—sharp rocks, pointed spikes. When I reach the other side of the bridge, I see not the cliff I’d been heading to but a dark room. A familiar room.
In the middle of it sits the bed I awoke from just this morning.Was it really just this morning?Beneath the covers lies a slumbering figure.
I approach the edge of the bed and look down at my mate. His lips are parted, face slack, making him appear more youthful than ever. His blue-black hair lies in disarray, waves curling at his neck and over his bronze pillow. His antlers make deep impressions in the pillow where they touch it, but the bulk of them hangs past the back of the mattress.
