“Your hair’s finally changing back,” he said, his words holding a tenderness she didn’t want to understand.
His touch infuriated her, and she quickly pulled away from him.
He sighed. “I had to, Seda. The moonstone’s yours. It always has been. It’s a part ofyou. You had someone in your group who was about to betray you. He was getting ready to steal it. Despite what you may think, I’m not the bad guy here.”
“What do you mean, ‘you aren’t the bad guy’? You stole it from me!”
“As I said, I had to,” he said with a shrug.
She thought about what he said and who possibly could have been betraying them. Electric shocks radiated across her chest, and she felt her eyes flare in anger.
“Who was it?” Her sharp whisper came out tight with seething frustration.
He smirked again as he gazed down at her, his seafoam-colored eyes gleaming with delight. “There she is.”
“No more games, Kalon! Who are you accusing?”
He sighed, ran his hand over his face, and pulled themoonstone from his pocket, causing Seda’s eyes to flare once more. “I thought you said you didn’t have it!” She reached for his hand, but her touch glided through him, as if he were made of smoke.
“I’m not truly here, Seda. I only pretended your magic hit me last time. This is just a dream, and I’m in control within its illusion, but nothing is physically real.”
Her lips parted, a soft gasp of surprise filtering through her.
“One of the Corvids, Feich, was about to betray you and his kind,” he said. “He’s working against the purity of this world, and right now it’s alongside that Monster King, Tievel.”
Seda’s world felt like it was turning on its axis. She began to feel dizzy, and she gasped once more, grasping her throat and struggling to breathe.
“Feich? And Teivel?” she breathlessly asked, feeling shock ache in her heart over Feich. “How do you know? How do I know you aren’t lying?”
“I can hear thoughts if I want to,” he replied with a shrug. He reached down and gently touched her shoulder. “You are growing your wings back,” he said as his light touch caressed one of the feathers on her back. She winced, expecting there to be pain, but none came.
“I’ll never cause you pain, Seda. Even in these wild dreams. I’m sorry for kissing you and leaving in the night.” He reached out his hand for her, and she reached for it, forgetting that she could not touch him.
His hand brightened, and the magic of the dream allowed her to feel the warmth of his calloused hand within hers.
She rose, and he handed her the moonstone. The stone’s glitter was now amplified, sparkling vibrantly around her.
“As I said, this is yours, Seda. I’ll give it back to you when I see you.”
Her brows knit together as she stared at the stone, his words circling her mind. “Tievel is the advisor in Joro. He’s… this Monster King? And you said Feich was working for him?”
“Is, Seda. Feich is alive. And he’s trying to form an army of Corvids against you. Those who no longer remember and do not trust who you are.”
“Who am I?” she asked.
“You’re their queen,” he replied. “…And so much more.”
“How do you know all this?” she asked.
“Because you have beenreborn, Seda. You once walked this planet, a very long time ago. You must touch the Stone of Peace, remember who you are, and focus on what’s important. A ravenous wolf wearing a man’s skin is lurking and hurting the innocence of this world.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about Feich?” She felt herself pulse, an angry inferno growing within her. The dreams she’d been having lately weren’t dreams at all.
They were memories.
“Would you have believed me? I’ve said too much,” he noted as the painful power radiated through her very being. “I cannot say more. Get to the other stone, Seda. Embrace the dreams I’m not giving you, for they are your own. Your moonstone is safe with me, I promise.”
Darkness began to fill her vision, and the mist started to blur.
