His voice was hollow. “You should never see me like that, no one should.”
I turned on my cushioned stool to face him. “Derrick, with everything you have been through—”
“That does not matter.” He closed his eyes and hissed out a breath. “I c-cannot be weak or...”
He slammed his fist against the back of the chair as soon as his sentence failed.
The memory of his father’s harsh words screamed in my mind. I flew across the room and wrapped my hands around his. “You do not have to finish, I understand you. You do not have to—”
“Yes…I…do,” he gritted out.
After a few thudding heartbeats, I rested my forehead against his arm. I had to get him calm. “Everything will be better in the morning, we can just…go to bed.”
Derrick ran a hand through the roots of his hair. “I usually will not find sleep after I…get like this, unless I have a sleeping draught.”
Shit! I should have kept the sleeping potion Mother made. Now I had nothing to get him to sleep.
Nothing except magic.
I chewed on my tongue. My magic was not an invasion, it was an acceptance of an invitation. I was just trying to get Derrick to sleep…but no one was more vulnerable than when they were sleeping.
How convenient for a little serpent like me.
I swallowed. “Do you trust me to get you to sleep?”
He raised his face to meet my eyes and nodded.
I held my breath and pulled him into bed. Bitterness coated the back of my throat, but I glanced at the panel in the northern wall where the shining pool was hiding. Riyan was looking for me, even in the place West of the Moon and East of the Sun.
And if I wanted to ever hear Riyan’s voice again, I needed to slay the monster that tormented Midnight.
My hips rested on the mattress as my hand softly stroked Derrick’s hair. His eyes fluttered closed as I sent bits of magic through my fingertips, giving him peace and weaving him a dream.
The light between his eyes sparkled and the castle doors swung wide open.
I held my breath and dove into Derrick’s mind.
With a flash of white light from my magic, I weaved into the deepest recesses of Derrick’s mind.
My feet hit solid ground—I had feet? I looked down at my hands and smiled. My magic must have been getting stronger if I could create a body to walk through memories.
I stood in the middle of what looked similar to the palace ballroom. The black and white tile of the dance floor stretched all the way to the circular curves of the walls.
I looked up. The ceiling of painted bulls was gone and a dome of shimmering stars in a black sky stood in its place.
Arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a tall chest. Even Derrick’s inner self smelled like oak and vanilla.
Now was my chance. I pushed away from him and looked into his eyes. “Midnight, you have to free Fraleigh. Summon her and say the words ‘Ipse Dix—””
Boom.The floor shook.
Midnight gripped me so tightly I thought he was going to crush me. Damn it! He was not going to listen
Boom.The floor shook again, sending cracks through the perfect black and white tile. I jumped—the pressure was like the impact of a boulder crashing right under my toes.
The monster was trying to escape beneath us.
Midnight scooped me up in his arms and ran for a door that had just appeared on the other side of the ballroom.
