Brietta told me faerie dust was a notorious substance at the Duke’s parties. It was a fine white powder that caused hallucinations and memory loss along with heart-racing euphoria. Faerie wine came from mixing a small amount of the dust with clear maiden wine from Pebblebrooke. The wine was mostly harmless, the dust however…
“Derrick should have never gotten his hands on it,” Brietta said bitterly. “He collapsed right after you did. Luckily your mother had an antidote on hand to keep his heart from bursting. Everyone is trying to guess how you are half his size and survived after getting dusted, especially now the whole Dukedom knows you had no blood bond to protect you.”
I hissed out a breath. I was so fucking stupid. Faerie dust or no, how could I have spilled that secret in front of everyone? Hopefully the gossips could invent a better explanation for my iron constitution than magic in my blood.
Worst of all, everyone knew the North was vulnerable.
I was stupid, stupid,stupid!
I shifted my legs under the blankets, my Nordingaard crystal catching the linens. Annalisa had tied the crystal onto my leg after the palace guards carried me into bed—she had wanted me to feel better, apparently. Maybe I would not have acted so foolishly at the ball if I had the crystal to keep me calm and in control.
“Do you think we still succeeded?” I asked. I needed some good news, if only to feel some sort of ease in my soul. Hopefully the party was so good that Duke Hyton would lower his hackles.
“Wedid just fine.” Brietta scoffed. “Derrick was the one who embarrassed himself again. Anders is worse than ever, trying to fix it all.”
Well, fuck.
She rose, saying she needed to confer with Freya again. She reached the door before she put her hand on the frame and looked over her shoulder. “He calls for you in his sleep, by the way.” She looked down. “You are playing your role well.”
The door clicked shut. I stared at the willow leaves on the wallpaper, letting my mind spin until the afternoon faded into darkness and starlight crested the bedposts.
At least my cycle had finally ended, but the new moon was nigh and I was no closer to getting Fraleigh out of her enslavement.
Maybe I was wrong about Ilsa being the answer. I was a powerful sorceress, what if I just lit Duke Hyton on fire until he released Fraleigh? Or used magical bonds on his wrists like Daigen had used on me? Maybe I would even get angry enough to turn him into a toad.
But my magic was barely strong enough to ignite a bathtub without me collapsing. If I tried and failed, I would kiss the chopping block before the sun rose.
My magic could not answer any of the questions around Riyan, either. Was I really hearing him in my sleep, or was I just dreaming of his voice?
I wanted to pull my quilt over my head and hide, but I had wasted enough time in bed. I needed an answer, any answer.
“Now would be a good time for a gentle hand of guidance, old man,” I said into the air.
Nothing responded. Maybe Daigen was lurking in the walls somewhere else.
I chewed on my tongue. Daigen seemed just as desperate for me to arrive at the right conclusion as I was. If I were not close, he would not have let me languish in bed for two days without at least invading my dreams.
Maybe I already had direction.
With nothing else to rely on, I closed my eyes and channeled my magic. My crystal warmed against my leg.
My mind and my heart spoke to the magic within my body, searching for what I might have missed. I asked for direction, for an answer, foranything.
And then I heard music.
The music was soft and low, like it was far away. The melody tugged on my heart and before I knew it, I had shoved off my quilt.
The music in my mind pulled me into the hallway. The blue damask wallpaper surrounded me like a dark forest as I crept along the hallways with only the dim light of the sparse sconces lighting my way. The flame in my heart pushed me forward, though I did not know where I was going.
But the music in my mind was getting louder.
Silent as a phantom, my feet slowly dragged across the soft carpet runners until they pressed against cool marble.
I blinked and looked around. Somehow, I made it into the ballroom. I dragged my eyes to the dance floor in the center of the room, immediately finding the crack like a bolt of lightning amongst the black and white tile.
My knees kissed the cold tile and my fingers traced the break in the ceramic where Riyan’s head had hit the tile when we fell while dancing.
I had not noticed the crack when the room was full of people, but how could I have forgotten it? I had been so angry with Riyan for dropping me because he had gotten too drunk to hold me.
