Wherever Eislyn went, the darkness followed close. It nipped at her heels, desperate to tear her apart limb by limb.
She reached out for her owl friend, but he wasn’t there. Somehow, she could feel him flying across the city, his eyes trained on the ground, searching for mice. How did that make any sense?
The door creaked open, and Lir’s head poked into the room. His eyebrows were threaded with worry, and his tousled golden hair framed his bronze face. “I heard screaming.”
She swallowed hard and glanced away, pulling the sheets up to cover her thin nightdress. “I had a bad dream.”
“I see. Would you like to tell me about it?”
“Not really.”
Emperor Lir was the last person in the entire world she wanted to share her deepest, darkest thoughts with. He’d already trapped her with no hope of a future outside of these walls. She didn’t want him to know what she feared the most.
He stepped into the room, ignoring her. “Do you have these dreams often?”
“What does it matter if I do?” she snapped, twisting away from him. She clutched the sheet, her heart racing. Couldn’t he just go away?
“It matters a great deal, Eislyn,” he murmured.
She kept her back facing him. “Why?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
With a growl, she whipped toward him, and the sheet slipped from around her shoulders. His eyes dropped to her breasts. Her nightdress was white and sheer, and the chill from the open windows peaked her nipples. Face flushing, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and strode right up to him as if she didn’t have a single fear in the world.
She pulled the door open and motioned for him to leave. “This is the way out.”
His lips tipped up, and then he chuckled. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Likewise.”
“Eislyn.” Voice soft, Lir brushed the damp strands away from her cheeks. Her heart froze at the surprising tenderness of his fingertips. Lips parted, she gazed up at him, confusion swirling through her gut. One minute, he was slamming doors into her face and the next he was acting like he wanted to wrap her in hoarfrost silk. “I know you hate me, and I don’t blame you for that. But I need you to open up to me just this once. Tell me about your dreams.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, taking a step away from him. “You’ve taken everything from me. I won’t let you take my dreams, too.”
Sighing, he swept his dark gaze across her barely-clothed form. “I am glad Dearg is not here to see you dressed like this.”
“Oh.” Swallowing hard, she hated the red hot heat that swept through her body, warming her from head to toe, and many places in between. This was Emperor Lir, the Fomorian who had forced her to become his bride. He’d trapped her here. Nothing he said or did should get that kind of reaction out of her.
And yet she could not ignore the way the moonlight glistened across his bare chest. She wondered what the ridges of his abs felt like.
But not enough to lift her fingers to his skin and find out.
“I should go back to sleep,” she said, her voice far more high-pitched than it had been a moment before.
He shuddered, dragging his gaze away from her. “Very well. I won’t push it further right now, but Iwillneed to know about your dreams, Eislyn. Sooner rather than later.”
“But why?” She fisted her hands. “I know you say you can’t tell me, but at least give me something. It’s not fair on me otherwise.”
He pressed his lips together, hesitating. “Very well. There is one thing I can tell you. Your dreams may not be mere dreams. They may be portends for the future.”
25
Reyna
“There are guards at the gates.” Finnegan ducked behind the empty barrels stacked up in the middle of the street. Remnants of a previous battle that had never been cleaned up. The three of them huddled together, their heads bowed so close their foreheads touched. It had turned out to be a hell of a lot harder to get out of the city than Reyna had thought.
“Why are they guarding the gates?” Reyna hissed. “I thought they were too busy terrorizing the city to care who got inside this place from the Misty Wastes.”
