That was the difference between Elly and her. Elly believed the best in things, while Corin saw the darkness for what it was. She had to be the one to reel them back to reality, because fairy tales were only frivolous stories for desperate people, looking to escape from the dreariness of their own lives.
Corin wouldn’t be taken for a fool like the rest of them.
“No,” Elly murmured. “You ruin things before they can be good.”
The words cut into Corin like a knife. There it was, the open wound she tried to bury. The knot in her stomach she could never untangle. It wasn’t the hazy vision of Elly’s shrinking figure as she ran away, the bristles of black hair disappearing into the dead of night. It was the moment before her back turned, before her shoes pounded against the pavement, the receding footsteps of a child hurt by the only family she had.
Gray skies. Broken clay. Words Corin screamed that she could never take back. Elly’s look of betrayal in the silence that followed.
The things that happened before Elly saidI hate you.
Ice cracked beneath Corin’s feet, an ugly vein beating below the surface. She imagined the floor shattering, her body drowning. She wanted cold water to fill her lungs until she blacked out. Elly’s figure blurred in her vision, shrinking into darkness as Corin sank below ground. Their fingers interlaced as Elly reached out. Her mouth opened in the shape of Corin’s name, but ice muffled the sound. Her sister’s lips turned blue, her face a hazy blur from beneath the water.
Corin released Elly’s hand and let the tide take her.
Darkness shrouded the corners of her vision like a fog. The stench of rotting flesh returned, dust and debris stinging her eyes. She drowned in memories of endless tunnels that brought her back to the familiar path of dead friends and disappointed sisters. The same dead end that came from her trying and failing anyway.
Then hands reached in the murky water and tugged her by the collar. A shadow morphed into her memory of Ezran, threatening her in the castle. His silver eyes filled with rage and power. The first, Corin always had. The second, she never could.
“You took my place in her dreams,” he snarled, “and you’re not even worthy of it.”
Water distorted his voice, muffling the threat in her ears. “You’re not real,” she whispered. “Why do I see you?”
“Because you and I want the same thing.”
Bubbles spewed from her mouth as the mirage gave her a hard shove. The ghosts of his fingers contorted like shadows in the shifting currents. Darkness curled in her chest, a distorted shape that remained even as his figure scattered into ripples. In the murky recesses of her mind, she recalled the words she’d overheard in the castle, how it had stoked the flames of a prince and, inadvertently, ignited something in a thief.
A gust of air filled her lungs as someone’s arms pulled Corin from drowning. Malicine struck her hard in the face with their palm. She fell on top of the ice and choked until water spewed from her lips. Her lungs burned, caught between drowning and sudden air. She hadn’t realized she was underwater, couldn’t even tell she was sinking. But the ice returned to a smooth surface, its cracks gone, as if she was never engulfed at all.
“Stop trying to kill yourself,” Malicine snapped. “You’re going to ruin my floors.”
Elly called her name again, her frantic voice clear as crystals this time. “What happened just now?”
Corin looked down at her drenched clothes. “I—I don’t know.”
Malicine sighed, as if tired of explaining rudimentary concepts. “I told you already. This is the dreamworld, where your subconscious desires come to life. You’re a part of her dreams now. But those faeries and the prince you saw? They almost became part of it too. I can’t let that happen.”
The demon looked at the snowfall outside. The blizzard had calmed, but tension still radiated as they placed a palm on the frosted glass.
“If they come here—ifanyonecomes here—the dreamscape will collapse. The princess is not supposed to confront reality. It will destroy her, and everything else in this world.”
The memory of Ezran rushed back to Corin. The fire in his silver eyes, the blade of his sword at her throat. How his determination to save the princess broiled even after all these years, never ebbing. Corin instinctively reached for her necklace, the pendant cold against her wet clothes. She understood what it was like to make a promise as well.
“What if I made a bargain with Ezran?” she asked, plans unfurling in her mind.
Malicine raised an eyebrow. “What sort of bargain?”
“He nearly killed me to protect the princess. But he mentioned a promise to protect something else. Her treasure,” Corin said. “That’s what matters most to him. If you send us back to Gyldan with that treasure, I’ll offer to trade it in exchange for him leaving you alone. Hell, I’ll even tell him there was nobody else here. He won’t have any reason to cross over your world.”
Corin steadied herself as she met Malicine’s suspicious gaze. Her clothes were already drying, the fabric rough against her chest, the necklace listening to the quick beat of her heart.
“I don’t know what treasure he’s talking about.” Malicine paused. “But she might know.”
Corin exhaled slowly to mask her relief. She didn’t know if her offer would work. It seemed likelier that Malicine trapped the princess in her own dreams so that they could claim the same treasure the prince sought. But the demon didn’t have any idea what it might be, nor did they show interest in it.
How could that be? The mystery of the treasure intrigued Corin even more once Ezran confirmed the rumors were true. She hadheard tales of Gyldan once being rich with gold. How an ancient faerie blessed the royal family and they became the only people gilded with fortune, propelling them into ruling over a prosperous land They had gained power, and that, ultimately, was the key to survival.
If she had that kind of wealth in her hands, she could change everything. She would wake up with a roof over her head, rolling over a soft mattress so big that Elly would have her own side. She would never need to rely on the company of loved ones for warm meals. She would move far away from Gyldan and leave behind the bad memories and dead friends she’d rather forget.
