I almost believe it.
47
Ash
I don’t dreamof them, my cousins, that night. I’m not sure I dream at all. I’m asleep in that weird place where dreaming belongs.
I blink. Rolling hills stretch into existence as far as the eye can see. Endless twilight leaves Faerie in its permanent state of transition. The world settles around me, soft and gentle at the edges.
I’m not alone.
Tiana stands to my left, just as confused as me. Kestra stands to my right, smiling.
“I’m guessing you know what this is?” I ask her.
The smile never leaves as she glances at us. “You don’t know where we are?”
“Does my face look like I know where I am?” Tiana juts out a hip, her brows nearly into her hairline.
“I have no idea where we are,” I admit, turning to Kestra.
“The Sidhe,” she whispers like the word holds a kind of weight I’m not privy to yet. “Long ago, when the Tuatha were defeated in Ireland, they went underground. Back to Faerie. To the Sidhe.”
I look at the vast rolling hills that don’t seem to end.
“I am not following.” Tiana crosses her arms. “If I don’t get my eight hours of beauty sleep I might just kill you when we wake up.”
Kestra rolls her eyes. “You can’t.” Smugness threads through every syllable she utters. “You don’t want my court.”
Tiana shudders. “No, that I do not.”
“At least you have a court,” I cross my arms and grumble.
Kestra laughs. Full bodied. “That’s the point, Ash.” She grips my face and turns it to the rolling hills. “Those aren’t just sleeping gods, they’re Fae. Your court is still alive.”
Something flutters in my throat. Not hope. Not yet. I don’t dare to hope.
“Graves said they killed them all.” I feel the blood drain from my face, even dreaming, even here.
“Yeah.” Kestra drops my hands and steps back. “Come on. Walk and talk. I have a theory.”
“You know one of those theories burned my eyebrows off.” Tiana rubs her brows that are still very much on her face.
Kestra slices her palm through the air, dismissing her immediately. “I told you to back away.” She gives me one of those looks, the one that clearly says it was multiple times.
“She did,” Tiana admits. “Still blew off my brows.”
“You have a theory?” I press Kestra, because while the banter is amusing, I am going to need her to get to the damn point.
“I always have theories.” She tosses the words over her shoulder. Finally she pauses at a mound and presses her hand to it.
Tiana and I glance at each other, not really sure what she’s doing or trying to prove.
“Fae shouldn’t be able to use magic in dreams,” Kestra explains. “That’s reserved for dream walkers. But Ash, I want you to touch this mound. Tell me what you feel.”
“Okay.” This might be the weirdest thing anyone has ever asked me to do, but it isn’t like I’m waking up any time soon.
I kneel and press my hand to the Sidhe mound.
