A shiver ran down my spine. “What do you want?”
“Everything,” it screamed into my right.
I clenched my teeth. “You won’t have it.”
My answer was another harsh, mocking laugh—the cackling of a crow.
“He doesn’t love you,” the voice whispered.
Anger flared through my veins, and I clenched my teeth. “I suppose he loves you?”
There was no answer when Drayce’s actions were clearer than any declaration. Drayce sided with me and drove her out of the palace. What did she expect after killing his father, tearing him away from his home, and surrounding him with enemies? Did she think that the years she forced herself on him lessened his hate?
Thorny vines wrapped around my shoulder, and something slithered around my ear. Was this how she inhabited the bodies of her children, or did she eat them whole?
“Stop these stupid tricks,” I snarled. “If it’s my body you want, then fight me for it.”
“Too late,” she hissed. “You’re mine!”
A scream tore from my lips. It was loud and shrill and shook my bones. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Melusina screamed for me to stop, but I couldn’t. She squeezed tighter, tighter, with those terrible limbs, until my ribs were dust and my lungs empty bags of sorrow.
My spirit poured through the branches and into a well of black.
Light shone through my eyelids. I tilted up my head and stared into what appeared to be the sun within a blue sky. A cool breeze filled my nostrils with seawater, and the vines fell away.
When I blinked the glare out of my gaze, I was leaning against the mast of a wooden merchant ship, devoid of crew or passengers or even seagulls. A calico sail billowed noisily overhead. A saltwater spray filled my nostrils, and a sea breeze combed through my hair. The sun hung over the ship’s swan’s neck within a cerulean-blue sky.
I reared back and tried to shake away the vision but couldn’t rid myself of the expanse of sea. This had to be another of the Fear Dorcha’s dreamscapes.
“Neara?” Father asked from behind, his voice clear and strong despite the wind.
I spun around to meet his blue eyes, marveled at his young features, and inhaled his ink-and-parchment scent. He was strong and handsome and vigorous—exactly how I had last seen him, with hair the same shade of orange as mine.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Father smiled, making fine lines appear on the outer corners of his eyes. He cupped the back of my head with his large, warm hand. “Are you sleepwalking again?” He swept an arm across the deck. “We just boarded the ship to Caledonia.”
My brows drew together. The last thing I remembered was being chased into those vines by a pair of glowing eyes and then nearly strangled. “But this is—”
“You saved us.” Father’s voice was thick with emotion. He reached down and clasped my hands, gratitude glistening in his eyes. “Thanks to you, we can start new lives in a land without faeries.”
A fog filled my mind, and voices whispered that Father was right. I had fallen out of the rift and left Bresail with him. Everything that happened since then—the sleeping curse, the royal carriage, the mating—it had all been a long dream. I lost myself in Father’s eyes, his vibrant clear-seeing gaze. This was what we’d been working toward for years, and now we were free.
Wind and whispers whirled between my ears, clearing away my thoughts. I was safe. Happy. Complete. It had always been Father and me, and we escaped the faeries with Father in the prime of health.
The scent of leather filled my nostrils, along with the sensation of silken hair caressing my skin. I placed a hand on my cheek and blinked. I was missing something, someone, a piece of my heart and soul.
“What about Drayce?” my voice broke.
“You didn’t kill him after all.” Father’s eyes softened. “He’s probably sitting on his Otherworld throne, making the Court of Shadows pay for what they did to his father.”
A tug on my heart said he wasn’t.
Another tug said he was desperate to reach me.
I blinked again, and the fog lifted from my mind. Either one of the thorns around the Summer Court Palace had pricked me and made me fall asleep or the poison had reached me another way. The sharp scent of rotting meat stung my nose, but I evened my expression and forced a smile.
Father placed a hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t you sit and rest your feet?”
I turned around and stared into the Sea of Atlas. There was no sign behind us of the fog that surrounded the island and no sign of land straight ahead, and I doubted that this ship would do anything but continue rocking. Melusina had probably told the Fear Dorcha that I valued Father above everyone, and this was why I was dreaming about leaving Bresail with him.
Father gestured at a bench with cushions of deep-green velvet. “Over there.”
My brows drew together. The moment I sat on that thing, it would turn into moss. I had to jump overboard and escape before this dream version of Father attacked.
I rushed to the edge of the hull, balanced my hands on the rail, and hoisted one leg over.
Father followed after me and grabbed my arm. “Neara.” His voice was as sharp as Melusina’s teeth. “What are you doing?”
“This isn’t real.” I kicked him aside and plunged headfirst into the sea.
Unexpectedly warm water whirled around my body, tasting and smelling of foul meat and not brine. Stinging sensations spread across my skin as though it had been scratched with thorns and then doused with strong vinegar. I resurfaced from the sea and inhaled a frantic breath, blinking through the prickling of my eyes.
A wave slammed me against the ship’s hull, and another raised me toward Father’s grasping hands. I held my breath, dove beneath the putrid sea, and thrashed against the current. I would not let it drag me back into that ship.
“Wake up,” a voice bubbled up through the water.
I flailed my arms against the attacking waves.
“Neara!” Drayce’s voice cut through the sea like a blade.
My eyes snapped open, and bright light flooded my vision. Panting hard, I sucked in a loud breath, my eyes darting from side to side. I was lying on a bed of moss, staring up into Drayce’s worried eyes.
Above him was a canopy of branches, just like the four-poster bed in the dreamscape. Rosalind, Aengus, and Cathbad stood at the foot of the bed, their faces grave.
“What happened?” I rasped.
Drayce’s face shuttered. “The stairs were a trap, and we fell into this chamber. Then the Fear Dorcha challenged me to awaken you with a kiss.”
I glanced over his shoulder into a large chamber of black. Sitting on an oversized throne was a dark figure stroking Erin’s tufty-eared head. He leaned forward, his glowing eyes gleaming with malice. I gulped, remembering having seen them both in one of Drayce’s dreams. What in the name of the saints did this mean?
“Well done, King Salamander,” sarcasm dripped from his voice. “But my mistress has nearly completed assimilating her beautiful new body.”
Chapter 25
I pushed myself off the mossy mattress and flailed tendril-covered arms, remembering how the bed of moss had once tried to consume Drayce. The branches from the trunk that made up the four-poster bed lowered themselves from the canopy, aiming for my limbs.
“Get off.” I scrambled off the bed of moss so quickly that I made Drayce stumble backward.
He caught me in his arms, and stared at me through wide, green eyes. I glanced over my shoulder for signs of vines or moss or vegetation crawling on my skin, but all I found was my leather armor.
“Neara?” The fingers around my shoulders tightened. “What’s wrong?”
Rosalind, Aengus, and Cathbad stood behind Drayce, each holding glowing torches and staring at me with varying degrees of concern. How long had I been asleep on that bed? What had the Fear Dorcha done to stop them from fighting?
My gaze dropped to the ankle-high grass on the floor, which s
wayed in an imaginary breeze. Then I turned to the far side of the room, where the Fear Dorcha continued staring at us from his throne.
Despite the lack of light reaching the darkened figure, I could see the Fear Dorcha’s long, black fingers caressing Erin’s tawny fur. The doe’s ears flattened, and she stared ahead through heavy lidded eyes. He was either keeping her in this half-aware state or she truly felt relaxed in his company.
Drayce’s voice continued battering through my fog of uncertainty. I shook my head, not able to push away the doubt creeping through the back of my mind. He said Melusina had nearly finished taking my body, but I couldn’t see the wretched creature.
“Where is she?” I snarled at the figure on the throne. “Where’s Melusina?”
Drayce stepped back and frowned. My lips thinned. My Drayce would be working out a plan to get us out of here and wouldn’t turn his back on an enemy.
A deep, throaty laugh echoed through the room. Anger seared through my veins and the contents of my stomach burned with resentment. I recognized that awful sound, heard it the time I’d snuck into the chamber where she had imprisoned Father. Melusina had laughed like that when she had fed on him, even when he begged for death.
“Have you worked it out?” she asked through chuckles.
“This is a dream.” I glanced at Drayce, whose skin turned brown and thickened into bark. Branches emerged from his head, and he transformed into a tree. Aengus, Cathbad, and Rosalind shimmered into bushes.
My hands balled into fists, and I stalked toward the throne. “When did you ensnare us?”
“A little sprinkle of sleeping sand, and you all succumbed,” her voice crooned from the ivy walls.
“The spider.” Dread tumbled through my insides. The spices had been strange at the time, but I'd been more worried about the spider wanting to make my companions its next meal.
Each step I took toward the Fear Dorcha brought me no closer to the throne, and his shadowy fingers continued to stroke Erin’s head.
Cold realization drenched my bones as the Fear Dorcha’s words returned to the front of my mind. Whatever Melusina was doing to my body, she had nearly finished. I was running out of time. They would only risk gloating because they were close to victory. I turned my gaze to the leafy branches that made up the ceiling. Dangling from the twigs were acorns the size of plums.
“How are you absorbing my body?” I shouted.
“Sssh,” she said. “By the time I’ve finished, darling Drayce won’t know the difference between you and me.”
My chest tightened with trepidation. “What have you done with him?”
“He’s perfectly safe,” she replied. “And trapped in an alternative dream where he’s battling the Fear Dorcha with you and winning. How he will howl when he realizes that it’s me inside the body he so dearly loves.”
The grass around my feet grew tendrils that wrapped around my boots. I clenched my teeth against the onslaught of helpless rage, my insides boiling and bitter and black. Melusina would steal my body, steal my life, steal my mate.
If I didn’t do something now, she would assimilate my face, pretend to break the curse over the Summer Court and take Prince Calor’s blessing and the blessings of the other princes. Once she took control over the kingdom, she could resume her original identity and continue her quest to free the Fomorians.
“You’re exquisite.” Her cloying voice coated my insides with nausea. “Drayce and Ailill did a splendid job in molding you into my perfect vessel.”
“I won’t let you win.” With two hard kicks, I snapped the vines trying to encase my legs.
Melusina didn’t reply, and my jaw clenched. Did this mean she had completed her task? That I was alone in this room of trees and shrubs and creeping vines?
I spun in the direction of the Fear Dorcha’s throne to find him sitting between two tall saplings connected by low branches creating a backrest and a seat. Erin continued to stare at me, her eyes heavy with pity.
When Melusina’s delighted laugh rippled through the room, the muscles around my chest loosened with relief. “Others have said the same, you foolish girl. But this room will hold you until you are digested.”
“No,” I screamed, but I only managed to loosen a few acorns.
I screamed again, loud enough to rattle the branches. Acorns rained down on my head, and I screamed louder, uprooting the trees that made up the four-poster bed. Their trunks groaned and slumped into each other, and the mattress collapsed onto the lawn.
Erin slipped off the Fear Dorcha’s lap and tumbled down the stairs, and the eight-foot-tall, shadowed figure stood on stilted legs. His blackened finger rose to point at my head, and he bellowed for me to cease wailing.
Drawing upon every ounce of hatred and despair, I shrieked once more.
The ceilings crumbled, dropping leaves and branches and acorns, the cornerstone thrummed against my chest in time with my screams, but the room remained intact.
Silence filled my ears and panic rippled through my chest. The banshee’s cry wasn’t working. My gaze darted across the windowless room. There was no escape. I was completely and wholly trapped. Trapped to do nothing but stand here and scream within this dreamscape while Melusina devoured my body in the waking world.
With hands that wouldn’t stop trembling, I reached for the Sword of Tethra and pulled it out of the sheath. It was my only way out.
Melusina’s laugh echoed through the room. “Predictable! Cut through this dream, and another will take its place and another and another.”
“Then I’ll keep cutting,” I snarled through clenched teeth.
I sliced into my palm and coated the blade with blood. My wound sealed shut in the blink of an eye, and I slashed the sword through the air. Salt water gushed through the rift and gathered around my boots. I slashed again and again, making a wide enough rift.
Water gushed through the hole between dreams. I held my breath, surged through the torrent and swam hard against the whirlpool, through the sea, and up to the water’s surface. The gentle waves bobbed up and down, reflecting an azure sky streaked with white clouds. Blinking through the stinging saltwater, I paddled to stay afloat.
“Neara,” Father’s voice cried from behind. “Swim over here.”
My throat tightened. I didn’t want to look at the vision of him alone on that boat. I didn't have the time to waste. I cut my palm once more and slashed above the water’s surface. Darkness spilled out of the rift. I slipped my hand inside to find a familiar mossy surface—the room with the collapsed four-poster bed. After hauling myself onto the carpet, I lay on its surface, panting hard.
“You see?” Melusina’s voice echoed through my ears. “The Fear Dorcha has placed you back exactly where you belong. Exhaust yourself, run through dream realms. I will take excellent care of your new body. Hopefully, Cathbad will make a more grateful pet than Ailill.”
Resentment tightened my skin. What else could I do except use this sword and the banshee’s scream? I pulled myself to my feet and staggered across the room.
“What are you doing now?” Melusina said, sounding bored.
“Why are you preoccupied with taunting me when you’re so close to victory?” I asked. “Is it so I don’t work out how to defeat you?”
She didn’t reply because I was right. If she had truly won and taken over my body, she would relegate me into a corner of her mind and focus on regaining the throne. But she wanted me distracted with screaming and jumping from realm to realm. Wanted me distracted so I wouldn’t do something to break this curse.
I turned in a slow circle, looking for clues. Erin and the Fear Dorcha had left, along with the throne. The four-poster bed lay in shambles, the shrubs making up the walls stood bare, and most of the ceiling branches had shed their acorns and leaves.
Screaming didn’t work, the sword didn’t work, and I doubted that turning incorporeal would work. I inhaled a deep, calming breath and stared at the wrecked room. Drayce was locked in a dream, and there was
nobody to stab my heart except for myself
After placing the Sword of Tethra back into its sheath, I reached for the iron dagger on my sword belt. My fingers burned and sizzled around the corrosive metal, but I clenched my teeth and hissed through the pain.
“What are you doing this time?” Melusina said, not sounding quite so bored.
I had to do this now, before she completed assimilating my body.
My pulse accelerated as I wrapped my other hand around the dagger’s grip. My breath quickened as I pointed its sharp tip at my thrashing heart.
“Neara,” she hissed.
The desperation in her voice confirmed that this was exactly how I needed to break free. With a deep breath, I filled my mind with thoughts of Drayce, thoughts of the night we spent securing our bond, thoughts of how I wanted us to be together in this realm or another, and I plunged the dagger into my chest.
Piercing, burning agony sliced my skin, slashed my sinew, shattered my ribs, and skewered into my heart. A scream tore from my soul, and the dreamworld—plants and water and stone, crashed onto my fallen body like an avalanche.
A loud gasp escaped my lips, and I jerked forward, my eyes flying open. Something undulated around my thighs, a tightening and loosening ripple that stilled the moment I tried to move. A tight, silky fabric cocooned my body to the neck. Light from the fallen torches illuminated the thick curtain of webs hanging overhead and to the walls on my left and right. I inhaled a breath of dusty air and sneezed. Melusina hadn’t lied about the spider causing us to sleep. This was the upstairs hallway, not far from the room where we had entered the palace.
Pressure tightened around my hips. I raised my head and stared into a pale face of quicksilver eyes stretched around my body like a—
I inhaled a hissing breath through my teeth and jerked forward. Melusina was swallowing me from the bottom-up like a serpent.
“What are you?” I twisted from side to side, trying to throw her off.
The eyes staring back at me trembled. If she wasn’t halfway devouring my body, I would say the expression was fear, her face was so distorted that I barely recognized the monster.
Mate of the Fae King (Dark Faerie Court Book 2) Page 23
