Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4)

by Rosetta Bloom

  Rose pursed her lips. “Do you really think he’ll be alright, Mother?”

  Blissa nodded. “I do believe that. Dwennon was only worried that dragging him into the sleep would be a danger if he couldn’t get out. But you’ve released him, so that’s not a problem.” Blissa smiled. “Now, what I need from you is James’ location. Dwennon wants to set off for him, to help bring him to you.”

  Rose nodded. “Jastenland. He’s the prince there. He promised he’d leave for our kingdom the day after my birthday, but if it’s already been two weeks …”

  Blissa patted her daughter’s shoulder. “Well, if he knows how to find you, then that’s good. I wanted to reach you to find out where he might be, but that may be less important now, because he knows how to find you and he will be along. The key is to help him get here.”

  Rose stared at her mother. Her lips were a firm line, and her freckled cheeks lacked their rosy glow. “I don’t understand how I can help.”

  Blissa nodded and took her daughter’s hands in her own. “My dear, you do not understand the depth of Maurelle’s anger because I have never explained it. It’s not just anger at me, but she also wants to preserve her position. You can claim her throne, and the fact that you have inherited fairy powers means that you will have more of a claim to it now. So, if she learns of James, she will try to prevent him from waking you.”

  Rose’s head was spinning. This still wasn’t making sense. She reached up and gently rubbed her temple. “But I still don’t understand how I can help.”

  “Your powers,” she said. “You can control the wind?”

  Rose nodded. She’d almost forgotten about this fairy power. She had knowingly used it exactly once. Hilly only had realized because she’d been moving objects in her sleep. Her eyes widened as she realized what her mother was getting at. “You think I can use my powers out there, even though I’m not awake.”

  “I know you can,” she said. “We just have to teach you. I think I know how.”

  Rose shook her head. “But how will I even know when to use them, or on what? I’m asleep.”

  Blissa sucked in a breath. “There is a way,” she said. “It involves the power of sight, I believe. But I’ll need to try to contact Hilly to be sure. For now, let’s just focus on honing your power.”

  Chapter 20

  Hilly sat in the room, watching the two princesses. Well, technically they were one queen, Blissa, and one princess, Briar Rose, but Hilly would always think of Blissa as the sweet princess who roamed the castle bringing joy to all she met.

  Now, they were asleep in beds, side by side. The king had suggested bringing Rose to lie in her mother’s chamber. Hilly had agreed, thinking physical proximity might actually help Blissa make contact with her daughter.

  The king had gone to bed, and Hilly was ready to retire herself, but she felt like she should stay just a few minutes more. She didn’t want to leave if Blissa was going to offer her a sign of contact. And she had a feeling that one was forthcoming. She wasn’t an oracle, but she had been married to one long enough to know that certain moods signaled news. And tonight, she felt a crackle in the air, a soft hum that hinted something important was coming.

  So she sat in the rocking chair in the corner and watched the sleeping princesses. That’s when she noticed it. The air in the room seemed to come alive. A gentle breeze passed her by, though the window wasn’t open. Then, the curtains on the four poster bed rippled in the breeze. An unnatural, swirling breeze. A breeze that seemed to travel around the room with a purpose. As if it were trying to say something or searching for someone.

  And then it stopped. Hilly pursed her lips, uncertain. Had this been a sign, an intended signal from Rose and Blissa? Or was this an unaware Rose sending the winds unknowingly while she slept? The former was a good thing. The latter was bad. Very bad.

  Hilly got up at once and exited the room. A servant girl was stationed in a chair outside. She nodded at Hilly when she emerged from the room. “Young lady,” Hilly said. “You’ll need to go wake the king. I must speak with him at once.”

  * * *

  Rose held her hands out in front of her, and she could really feel her power now. It was nothing like the other day with Hilly and Dwennon, where she’d barely noticed a change, yet she’d created a gale. Now she could feel the wind responding to her will, to her direction, could feel it in her core, could feel the control running through her body. Her mind was directing the wind, telling it how and when to ebb and flow. It was exhilarating and amazing. She’d created a wall of wind around her mother and herself and it was rising to the sky, more than a hundred feet tall, swirling around them. She could feel the slight lick of the wind on her face. It seemed just a gentle breeze on her, while just beyond her, it raged like a storm, ripping roots from the ground and destroying everything in its path.

  “I think that’s enough,” her mother said.

  Rose could hear her clearly, here in the eye of the small storm she had created, so she took a deep breath, relaxed and felt the dying of the winds within her body, and soon all was still. Just the remnants of churned earth remained.

  She looked at her mother and smiled. “I did it.”

  Her mother nodded. “Yes,” she said. “You did. The question is whether only we felt it here, or if it did anything out there.” Blissa lifted her eyes skyward, and they both wondered had Rose been able to affect the world beyond her dream sleep or just inside it.

  * * *

  “Why would I evacuate the castle?” Edmund asked, quite alarmed that Hilly had even suggested it.

  “Because it’s dangerous for people living here, if Rose is unknowingly creating windstorms,” Hilly said, her voice quite controlled, even though this was the fourth time she’d tried explaining this to Edmund. “If she doesn’t know she’s doing it, things could get out of hand. Even if Blissa is helping her, it could get out of hand. We need to think of the safety of your subjects.”

  Edmund stared at the older woman, her eyes resolute. But Edmund was king. No one would tell him to leave his castle, his stronghold. Blissa was with their daughter. She would ensure everything was alright. He shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he said. “That is my final decision. You may go back to your quarters now.”

  Hilly’s eyes flared at the dismissal, but she didn’t say anything else. She had nothing else to say. The king was making a mistake.

  Chapter 21

  Maurelle was in her throne room when Juanella entered and bowed. She’d sent the wood fairy to the human castle to learn if there was any news of importance on Briar Rose.

  “Juanella,” Maurelle said, offering an encouraging smile. As a girl, Juanella had adored Blissa. When Juanella’s mother died of cricketpox, Blissa had sat with her and used her powers to help mute some of the burden. Much as Blissa had done when Maurelle’s mother had died.

  There was a certain eternal gratitude one felt to the person who was there with you in the trenches after death. At one time, Maurelle thought she could never hate Blissa. Yet, that was before the betrayal. Before Blissa’s choice to marry a human. And not just any human. The man who was the reason her mother had died. “For my son,” is what Errol had said on the day her mother died. A kingdom for Edmund was why her mother was dead, and Blissa cared not. Blissa deserved everything that had come to her.

  Maurelle looked down at Juanella, who seemed to be waiting for Maurelle’s permission to respond. “Please, tell me what you’ve learned.”

  Juanella, a petite brunette with close-cropped curls, bowed her head. “Queen,” she started, her voice demure, as was the case with most wood fairies. “As you requested, I went to the castle of King Edmund and listened for bits of news. I have come back because I’ve heard two things that will be of interest to you.”

  Juanella looked up, as if seeking for a sign that she’d done well. Maurelle smiled and motioned for the girl to continue.

  “Well, I’ve heard that the former princess here has been place
d in a sleep alongside Briar Rose. Hilly performed the spell.”

  Maurelle stared, wide-eyed. The former princess in a sleep? She had to mean Blissa. She supposed she’d stopped calling her cousin by name, and so had those who came to the castle, referring to Blissa in ways that didn’t cause them to say her name. The former princess, King Roldan’s daughter, the former fairy, and even your uncle’s daughter.

  “But why?” she said aloud, realizing it a second too late. It was really a thought she’d had for herself, and she knew this young fairy could have no answer as to why. But the girl surprised Maurelle when she spoke.

  “I believe it’s because her fairy powers have come in,” she said.

  “What powers?”

  Juanella’s voice was so low when she spoke that Maurelle had to ask the girl to repeat herself. “She has elemental powers,” Juanella said louder this time. “She can control the wind.”

  An elemental fairy. That couldn’t be. Blissa had given up her powers. Surely a fairy who’d given up magic couldn’t produce a child with elemental powers. She’d never heard of such a thing. She’d need to have one of the historians look into it. She’d call one as soon as she finished with Juanella.

  “So you think King Edmund’s wife chose to go into a sleep so she could wake with her daughter and help her better understand her powers?”

  Juanella nodded. Of course, that had to be why Blissa did it. She had been too harsh on her cousin. Yes, she loved that human fool, but she also loved her daughter. Maurelle felt a warming of her heart. Finally, Blissa was done with that man. She would sleep a hundred years, and when she awoke, her husband would be dead, but she would be alive and available to help her daughter. Elemental powers took time and finesse to learn to control. At least, that’s what Maurelle’s mother had always told her. Maurelle looked down at the girl and smiled. “Thank you, Juanella,” she said. “This was important news. I need a few minutes to think over its ramifications. Please have some dinner in the kitchen, but stay near. I may need you shortly.”

  Juanella hesitated, and then spoke. “There’s one more piece of news, highness,” she said. “Hilly has suggested they evacuate the castle because Rose’s powers are presenting in her sleep.”

  Maurelle raised an eyebrow. “Presenting how?”

  “Low winds is what I heard, queen,” she said. “But I did not see it. The princess and the former princess are under lock and key.”

  Maurelle nodded and then sent Juanella away. She leaned back on her throne, pondering. Blissa asleep with Briar Rose. She hadn’t envisioned this, but it was the right thing, she knew. Fate had led them to this moment in time. What was right was happening. Blissa was away from Edmund and she would continue to be so as long as she was asleep. But given that Blissa had made this sacrifice for her daughter, it should not be to wake up with things so different. She knew what she would do.

  * * *

  Hilly realized that evacuating the castle, as Edmund was so against it, was probably not going to happen. But perhaps there was a way to contain Rose’s magic. She thought she’d read something of containment magic. It was a subset of healing, but she didn’t remember all the particulars. She still had a fairy stone. She would travel home and try to find the information she needed.

  * * *

  Maurelle had ordered all the wood fairies to come with her to the castle of King Edmund. She would put the entire castle to sleep. They would wake whenever Rose did. And no one would disturb them during their slumber. Not any who would do them harm, nor any who would try to break the spell.

  Most fairies did not have wings, but the wood fairies did, their wings beating strong and proud. Maurelle had transformed to a bird for the journey, and when she landed, she whispered her spell and watched as person after person fell asleep wherever they were. Maurelle had her six wood fairies land outside and wait, as she searched through the castle for King Edmund. She looked in room after room, ornate and beautiful, intricately decorated to impress.

  Then, finally, she stumbled upon the throne room and saw Edmund, who was falling asleep. She walked over to him and touched his forehead with the tip of her thumb. She whispered, “Your sleep will be one where you age,” and then removed her thumb. Edmund would grow old and die, and when Blissa awoke, she could teach her daughter well, without the disturbance of this awful human.

  Maurelle then searched the castle until she found her cousin’s chamber. There, lying near each other on separate beds, were Blissa and Briar Rose. Ah, Blissa looked so peaceful as she slept, almost the way she had as a child. A happy memory of she and Blissa searching for fairy stones at the Crystal Pond crept into Maurelle’s mind. She had loved that Blissa.

  She went over to her cousin’s bed and kissed her forehead. “Sleep well, cousin.” Then, she felt a cool breeze on her cheek and looked over at Briar Rose. There was a light wind swirling around the room. It had picked up a quill and was sending it zipping around.

  Maurelle sighed. Juanella had been right. Briar Rose possessed an elemental power. And if it were this strong while she slept, Maurelle imagined it would be downright frightful while the girl was awake. It was good she slept. Were the girl to rise and wish to challenge Maurelle’s right to the throne, her claim would be good. Elemental fairies were beloved as rulers. Only she couldn’t have Briar Rose make such claims, not while Edmund lived. Not while he was still in the picture.

  “You sleep well, too, little Briar Rose,” she said, before sweeping out of the room and returning to the front of the castle.

  When she arrived, her fairies awaited her instructions. “I have put the entire castle to sleep,” she said. “This will allow Briar Rose and the former princess to have some familiar people about when they awake. But it does not protect them from outside threats. I want you to raise a wall or thorns and brambles to surround the castle. It should be at least twenty feet tall and go all the way around. It will keep all the ills of the world out”

  The wood fairies nodded, then began their work. Maurelle watched as thick vines sprouted from the ground and climbed skyward, entangling with each other to form an enormous wall around the castle. While they started as green vines, as they grew, they turned brown and thickened into hard branches with large spikes protruding from them. The way they curled and looped, some of the vines looked like menacing evil eyes sure to scare off even the bravest warriors.

  Maurelle smiled, and said, “Thank you. Let us return home, and think no more of this place until the hundred years is over.”

  Chapter 22

  It had been a long day, or at least it felt like one. Rose had no idea how long it actually had been. It could have been a month or a week, or heaven forbid, a year. She shivered at the thought. A year of her life slipping away without her knowledge. A hundred years of her life spent in a slumber where all those she loved would be gone. All except her mother, who’d been put to sleep, too, with the goal of finding her daughter.

  They were in a clearing, away from the Crystal Pond in her dreamscape. It looked the same as the clearing near where she grew up. It was beautiful and serene and calm and the sun shone brightly overhead. It shone as bright as it had yesterday and the day before that. Or maybe it shone as brightly as the week before and the week before that. It had felt like just a few hours had passed with James, but it had been two weeks. How long had she and her mother been like this?

  Rose was sitting on the ground, her legs crossed, staring at the clearing, watching the wind swirl at her command. Her mother sat beside her, watching, too.

  The wind, which had picked up leaves and twigs, moved in an ascending zig zag pattern, before flying in a straight line due north, then settling in a pile on the ground. Rose flicked her finger impatiently and the wind died, dropping all it was carrying.

  “What’s wrong, Rose?”

  She looked around at the forever sunny blue sky, then raised her arms, stretching them out to point to all around her. “This,” she said. “We’re stuck in a hundred year slumber, and th
e only person who could’ve undone the deed I might have killed.”

  Blissa patted her daughter’s arm, and sighed. “I know it’s difficult, Rose,” she said. “But do not despair. I don’t believe you killed James.”

  Rose turned to look at her mother, shaking her head. James had been so pale when she’d sent him away. She should have realized earlier, but it was clear in her memories now that he looked near death. “Mother, you didn’t see him. You didn’t see how bad a shape he was in.”

  Blissa gently stroked her daughter’s cheek and shook her own head. “You didn’t see him, either, sweetheart. You saw a dream representation of him. And perhaps that was his mind trying to alert him that his body needed nourishment, not what he really looked like.”

  Rose stared at her mother, watching her open face, her gentle nod of reassurance, of comfort. Even her mother’s touch was comforting, shooting a simple wave of calmness through her. Was she right? Was James fine? Was his horrid look simply a way for his mind to alert them both that his body wasn’t doing well? Her mother seemed so sure. She wanted to believe. She felt a strong yearning to. But something was telling her, something in the back of her mind was telling her to resist. She pulled away from her mother and the doubts and fears flooded back.

  James was surely dead, and she had killed him through her inaction.

  Rose eyes constricted as she looked at her mother, the wheels in her head turning. Something wasn’t right about what just happened.

  Blissa stared back at her daughter, her mouth quirking upward in confusion. “What’s wrong, Rose?”

  The girl stared at her mother. “Mother, were you …” she asked, but it sounded so strange to ask. “Were you calming me with your touch?”