Chapter 27
In my dreams, Fenn was hovered over me, his arms braced on either side of me on the bed as he caged me in. His feral gaze swept over me, his teeth flashing in a delighted grin. His mouth was on my throat, his tongue gliding along my skin. I arched into him with a moan, desperate to finish what we started, to feel his naked body, to ravish him as thoroughly as he’d ravished me.
But in the next instant, I was sipping tea in the sitting room of Dreya’s inn. Across from me, the innkeeper herself smiled blandly, stirring her spoon in her cup.
“Strange, isn’t it?” she whispered.
I frowned, wondering why she spoke so quietly. “What is?”
“This place.” She cast a quick gaze around the room, which had shifted. This was no longer the sitting room of the inn, but… the tea room in the Emerald Palace. My home.
And it was no longer Dreya sitting with me, but my sister, Gigi.
She sipped from her spoon, then looked at me, her eyes dull and unfeeling. They were usually a brilliant blue, like mine, but now they seemed more muted and gray. She took another long gulp of tea from her cup, then sighed and glanced toward the window, through which sunlight filtered.
“It’s home, and yet… not.” Her voice was distant and wistful, as if she were clinging to a memory that was slowly slipping away from her.
I glanced down at my hands folded in my lap. I wore my stained and muddy blue dress from that day I’d met Fenn in the forest. The day my family had fallen asleep, unable to be roused.
The day everything changed.
“I wish you were here with me,” Gigi said softly. “I wish you were truly here.”
“I am here,” I said, my voice loud amidst the startling silence of the room. My sister was never this subdued. She was always noisy and boisterous, something we often chided her for. But in this instant, I would rather have my vibrant and energetic sister than this hollow shell of a girl.
Gigi blinked and turned to face me, as if just now realizing I was there. She chuckled lightly. “No, you aren’t.”
I rose from the sofa, coming to kneel at her feet. I clutched her hand in both of mine as they rested on her lap. “Gigi, I am here . I am with you now.” Her fingers felt cold, but solid in my grip. I was somehow aware this was a dream, and yet… everything felt so real. The scratchy fabric of her dress. The plush softness of the carpet on my knees. The dampness of my skirts from my morning ride and my time in the woods. Even the smell of the mint tea stung my nostrils. Everything about this place grounded me, drawing me in.
It was real. It had to be.
Slow clarity spread in Gigi’s eyes, a more luminous shade of blue bleeding through the gray and showing echoes of the sister I knew so well. Her brows knitted together. “Aurie?” Her voice was hesitant, as if she didn’t dare hope that I could really be here with her.
I nodded, my eyes burning with imminent tears. Gods, I had missed her!
She swallowed hard, then squeezed my hands. “You’re—You’re really here?”
“Yes. It’s me, Gigi.” I brought her cold hand to my cheek to prove to her I was here in the flesh.
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she let out a choked sob. “Oh gods, Aurie!” She knocked her teacup to the floor, allowing the contents to seep onto the carpet as she collapsed to her knees to embrace me. I clutched her to my chest, weeping with her as we clung to one another.
“I have so much to tell you,” I whispered. “So much has happened.”
Gigi suddenly withdrew to look at me with wide eyes, her face paling. “No. No . Aurie, you cannot be here.” She glanced over my shoulder, her expression stricken as if she expected to find a horrible monster lurking behind me.
I followed her gaze, but all I saw were the open doors of the tea room and an empty hallway beyond. “Why not? I’ve missed you terribly. All I’ve wanted to do is talk with you.”
She shook her head frantically, dropping my hands as she staggered to her feet. “You can’t be here,” she repeated. “You—You aren’t supposed to be here!” She wrung her hands together and began pacing the room, her eyes wild with terror.
I stood, trying to touch her, to embrace her or hold her hands once more, but she stepped out of reach, still shaking her head.
“No,” Gigi was saying as if speaking to herself. “No, you—You’re different. Mother explained it to me. You can’t be here. You’re the only one who can—who can—” She brought a hand to her forehead. “Gods, Aurie. Did she find a way to trap you, too?”
I frowned, my heart wrenching in my chest. I had never seen Gigi so frightened. “What are you talking about?”
Gigi looked at me, then closed the gap between us, grasping my shoulders tightly. “You have to wake up, Aurelia. You are the only one who can stop this. The only one she can’t reach. If you’re here, it means she’s close to trapping you. But you have to fight it. Fight it. You have to wake up!”
Her voice rose with each word until she was practically screaming at me. Though she stood a few inches shorter than me, she seemed to tower over me with the intensity of her words. My hands began to tremble. “Gigi, I don’t—I don’t understand.”
“Wake up, Aurelia!” she repeated in a shout. Behind me, a strange buzzing filled the air, making the back of my neck prickle. Gigi looked over my shoulder, then made a strangled gasping sound. I turned to look, to see what lurked behind me, but she pressed her hands to my face and screamed, “ Wake up now! ”
With a jolt, I woke, my heart thundering in my chest. Something warm was pressed to my chest. I sat up quickly, the sheets and comforter shifting with the movement. The warmth left me .
Beside me, Fenn grunted in his sleep. His arm had been wrapped around me.
I stiffened, my stomach dropping as awareness flooded my mind.
Last night. The Equinox Ball. Callan and Tyrone.
And Fenn…
His hands on me. His tongue. The explosive release that spread through me with violent delight when his fingers moved inside me.
Heat filled my cheeks from the memory. I glanced at him, afraid he would wake. But he remained fast asleep, his long eyelashes fanned out over his cheeks.
I covered my face and found my hands were still trembling. Just like in my dream.
Shit. My dream.
I eased out of bed, careful not to jostle Fenn with the movement. When the mattress shifted as I stood, he sighed in his sleep, turning his head and murmuring, “Aurelia.”
I stilled, thinking he’d woken up. But he remained still, his slow, soft breathing filling the room once more.
Fenn was dreaming of me. The thought sent an unexpected warmth spreading through me as I strode away from the bed.
Darkness had coated the room, and the faint moonlight shining through the curtains told me it was sometime in the middle of the night. I started pacing the room, my bare feet padding across the floor. I faintly registered that I was still partially dressed in my red gown, though the corset strings were loose and my petticoat had been removed, which made it much easier to walk. My pulse was racing, and I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lungs.
The dream had felt so very real. And Gigi’s palpable terror…
It had to have been real. Wherever Gigi’s consciousness was right now, I was with her for a brief moment. And there was something in that dream world that frightened her.
The thought of my baby sister so afraid made me want to draw my dagger and lunge into action, to fight off whatever foe she faced. I would die for my sister. I would do anything to save her.
What was it she’d said?
You are the only one who can stop this. The only one she can’t reach.
Who was she ? Was it the Dream Mage ?
A hard lump formed in my throat, and I found it difficult to swallow.
You are the only one who can stop this.
You’re different. Mother explained it to me.
I suddenly felt warm. Too warm. I wiped my forehead, and my hand came back sweaty.
Different. There was a reason I was immune to the sleeping curse. And it wasn’t just because I was in the woods with Fenn or because of the rune on my back. There was something else. Something big. And Mother knew it. Now Gigi did, too.
A frantic desperation roared through me, demanding I take action. I hurried to Fenn’s side of the bed and shook his shoulder.
“Fenn,” I hissed. “Fenn, wake up.”
He groaned and rolled over, draping one arm over his eyes.
I huffed in exasperation and jabbed my fingers into that one ticklish spot beneath his ribs.
He yelped, making a startled, choking sound as he jerked away from me. “Shit! What the hell was that for?” He sat up, rubbing his eyes, then squinted at me, his brows furrowing. “Aurelia?”
“I need your help.” Gods, I hated how pathetic I sounded.
Sudden soberness filled his face, and he was on his feet in a flash. “What is it? Has that bastard king come for you?”
“No, no,” I said quickly, pressing my hands to his chest to keep him from barging out of the room in search of Tyrone. As much as I would love to see Fenn slice Tyrone to bits, it was nowhere near as important as what Gigi had told me. I quickly filled him in on the details of my dream.
Fenn’s frown deepened with each word. I watched for his reaction, holding my breath. I expected him to tell me it was only a dream, that my fear for my family had simply manifested itself into a nightmare.
But he didn’t. He remained silent for a long time, his eyes calculating. After a long moment, he murmured, “It’s the Dream Mage.”
My pulse quickened as he confirmed my suspicions. “You remember what the witch sage said?” I asked, recalling Samiria’s words. “ This particular spell bears resemblance to the magic of the Dream Mage. ”
That had to be who Gigi had been referring to. The one she was so afraid of.
“The Dream Mage is powerful,” Fenn said. “I haven’t met her, but I know her name is Rosalina. She’s the former queen of the Court of Twilight.”
My eyes widened. “You mentioned that a friend of yours in the royal family can tell you where the Dream Mage is.”
“Yes. But Aurelia, we have to be careful. The Dream Mage collects her subjects when they are asleep. If she’s found a way to get to you, then you’re only safe when you’re awake.”
I swallowed hard. “I—I need something from you, Fenn.”
“Anything,” he said at once.
His immediate response startled me, and for a moment, I gazed at him in surprise. His expression was filled with determination, his normally playful green eyes appearing more olive in the darkened room. He watched me with such solemness, such concern, that he seemed almost unrecognizable.
But in this moment, I realized this was the true Fenn. The one he only revealed behind closed doors. Not the flippant, coy, roguish prince he let everyone believe him to be. Somehow, over the course of our journey, he’d shown me his true nature. It was shocking but also… beautiful. This earnest side of Fenn was kind and loyal and willing to do anything for me.
The thought made my heart twist so painfully in my chest that I forced my mind away from this revelation. I could dwell on that later. But for now…
I looked him straight in the eye and said, “I need you to cast a rune on me. It’s time to see what this witch mark on my back truly means.”