Chapter 6
Cyra
“Cyra, what’s wrong?” Bressen asked as Hettie closed the door to the cell behind us, cutting off Glenora. “Do you know that song?”
For a moment I couldn’t answer. That song had always brought me comfort, but to hear it from Glenora’s lips made me cold inside.
“My mother used to sing it to us when I was little,” I said quietly, “then Jaylan sang it to me and Brix after she died.”
Bressen’s face softened, and he pulled me into his arms. I still felt his anger at what I’d done, but he set it aside as he laid his head on mine.
“Is it a common song?” he asked. “Would she have heard it somewhere?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I’ve only ever heard my mother and Jaylan sing it, but Fernweh was just a small town. I have no idea if it was well-known elsewhere.”
I pulled back away from him again and willed myself not to cry. I couldn’t let Glenora ruin that memory for me.
“Cyra,” Bressen said sternly as I looked up at him. “You shouldn’t-”
“You played your part perfectly,” I said before he could scold me.
He frowned at me before understanding dawned on him a moment later. “You baited me on purpose,” he said.
“I’m sorry. I had to,” I said. “I realized that, more than her child in the Triumvirate, Glenora wanted to sow discord between you and me. She tipped her hand when she tried to upset you by telling you about me and Samhail. You saw how disappointed she was when you didn’t react.
I figured I could use that, that she’d be more likely to make a deal with me if she thought it would make you angry and drive a wedge between us.
But for it to work, she needed to believe you were furious. ”
“It was a good plan,” he admitted, “but the fact remains that neither you nor I have the power to grant Glenora’s request.”
“I never had any intention of granting it,” I said. “The woman drugged me, tried to kill you, and threatened to kill my family. I feel no obligation to honor any promises I made to her.”
Bressen stared at me. “You lied to her?”
I shrugged. “Maybe Glenora is right, and a pretty lie is sometimes kinder. We got some information, and she gets to believe her child will one day help rule Thasia.”
I couldn’t tell if the look on Bressen’s face meant he was impressed or horrified. He opened his mouth to speak, but something snagged his attention behind me, and I turned to see what he was looking at.
A middle-aged looking man with blue hair walked toward us. He had a neatly trimmed beard and mustache – also blue – and he was around my height. He wore a long tunic over his pants that came down almost to his knees, but it was a much more subdued shade of dark blue than Hettie’s bright arrayment.
“My lord, I heard you were here,” the man said brightly as he walked purposely down the hall toward us.
Behind him, the wall writhed with demoni as they rolled behind him in his wake, their red eyes flickering in and out.
“Have you come to show off our most infamous prisoner to…your lady friend?” the man guessed as he looked me up and down. He smiled, apparently liking what he saw.
“Effram, this is Lady Cyra of Hiraeth. My wife,” Bressen said, and I heard the possessiveness return to his voice. “Cyra, this is Effram. He’s one of our dream walkers.”
My gaze snapped to Effram, suddenly more interested in him. He too was more interested in me after hearing Bressen introduce me as his wife.
“You’re a dream walker,” I said to him.
“I am,” he said. “And you are…let me guess.”
Effram let his eyes travel up and down me again, and I raised a brow at him. Had he really not heard what I was by now?
Effram doesn’t leave Revenmyer much, Bressen said into my head, and I jumped, having forgotten he had his power back now that we were outside Glenora’s cell.
“Fire elemental,” Effram guessed, stroking his beard contemplatively.
I held out a hand, palm up, and let a flame burst to life in it.
“It looks like you’re right,” I said.
I closed my palm to snuff out the flame, then reached for one of the torches on the wall. As soon as I touched the handle, it turned to flower petals that fluttered to the floor. The flame of the torch itself remained burning in mid-air, fueled by my magic.
There was a rustle like autumn leaves in the wind as the demoni stirred within the walls. They surfaced like sea creatures above water before they sunk back into the stone.
I ported behind Effram and saw him start in surprise as I disappeared before his eyes. He swung around as I tapped his shoulder, and his mouth hung open in shock.
“Or maybe you’re not right,” I said.
“How…,” Effram started to ask, but Bressen satisfied his curiosity.
“You really should get out of Revenmyer more, Effram,” Bressen said. “If you did, you’d know my wife is a syphon.”
Effram’s jaw fell open even farther. “A syphon,” he breathed as his eyes ran up and down me yet again.
“Her mother was a dream walker like you,” Bressen added.
Effram continued to stare, and his scrutiny began to unnerve me.
“Effram,” Bressen said, bringing the man’s attention back to him.
“My lord,” the man said, tearing his eyes from me.
“Have you been in Lady Glenora’s dreams lately?” Bressen asked.
“No, my lord. I thought we were leaving the lady alone while she’s with child.”
“Yes, but I’d like you to go into them from now on as often as you dare. That should be a relatively safe way to get into her mind without disturbing her or the child.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“I’ll be by every couple days to check in with you and see if you’ve discovered anything,” Bressen said. “Don’t influence her dreams. Just observe and report back to me.”
“Yes, my lord.” Effram gave a small bow.
“You can influence dreams,” I said to Effram, catching Bressen’s suggestion. Axenus had told me I could likely do so myself, but we had yet to try practicing it.
Effram turned his attention back to me. “Of course, my lady.”
“How do you do it?” I asked. “I’m still learning my powers, and I haven’t done much with that one yet.”
Effram shrugged. “It’s simple enough,” he said.
“When you’re inside someone else’s dream, you’re in control.
You can simply watch, or you can make them experience whatever you will.
It works the same way your mind magic does when you’re trying to compel someone.
” He glanced at Bressen. “I assume you have the lord’s mind magic if you’re a syphon? ”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
Effram smiled. “Of course you would.” He paused. “Has Lord Bressen given you a tour of the prison?”
“Cyra, we should get going,” Bressen said, and I heard an edge of urgency in his voice. He wanted to get me away from Effram.
“Leaving so soon?” Effram asked, disappointed.
“We were just here to see Glenora,” Bressen said, his voice hardening.
“How was your visit?” Effram asked, his attention still fixed on me.
Bressen stepped closer to me, but if he was trying to get Effram’s attention, it didn’t work. The man’s eyes didn’t move from my face.
“She seems to have gone a bit mad since I last saw her,” I said.
Effram’s head lolled to the side as a wide, slightly unnerving grin spread across his face. “My lady,” he said, “we all go a little mad in here.”
I didn’t doubt that as I looked at him.
Bressen cleared his throat, and Effram finally looked at him.
“My lord, have you shown her some of our other prisoners?” the dream walker asked, and I blinked at the delight in his voice. Revenmyer seemed less a prison to him and more a menagerie of inmates he could show off.
“We don’t have time for that now,” Bressen said. “We need to get back to Solandis.”
I didn’t understand the urgency in Bressen’s tone until the reason he wanted to leave hit me a second later.
I turned to him. “Clarice is here.”
His shoulders dropped as I realized what he’d been hoping I wouldn’t.
“Yes,” he said, “but we don’t have time to see her.”
“Of course we do,” I said. “There’s nothing pressing we need to do back home.”
“I assure you, I have plenty of pressing matters,” he said, “and you have lots to do at the vineyard.”
I paused. There was in fact quite a bit I needed to do at the vineyard, but we were here, and I wasn’t going to pass up this chance to see Clarice.
I turned to Effram. “Please lead the way to Clarice’s cell,” I told him.
He grinned. “A very good choice-,” Effram started to say, but Bressen cut him off.
“Cyra, no. We’re leaving,” he said. His eyes flashed red as he glared at Effram who, for his own part, seemed oblivious.
“This way, my lady,” Effram said as he strode past us down the hall the way he’d been going.
Bressen growled behind me as I followed Effram.
“I told you to melt his mind when you had the chance, my lord,” Hettie said to Bressen as I passed. “He thinks he’s immune to your will.”
“Not now, Hettie,” Bressen admonished as he caught up to me. His hand wrapped firmly around my upper arm as we walked.
One minute and then we’re leaving, he said into my mind. Promise me you won’t do anything. I will stop you if I have to, so please don’t make me.
It was a warning that he’d break into my mind as he had in Fernweh if he felt he needed to.
He’d lose his power when he entered Clarice’s cell, but he had only to step outside again to get it back, and he could definitely stop me.
I’d been practicing my mind powers with him every chance we got, but I had yet to put up a shield he couldn’t get past.
I nodded. I won’t do anything to her. I promise. I just need to see her.
Bressen let out a deep breath.
Effram came to the stairwell at the other end of the hall and began to descend while we followed. The walls continued to ripple with demoni as we went, although the creatures seemed to have settled somewhat.
“I haven’t seen the demoni quite this active in a while,” Bressen said softly. “They do seem fascinated with you.”
I wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered or disturbed by that.
I lost count of how many flights of stairs we descended, and I was beginning to get dizzy when Effram finally exited into a hallway. He stopped at the first door on the right and pulled a pair of keys from his pocket to open it.