Chapter 19 #2
“Hey,” I say, moving from behind the counter to meet him. “Are you okay?”
“Rough night,” he admits, twining his fingers with mine. “Whistler and I found evidence of at least three different mares probing the barriers.”
“You mean looking for a place they can break through?”
“Exactly.”
“Is that normal?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Mares are always trying to break through to this realm. But in this area, we typically run across one, maybe two, each week. Three in one night is disturbing.”
“Why?”
“It means word is spreading in the Nightmare Realm. About you, about your growing abilities. Adric’s forces are getting bolder.
” He meets my eyes. “He wants to claim his Bride. And he knows that he could lose that chance if you keep growing stronger and more skilled. If he can’t snatch you in your dreams, he’s not above commanding a mare to grab you one night and take you to him. ”
“They only attack at night?”
“For the most part. This realm’s sun weakens them. Plus, most can’t pass for human. They draw too much attention during the day.”
“Oh.” I hug myself. Two weeks ago, my biggest worry was keeping up my grades. Now I’m the focus of an interdimensional conflict.
“Is it safe for me to continue training?” I ask. “If it’s attracting more attention…”
“The training is what will keep you safe,” Chase says firmly. “The better prepared you are, the better your chances of surviving what’s coming. But until you’re more skilled, Whistler or I will be walking with you or shadowing you.” He takes my hand. “I’m not taking any chances with you.”
I squeeze back, feeling more than a little melty. Then the full truth of what he’s saying hits me, and I frown. “But Adric won’t hurt me, right? He needs me. Which means his mares won’t hurt me either.”
He meets my eyes. “Adric would never kill a potential Bride. But capture you? Play mind tricks on you? Use every devious power at his disposal to force you into agreeing to marry him? To sleep with him? Cora…”
He trails off. “He wants you,” he whispers a moment later. “And he means to have you. I’m sure he’d prefer you unbattered, but if he has to have Kali or another minion take you by force, he will. All that matters to him is getting free from that castle. And for that, he needs his Bride in his bed.”
“Oh.” A chill slides through me, chased by heat I don’t want to name. Because part of me still remembers how Adric spoke to me in that dream—soft as a promise and sharp as a warning.
How many times have I seen the silver-eyed king in my dreams?
How many nights have I felt the strange pull of attraction mixed with terror?
The thought of facing him in person is terrifying, yes.
But it’s also enticing in a way that makes my stomach clench.
And that’s a reaction I’m really, really, not going to share with Chase.
“When?” I ask, looking at the floor. “How much longer before he sends Kali or someone else.”
“I don’t know. But soon if the increase in mares is any indication. Days,” he adds as Mr. Griffin steps into the room. “Maybe a week.”
His words send a chill up my spine. “But that’s almost no time at all.”
“It’s what we’re dealing with.” His voice is low and calm, whereas I want to scream and throw things.
“He knows we’re training you. He’ll want to claim you before you’re strong enough to fight back.
You’re the last Bride, Cora. The other family lines died out long ago.
And with your mother and grandmother gone...
He trails off and I nod. “Tag, I’m it.”
“He loses you, he loses his last chance to break the enchantment that binds him to that castle.”
“Then we move faster.” Mr. Griffin puts a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry, kiddo. But we’re throwing you into the deep end. Actual realm navigation.” He looks at Chase, then back to me. “It’s sink or swim tonight, Cora. Let’s hope you don’t drown.”
I’m giddy when Chase tugs me into the back room for a quick but thorough goodbye kiss before he heads out with Whistler to brainstorm about the increasing mare activity and how to magically shore up breach points.
In the hour he’d been hanging around the store, I’d been practically bouncy. Now, my shift is dragging, my mind spinning with questions and fears. How much danger will I be in? And what happens if I can’t learn fast enough to protect myself when Adric finally makes his move?
A cold wave of guilt settles over me as I recall the night of the Whitehall party. The way I’d slipped into sleep…and then into that tower room glowing in the light of stained glass.
There’d been nothing terrifying about Adric. Nothing except my own heated reaction to him—a man I didn’t trust at all.
But was that because he wasn’t trustworthy? Or simply because Chase told me to be wary?
I truly don’t know.
All I know is the way I’d felt so deliciously warm in his presence. The way I’d felt utterly his. A sensation so like the way I feel around Chase, that it was almost eerie.
I crave both men. There’s no denying that.
But one man has the stamp of danger, and how the hell can I know if he really, truly deserves it?
By the time my shift ends, anxiety has settled in my stomach like a cold stone. Tonight, everything changes. Tonight, I stop being a student learning party tricks and become something else entirely.
I just hope I’m ready for whatever that something turns out to be. And if I meet Adric in the dreamscape, I hope that if I have to, I’ll find the strength to run from him.