87. Chapter 87
CHAPTER 87
D yna pressed her fingers to Cassiel’s pulse and counted each steady beat. He was utterly still. He didn’t dream anymore. When she attempted to dream walk again was nothing there. She told herself it was simply because his mind was resting at last. So she could only pray the life force she had given him had been enough.
She had poured everything into him. Found reservoirs of Essence she didn’t know she had, and she was nearly drained. Dyna leaned back in her chair, blinking tiredly at Cassiel’s enchanted tent. The rush of the falling cascades was all that kept her company as she waited.
It had been two days without change. If he didn’t wake, Dyna didn’t know what she would do.
Something soft brushed against her ankles and she yelped. A blue fox with a gem on its forehead yipped at her.
She smiled tiredly. “Oh, hello, sweet one. What are you doing here?”
Azulo scampered outside. Dyna followed and found Leoake outside by her campfire, sampling the vegetable broth she’d been cooking.
Dyna frowned. “I was wondering when you would return for your key.”
“You were successful, I take it.”
She didn’t answer, well aware of the weight in her pocket.
Leoake returned the ladle to the pot and took a seat on the large trunk of a tree, reclining back as if it were a comfortable chair—or better yet, a throne. He crossed his legs. The light glinted on the gold rings adorning his fingers and pointed ears. “And now you are contemplating ways to keep it.”
“It’s certainly a thing of value to hold the key to Mount Ida’s door. Primarily given that said door opens to the In Between.” Dyna reached into her pocket and pulled out the two broken pieces in her palm. “I know what you plan, Leoake, but I will sooner destroy this key than allow your schemes to be realized.”
He laughed. “Is that so?”
“You were shifty with your words when we made our first deal, and I listened to them carefully when you came to initiate it. Our agreement was that I retrieve the key. You said nothing about returning it to you.”
His golden eyes narrowed. “Clever.”
“I thought you might think so. It’s unlike you to make a mistake.
“Who said it was a mistake?”
Dyna stilled at the smirk playing on his lips.
“As it happens, I no longer have need for the key. For you see, what you traded to save your mate’s life gives me exactly what I need.”
“What do you mean? The Sol Medallion can open the door to the In Between?”
The Druid canted his head, and that same smile slithered across his lips. The smile that told her she was a fool. “I never mentioned a medallion, clever mortal. In your panic, you failed to listen carefully the second time we made a deal.”
She stared at him, her body growing cold.
“You traded your greatest wish, which is indeed a treasure, but not the kind you would think. And not one that would come to be … if your mate had died.”
Her insides twisted with muted horror.
I care nothing for gold and jewels. He had told her that before and fae didn’t lie.
“I was referring to a precious treasure you had a time long ago, in another life.
Dyna’s heart pounded, her chest rising and falling as she fought to breathe. She stumbled back, her vision skewing. “No.”
Leoake tutted, shaking his head at her. “Not so clever after all, are you?”
Dyna looked back at the tent. Cassiel had already lost so much, and she had now taken a part of his future from him before they ever knew what it was. She pressed her shaking fists into her stomach, feeling the urge to vomit.
“No need to fret yet, clever mortal. You won’t give birth to my prize for several more years. Well, given that you survive the island. There is plenty of time before you need to tell your mate you have bargained away his firstborn son.”
Son. Her son .
She had traded her child. Before they ever were ever born.
Dyna stifled a sound that was between a scream and whimper that tore from her gut. She sank to her knees in the wet grass facing the tent, too shocked to do anything but stare at the canvas.
“Why?” she asked shakily. “Why do you want my child?”
“Why do you think your son’s first life ended before he could be born? A half-breed is one thing, but can you image what power the progeny of a sorceress, and a seraph would have? Your son will wield unimaginable power unlike anything this realm has ever beheld before.” Leoake leaned forward as he grinned at her, eyes eely glowing. “Like his mother who can cross into dreams, he will cross into worlds .”
Dyna shook. “You already knew this would happen.”
“Of course. I see everything.” Leoake looked at her and cackled. “You have the same look in your eyes the first time you unintentionally bargained your son’s life away. Sheli was not so clever back then.” With an exaggerated sigh he slumped back as if he were exhausted. “It took very careful planning to ensure every piece fell into place exactly as needed for this moment. Beginning with leading Rawn to Xián Jīng and veiling his memories, to influencing every step you and your Guardians took after that to now. So try to stay alive in the meantime, fair maid. If you or your mate dies, then I’m forced to wait another thousand years to try again.”
Dyna’s fist tightened over the bronze pieces in her hand, and it burned with her wrath.
He did this to her. To them.
All to merely to steal her unborn child.
“Then again…” Leoake tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I do have other progenies out there who will serve me fine if you do. Consider it my contingency plan.”
“You are truly evil, aren’t you?”
A mischievous smile spread across his delicate features as he rose to his feet. “How can you expect me to be anything short of wicked ? If you thought the end of this journey will have a happy ending, well, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
Goosebumps prickled her skin.
Soft fur rubbed against Dyna’s arms and Azulo looking up at her, whining. Conveying something he couldn’t say with words.
The Druid can see all fates but his own.
Dyna opened her fist. The bronze key had reforged itself into one piece again, mended by her broken heart and her rage.
Leoake approached to pick up Azulo, running his fingers through his blue fur. “Sometimes, the strings of fate cannot be unwoven from the web. Yet there are times when all we are left with are choices. When the time comes to relinquish your greatest wish to me, I will remind you again that you chose this.” He turned to go. “Until then.”
Taking a breath, Dyna rose to her feet. “You keep mentioning the way of fate,” she said. “I am continuously told how my life is meant to be, but in this life, I have already decided I alone will shape my fate.”
She spun around and jammed the key into Leoake’s right eye. Screams tore from his mouth, and he flailed back, dropping Azulo.
“You didn’t foresee that coming,” Dyna hissed. She tore out the key, letting it drop to the ground with a dull thud.
The Druid blindly stumbled for the forest, his screams echoing through the trees. His blood glistened on the grass like drops of rubies. Among it lay his golden eye and the bloodied key.
The geas throbbed painfully on her wrist. It bound her throughout the known universe, but she swore then to find a way to break it.
“Tell your master my son is not his to have,” Dyna said, meeting the blue fox’s frightened gaze. “The next time he comes, I will take his other eye.”