Chapter 35 Lore #2
He was silent for a beat that set me further on edge.
“You haven’t left.” He shook his head. “A firework went off near you and you fell on a rock.”
He pointed to where I was sprawled on the ground. I followed the direction his hand indicated. Sure enough, there was a rock.
I reached up, gently pressing the sore spot on my head.
My fingers came away wet with blood.
As if that realization sparked another, my head ached again. I’d forgotten about the splitting pain when Sloth and I had been in the forest.
Speaking of the prince…
I glanced around and was met with the worried faces of our neighbors.
The old woman I was convinced was a fairy godmother from hell and member of the Temple Knights peered at me from her wagon… The festival was exactly as I’d left it.
Sloth was nowhere in sight.
Fear pressed in on me. Did I leave him in Somnia? I had to get back there.
“How long was I gone for?”
Fable’s mouth pressed into a firm line. “We should take you to a healer.”
I gripped my brother’s arms. “How much time has passed?”
My brother sighed. “You’ve been unconscious for a few minutes. Five tops.”
I stared at him. That was impossible. I’d been gone for at least a week or two. Or more. Did time move differently in Somnia?
Fable helped ease me into a sitting position and the crowd that had gathered slowly started to disperse.
I watched them go, but my mind was still spinning with this revelation. Had I been dreaming this whole time?
I glanced at the old woman. “You gave me a stone.”
There was a flicker of something in her gaze, there and gone in an instant. “A worry stone. You looked like you needed it, girl.”
“You’re lying. You told me I had a sacred duty. You told me I needed to go on a quest with my darkest fears to live out my dreams.” I noticed the pin on her cloak. “And that pin. You said it meant you were a friend. I know it symbolizes the Temple Knights. Who are you?”
She gave me a pitying look.
“I don’t know you or anything about a quest.”
She was lying. A dark, seething annoyance rose inside me.
“Come on, Lore.” Fable’s voice was gentle. “Let’s get you up and to old Hattie Jane’s. She’ll get something for your head.”
“I’m not…”
I felt the power of someone’s attention land on me and jerked my gaze up. The prince strode through the marketplace, parting the crowd around him like a river.
I exhaled. I wasn’t crazy.
His hood was tugged low over his brow, his mouth turned into a deep frown as he loomed over me. I went to push myself up, but the splitting headache came back with a vengeance, and I stayed put.
I smiled up at him.
“I’m so happy you’re okay,” I said. “I thought I left you in Somnia.”
His frown deepened.
He flipped the cowl of his cloak back and stared down at me, his expression set into harsh lines.
“You have me confused with someone else.” His voice was low, dangerous. He jerked his chin at the stone I still held clutched in my hand. “I’ll pay whatever you want for the portal stone.”
He reached inside his cloak and tossed a coin purse at me. It hit the ground next to me with a strange finality. So impersonal, so… cold.
I stared at him.
“Don’t you recognize me?” I asked, fully aware that my brother was looking on. I sensed his embarrassment for me. “I’m Lore. You’re Blondie. We’ve—”
“I assure you my name is not Blondie, nor would I tolerate being called something so ridiculous.”
His cool gaze slid to my temple, softening briefly.
“Brain injuries have been known to cause realistic delusions. I saw you right before you fell, and your mind probably created its own explanation for why I look familiar. We’ve never met before this moment, and I am afraid I don’t have time to discuss this further.
” He nodded at the phoenix tear. “If the coin purse is not enough to cover the cost of your inconvenience, I’ll pay you tenfold when I return. Do we have a bargain?”
My fingers closed around the stone possessively.
What he was saying made sense, logically, and with my brother crouched before me, his worry etched onto his features, I was starting to think maybe I had been dreaming.
The alternative was honestly the part that seemed too impossible to be true.
Was I really some reincarnated ancient goddess who’d been punished by the other gods, then forced to become a mere mortal vessel who held the power over dreams and nightmares and had traveled through all my favorite stories and played the leading lady to win a series of Trials designed to test if I had learned from my wicked ways and had overcome the darkness?
All so I could rise like the mythical phoenix and reclaim my birthright and be granted my freedom?
Or was I just a small-town librarian with an overactive imagination who’d sustained a head injury and had dreamed it all up?
My face suddenly burned with embarrassment.
I seriously just called a stranger Blondie to his face and had been convinced we’d been partners on an adventure quest across a nightmare realm.
This was why I would be single for the rest of my days.
I looked at my brother and he gave me a tight nod. He thought I should give the stone to the stranger and take the coins.
“Will you help me up?” I asked.
My brother straightened, but it was the stranger who offered his hand first.
I stared at it for a moment before slipping my hand in his. He gently tugged me to my feet and… his eyes flashed black.
When I blinked, they were pale blue.
My heart thudded. I must still be out of it.
“Thank you,” I said, glancing down at the stone.
It was getting warmer in my palm, almost pulsing like a heartbeat.
An uncomfortable prickle started at the base of my spine and slowly worked its way up.
I let go of the stranger’s hand and the sensation stopped at once.
He was watching me very closely, and something about it unsettled me.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked again, a little more of an edge slipping into his careful tone.
The phoenix tear pulsed again, the beat growing stronger and faster.
Maybe I hit my head, maybe it was all a dream or a delusion, or maybe this was one more test the Liber Noctem was throwing my way.
It was preying on my fear of inadequacy again. Making me doubt the power I held that had nothing to do with magic.
I’d already accepted the fact that logic wasn’t my strong suit. And if I was wrong, at least I wouldn’t be damning the realms by going Dark Lore.
But the more the stone pulsed in warning, the more I thought I understood why. If this was still an elaborate nightmare, if Sloth was possessed by the dark book, then handing him the phoenix tear was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.
Gods only knew what could happen if they were reunited.
And anyway, this couldn’t be the ending to a story I dreamed up.
I scowled up at the prince. Honestly, who would believe this had all been some twisted dream because of a head injury?
The fiction lover in me revolted.
“You’ll have to do better, evil book. I would never have such a contrived ending for my story.”
Sloth’s eyes flickered from black to blue before remaining inky.
“Carpe Noctem.”
He’d spoken in a creepy voice that wasn’t his, and I hoped that meant I’d just passed another test.
One minute I was in Bellington with my brother and the next I was wrapped up in the prince’s arms and we were careening across realms.