Chapter 55
I had never met the Dream Mage before—I only knew Rosalina from how Marek had described her.
But it seemed Aurelia did know her.
It also seemed she had gotten her witch memories back.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. On the one hand, I was grateful she knew more about her past and her abilities. But on the other hand, did this mean she was a different person? Did her past memories, her past life, affect her future? Would she rejoin the witches of the Star Court?
The entire time she was conversing with Rosalina, I was digging into my well of power, trying to summon any bit of fae magic I could manage. But Rosalina seemed to be telling the truth; I could not access my powers in this realm.
Which meant we were powerless.
“Fenn and the dragon have nothing to do with this,” Aurelia was saying. Her voice was firm, her posture rigid as if preparing for battle. I could detect the hint of a tremor in her voice that betrayed her fear, but only because I knew her so well. “Please let them leave, and then you can keep me here as your prisoner.”
I stepped forward, grabbing her arm. “Aurelia, no.”
“You are my prisoner either way,” Rosalina said, eyes narrowing. “I will not relinquish the leverage I have to keep you in line. Should you make a move against me, I can use these delightful pets of yours to coerce you into behaving.” She smiled at Mal, then stroked her hand along his snout. Mal shuddered, burying his face deeper beneath his wing.
“ Don’t touch him !” Aurelia roared, surging forward. Before she could reach Rosalina, the Dream Mage flexed her hand toward Mal, who stiffened, wings going rigid as he began marching back and forth across the clearing.
Aurelia froze, and Rosalina’s expression turned smug.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll have him claw out his other eye,” Rosalina said.
Aurelia’s shoulders shook, her hands curling into tight fists. “You monster,” she hissed.
Rosalina’s smile only grew. “I do what I must to protect myself.”
Strange whispers filled the air, brushing against my ears. I frowned, glancing around, wondering where the sound was coming from. The words were unintelligible to me, as if they were a foreign language.
“What are you doing?” I asked Rosalina sharply.
She cocked her head at me, her brows knitting together. “I’m doing nothing to you , prince. Although I could, if you want me to.” Her voice turned sultry.
The whispers grew more intense, swelling around me, hissing with intensity. The hair on my arms stood on end. “I—I hear something. Don’t you hear that?”
Aurelia and Rosalina were silent. But the whispers had increased in volume, now forming a low murmur. It was chanting, not unlike the chanting of the ogres when they had tried to sacrifice Aurelia.
Rosalina’s eyes widened. “You are tethered to an anchor.”
I stilled, remaining completely silent, watching as comprehension spread across her features.
“Ah, it all makes sense now.” Rosalina sighed, dropping her arm. Mal stopped his marching and immediately covered his head once more, his body trembling. “That’s why you seemed so unaffected by my dreamscape.” She shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Dear Aurora, it seems you’ll be getting your wish after all. The strength of the prince’s anchor is fading.”
My blood ran cold. Only then did I notice that the murmurs surrounding me sounded like Sapphire’s voice. She was chanting, trying to keep up the spell that linked us together.
But the spell was failing. I was out of time .
“No. No !” I drew closer to Aurelia, taking her wrist and lacing my fingers with hers. “Aurelia, you can come with me. Please.”
Sudden pain took hold of me, making me crumple. My back arched, my legs failing me as I sank to the ground. Fire erupted in my blood, coursing through me with swift agony. My scream was lost in the chaotic torment that had taken over my body.
Distantly, I registered Aurelia’s shouts and Rosalina’s sharp demands.
Then, just as suddenly, the pain left me wheezing on the ground, my body aching. Gasping for breath, I staggered to my feet, every ounce of my body throbbing from the lingering pain.
“I swear it,” Aurelia was saying, her voice tainted with tears. “I swear if you leave him be—and my dragon—that I will remain here.”
“Aurelia,” I groaned, struggling to rise. “Don’t… do this…”
She crouched beside me, her warm hands against my cheeks. “You have to go without me. Your kingdom needs you, Fenn.” Her soft lips brushed against mine. “It’s already done. She wants me. I’m trapped here, but I’m not condemning you and Mal to the same fate.” As my vision cleared, I made out her red-rimmed eyes and pink nose, the tears glistening in those beautiful blue eyes. She blinked rapidly, and more tears spilled down her face.
I tried to pull her toward me, to hold her tightly, but Rosalina barked, “Step away from him, Aurora. Now.”
Aurelia’s breath shuddered as she straightened, stepping obediently toward Rosalina. The back of her dress had slid to one side, revealing the top of the rune etched into her shoulder blade.
I froze, staring at the marking on her skin.
Witch runes. Of course!
If Aurelia’s magic was strong enough to cross realms, then surely it was strong enough to overpower the magic warding this place. The very magic that kept her from accessing her powers.
All she needed was the right rune to unlock it.
“Let me say goodbye,” I said quickly. “Please.”
Rosalina’s expression was stony as she looked at me, not a flicker of sympathy on her face.
“I will go!” I promised. “I’ll leave without a fight. Just please let me say goodbye to her one last time. ”
After a long moment, Rosalina offered a stiff nod.
Aurelia slowly turned to face me. Her lower lip quivered, and she took a shuddering breath.
I closed the distance between us, cupping her face in my hands. I pressed a firm kiss to her lips, telling myself it would not be our last.
She could do this, I knew she could.
In a soft whisper, I said, “Remember where your power comes from. Remember the first time it ignited.”
Her brows pinched slightly in confusion. I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her and holding the back of her head with one hand. My voice was barely more than a breath as I said in her ear, “The rune you used when Shay died. Remember it.”
Her body went tense in my grasp, but I stroked her hair, shushing her as if trying to soothe her cries. I pressed a kiss to her cheek and withdrew, leveling a significant look at her. Her eyes were wide with realization, and she nodded once.
Around me, Sapphire’s voice rose in volume until it drowned out all other sounds. A fierce wind whipped around me, tousling my hair and sending leaves and dirt flying. I shielded my eyes against the onslaught, shouting for Aurelia.
I hadn’t told her I loved her.
I hadn’t promised to see her again
Gods, it was too soon. Too soon.
“No!” I roared.
Then, the wind dissipated, and I found myself standing in the bedchamber with the spinning wheel. Across from me, Sapphire was gasping for breath, one arm braced on the stone wall as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. Her face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and her face was pale.
“Stars, no,” I whispered, rushing over to the spinning wheel.
“Do not touch it,” Sapphire growled. Her voice was hoarse, but it still rang with authority. “If you go back there, I cannot stay linked to you. I have already spent my energy. It is too late, boy.”
I shook my head, whirling to face her. “She can’t use her magic there. The Dream Mage won’t let her go.”
Sapphire shook her head, her eyes closing. “Then there is nothing more we can do for her. ”
“I have to go back and fight with her!”
“And what will you do, that she cannot do herself?” Sapphire snapped. “Use your brain, foolish boy. If she is powerless, then so are you, and you are a liability that the Dream Mage can use against her.”
Dread sank in my chest, dragging me down. “So, my going to the Dream Realm did nothing.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. You awakened her from the dreamscape, did you not?”
I frowned. “The dreamscape?”
“Yes. Everyone who travels to the Dream Realm is trapped within a dreamscape of her making. It makes them believe they are only dreaming.”
I thought of Aurelia in the tea room, her confusion upon first seeing me. “Yes,” I said slowly. “I awakened her. But it did nothing. It only made her aware of her imprisonment. She still can’t be freed.”
Sapphire was nodding. “That is the first step, boy. You must trust that she can deliver herself from her predicament. Somehow.” But even her own words sounded feeble, as if she didn’t quite believe it.
I swallowed thickly before sinking to the chair next to the spinning wheel, sudden exhaustion clouding my head. In my mind, I saw Aurelia’s broken expression. I saw my mother’s face, eyes wide and empty as the life left her. As my sword punctured her chest.
Gods, it was all too much. Agony twisted through me, sharp and merciless. I scrubbed a hand down my face and glanced around the room, searching for a distraction. Aurelia’s sleeping form still rested on the bed. She seemed even paler than before.
“Mal? The dragon?” I asked Sapphire.
“He is still in the hall,” she assured me. “He returned when you did. When I cast the tethering spell, he couldn’t fit in the doorway. So I got a vial of his blood instead, and was able to tether him that way. When you both went to the Dream Realm, it was as if you two had merely fallen asleep. No one would have noticed.”
I laughed. “Except for the massive sleeping dragon in the hallway.”
Sapphire’s lips twitched, and I almost died of shock at the sight .
A thunderous knocking rattled the door. I jumped to my feet, heart pounding as I raced to open it.
It was Gorrick, and he was out of breath, his face taut with panic. “Forgive me for the interruption, Your Highness, but we just received word of movement of the Autumn Court’s army.”
My spine straightened as dread pooled in my stomach. “Are they coming here?”
He shook his head. “No, sire. They are invading the Summer Court. The Autumn King has just declared war.”