Chapter 11
CORIN GASPED AS the terrain surrounding her shifted under Malicine’s magic. Mountains sank below the ground and drifted toward the horizon, dipping lower until it hollowed itself out as a valley. At the same time, the ground they stood on lifted higher, transforming into a hill. Blankets of snow slipped away like grains of sand. Her boots sank into solid surface, a winding pathway slicked with ice and cobblestone.
The shifting landscape ebbed and flowed like the sea, making Corin dizzy. Her knees hit ice as she lost balance. She clasped a hand over her mouth and tried to quell the nausea.
“Ah,” Malicine said. “I forget you’re not used to this.”
Before Corin could retort, a glacier rose like the waves of an ocean. They were already at high elevation from the hill, but the ice expanded even taller, chipping away until it built itself a translucent castle. Stout trees sprung around the footpath, glittering with cyan leaves and ice-coated apples. White gemstones dappled frozen fountains, its hushed waters reflecting colors of pale moonlight.
Malicine approached the double doors and waved them open. Under the flurry of snowflakes, Corin grabbed Elly’s hand for balance as their shoes glided along the ice sleet. Flowers carved underneath the floor. Icicles shaped like water droplets dangled from chandeliers. A spiral staircase cascaded around the end of the room, edging over walls the color of a robin’s egg.
Elly let out a breath of smoke in awe. The corners of Malicine’s lips turned upward an expression that unnerved Corin.
“It’s fine to admit you’re impressed. I’ve always wanted to have my own castle and rule over people.”
“But there’s no one here,” Corin said.
“That’s because I realized I don’t like people.”
Malicine crossed the spiral staircase, motioning for them to follow. At the top floor, a long glass table stretched from one end of the room to the other. In the center sat a snow-encrusted fruit basket, blooming like an icy bouquet. Malicine pulled one of the frozen skewers and snapped the stick in half. The skewer melted, drenching the bowl in water. Vibrant reds and yellows leaked into the fruits and brought them to life. As Malicine reached the end of the table and waved their staff, the entire table’s surface filled with food.
The sudden appearance made Corin jump against the wall. The volume of colors and aromas was so overwhelming that her eyes jerked across each plate, not knowing what to focus on first. Garlic and tomatoes topped over slices of warm bread. Small plates held brie tarts that oozed with raspberry. Bigger dishes sat in the center and displayed billowy circles of pasta drenched in squid ink and cheese.
Saliva threatened to drip from the corners of Corin’s mouth. She licked her lips as discreetly as she could.
“In the dreamworld, eating is a pleasure, not a necessity,” Malicine said, pouring a bottle of wine into their goblet. The scent of black cherries and dark rich earth filled the air. “Whatever your stomachs desire, it is yours.”
“How do we know you’re not trying to poison us?” Corin hissed.
They rolled their eyes. “Of all the ways I’ve thought to kill you, it never crossed my mind to waste food. Indulge yourself already. You look like a bunch of ragged children in the state you’re in.”
Elly reached for a plate of roasted squash and lentils until Corin smacked her hand. She knew better than to take food from strangers, especially ones that had almost killed them earlier. But a deep grumble came from Elly’s stomach, and that was the sound that Corin hated most: her sister going hungry.
“I’ll taste first,” Corin said. “If something goes wrong, run.”
She glanced at a plate of bell peppers. They were as orange as the sunset, sliced open and stuffed with mushrooms. Too many colors, too many ingredients, too many chances to die in vain for a luxury that was never theirs to begin with. She stabbed one of the mushrooms with a fork and bit into the buttered caps. Flavors burst on her tongue, each grain of spice dancing on her lips. Creams melted down her throat, and a small fire lit the inside of her stomach, warm and comforting.
Elly and Malicine watched every movement of her jaw, every swallow that bobbed her throat, until eventually, Corin had to admit defeat.
“It’s good,” she muttered, staring down at the plate. “It’s really good.”
“Better than anything you’ve ever eaten?” Smugness tinged Malicine’s voice as Elly dove in to join the feast, slicing a layer of chocolate cake.
Corin remained silent. It was true that they had never eaten anything as extravagant as this. But she was not some hopeless peasant who had never enjoyed a warm meal. Her eyes gazed over the ornate table as she remembered a smaller one, years ago, built from a fallen tree trunk. Mismatched plates stacked atop as their friends bundled together in the winter, small candles and patchwork blankets keeping them warm.
Those nights had become a winter tradition, where everyone brought their own ingredients for the communal stew. Corin had looted turnips and carrots from farms. Harlow had traded favors with the butcher, bringing steak and chicken. There was Rowan, a weaver who grew his own mushrooms, and Maggie, the older seamstress with careful fingers, yelling at everyone to leave her kitchen because she didn’t trust them to chop the vegetables.
The tables were cluttered and the people were noisy, but for a time, they were the only reason why winters were bearable. After Corin left the commune, she never replicated those meals again. She wasn’t someone who could offer that kind of warmth to another person. Even Elly learned that eventually.
Malicine interrupted her rumination with a low hum. “So what you’ve said about Gyldan is true,” they said. “It must be, from the way you eat like you’ve never eaten before.”
The demon had watched them with a vigilant stare, as if Corin and Elly were specimens being studied. Then their gaze dropped to their empty goblet. Shadows passed behind their eyes, hazy memories from a time Corin could not discern.
“Tell me,” Malicine continued, “how long has it been since the princess fell asleep?”
“A hundred years,” Elly answered.
Malicine made a wry smile that didn’t reach their eyes. “It feels like I came here only yesterday.”
“What do you mean?”
“Time doesn’t exist in dreams. Sometimes it feels like a few hours have passed, sometimes it feels like centuries. Even now, another hundred years might have passed in the real world since you’ve left.”
Corin and Elly exchanged confused glances. They had only jumped through the portal this morning. Or had it been evening? When Corin found Elly in the snow, had Elly been waiting for her, or was it the other way around? Corin lowered her head in her hands and strained to remember the time, but it hung like a broken string, one that she didn’t remember snapping apart in the first place.
“Don’t bother trying to count back. You’ll only give yourself a headache,” Malicine said. “Now, how did someone like you enter the princess’s dreams?”
Corin squeezed her eyes shut and returned to the beginning, recalling winding tunnels, stagnant air, and rotting soil. She remembered screaming, but what had she seen? The memories were too much of a blur. Elly answered for her.
“I was traveling through the tunnels below Gyldan. There were bodies. Too many bodies left behind.”
Yes, that was it. Elly had been the first to make it to the buried castle. Then Corin followed her, barely escaping from . . .
“There were three women,” Corin recalled. “They looked human, but they possessed magic. They were talking about opening a portal, and—”
Malicine slammed their palm on the table. Plates rattled from the sudden movement, a crack shooting along the table’s iced surface like a long vein.
“You talked to three faeries?” Their tone was sharp, accusatory. “What were their names?”
“I didn’t interact with them, only heard them talking to each other. There was a man with them. They called him Ezran—”
Malicine stamped the end of their staff to the ground. The table shattered as platters of food melted away. Cold water struck Corin’s skin, forcing her to jump from her seat. The windows burst wide open and let in a blast of wind.
“Where did they open the portal?” Malicine demanded.
“All I remember was a hole filled with light. The portal closed after I crossed—”
“Where?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Corin snapped. “You changed the terrain.”
Malicine crossed over to the balcony that overlooked snow-covered valleys. A blizzard rolled across the white land, rumbling beneath their anger. Black wings sprouted from their back as they leapt over the ledge and soared through the air. Their raven followed like a shadow. Snow dispersed from their path, and the blizzard masked their silhouettes, so that they were hidden from the rest of the world.
Corin rushed over to the windows and shut the doors. She spun around to Elly. “I have no idea what is happening, but we need to get out of here.”
Elly approached the glass pane. She didn’t turn away, even as ice pellets struck the window. “It’s just like the story said,” she murmured. “The demon who cursed the princess. The prince searching for his true love to wake her up. It’s still happening, Corin.”
“And it’s none of our business. We need to get back to Gyldan before we’re trapped here.”
She snatched Elly’s wrist and dragged her to the staircase. If they escaped while Malicine was distracted, they could hide until it was safe to return through the portal. She didn’t know how they would find it, but if Elly was by her side, at least they would be together.
“I want to stay,” Elly protested.
“I don’t care. We’re leaving.”
Elly wrenched her hand out of Corin’s grip. Their shoes slicked against the ice floor, nearly making them both fall. Corin grabbed the handrail of the staircase. The touch sent a freezing shock to her bones. The room turned unbearably cold, the warmth of her sister’s hand fading away.
“I’m not going back,” Elly said.
“This place isn’t real, El! It’s some girl’s imagination fueled by demon magic!”
Corin gestured to the flowers carved underneath the ice, the white gemstones across the banister that glistened like teardrops, the cyan leaves and dewy fruits that promised a false life they could never have.
“If something’s too good to be true, it isn’t. It just means something worse is around the corner, waiting to catch us off guard.”
Elly stared for a long moment. Her eyes, once the color of summer soil, darkened to coal. “Why do you always do this?”
“Do what?” Corin snapped.
“Anytime something good happens, you find the bad in it.”
“I’m being realistic, El. It’s the only reason we’ve survived this long.”
That was the difference between Elly and her. Elly believed the best in things, while Corin saw the darkness for what it was. She had to be the one to reel them back to reality, because fairy tales were only frivolous stories for desperate people, looking to escape from the dreariness of their own lives.
Corin wouldn’t be taken for a fool like the rest of them.
“No,” Elly murmured. “You ruin things before they can be good.”
The words cut into Corin like a knife. There it was, the open wound she tried to bury. The knot in her stomach she could never untangle. It wasn’t the hazy vision of Elly’s shrinking figure as she ran away, the bristles of black hair disappearing into the dead of night. It was the moment before her back turned, before her shoes pounded against the pavement, the receding footsteps of a child hurt by the only family she had.
Gray skies. Broken clay. Words Corin screamed that she could never take back. Elly’s look of betrayal in the silence that followed.
The things that happened before Elly said I hate you.
Ice cracked beneath Corin’s feet, an ugly vein beating below the surface. She imagined the floor shattering, her body drowning. She wanted cold water to fill her lungs until she blacked out. Elly’s figure blurred in her vision, shrinking into darkness as Corin sank below ground. Their fingers interlaced as Elly reached out. Her mouth opened in the shape of Corin’s name, but ice muffled the sound. Her sister’s lips turned blue, her face a hazy blur from beneath the water.
Corin released Elly’s hand and let the tide take her.
Darkness shrouded the corners of her vision like a fog. The stench of rotting flesh returned, dust and debris stinging her eyes. She drowned in memories of endless tunnels that brought her back to the familiar path of dead friends and disappointed sisters. The same dead end that came from her trying and failing anyway.
Then hands reached in the murky water and tugged her by the collar. A shadow morphed into her memory of Ezran, threatening her in the castle. His silver eyes filled with rage and power. The first, Corin always had. The second, she never could.
“You took my place in her dreams,” he snarled, “and you’re not even worthy of it.”
Water distorted his voice, muffling the threat in her ears. “You’re not real,” she whispered. “Why do I see you?”
“Because you and I want the same thing.”
Bubbles spewed from her mouth as the mirage gave her a hard shove. The ghosts of his fingers contorted like shadows in the shifting currents. Darkness curled in her chest, a distorted shape that remained even as his figure scattered into ripples. In the murky recesses of her mind, she recalled the words she’d overheard in the castle, how it had stoked the flames of a prince and, inadvertently, ignited something in a thief.
A gust of air filled her lungs as someone’s arms pulled Corin from drowning. Malicine struck her hard in the face with their palm. She fell on top of the ice and choked until water spewed from her lips. Her lungs burned, caught between drowning and sudden air. She hadn’t realized she was underwater, couldn’t even tell she was sinking. But the ice returned to a smooth surface, its cracks gone, as if she was never engulfed at all.
“Stop trying to kill yourself,” Malicine snapped. “You’re going to ruin my floors.”
Elly called her name again, her frantic voice clear as crystals this time. “What happened just now?”
Corin looked down at her drenched clothes. “I—I don’t know.”
Malicine sighed, as if tired of explaining rudimentary concepts. “I told you already. This is the dreamworld, where your subconscious desires come to life. You’re a part of her dreams now. But those faeries and the prince you saw? They almost became part of it too. I can’t let that happen.”
The demon looked at the snowfall outside. The blizzard had calmed, but tension still radiated as they placed a palm on the frosted glass.
“If they come here—if anyone comes here—the dreamscape will collapse. The princess is not supposed to confront reality. It will destroy her, and everything else in this world.”
The memory of Ezran rushed back to Corin. The fire in his silver eyes, the blade of his sword at her throat. How his determination to save the princess broiled even after all these years, never ebbing. Corin instinctively reached for her necklace, the pendant cold against her wet clothes. She understood what it was like to make a promise as well.
“What if I made a bargain with Ezran?” she asked, plans unfurling in her mind.
Malicine raised an eyebrow. “What sort of bargain?”
“He nearly killed me to protect the princess. But he mentioned a promise to protect something else. Her treasure,” Corin said. “That’s what matters most to him. If you send us back to Gyldan with that treasure, I’ll offer to trade it in exchange for him leaving you alone. Hell, I’ll even tell him there was nobody else here. He won’t have any reason to cross over your world.”
Corin steadied herself as she met Malicine’s suspicious gaze. Her clothes were already drying, the fabric rough against her chest, the necklace listening to the quick beat of her heart.
“I don’t know what treasure he’s talking about.” Malicine paused. “But she might know.”
Corin exhaled slowly to mask her relief. She didn’t know if her offer would work. It seemed likelier that Malicine trapped the princess in her own dreams so that they could claim the same treasure the prince sought. But the demon didn’t have any idea what it might be, nor did they show interest in it.
How could that be? The mystery of the treasure intrigued Corin even more once Ezran confirmed the rumors were true. She had heard tales of Gyldan once being rich with gold. How an ancient faerie blessed the royal family and they became the only people gilded with fortune, propelling them into ruling over a prosperous land They had gained power, and that, ultimately, was the key to survival.
If she had that kind of wealth in her hands, she could change everything. She would wake up with a roof over her head, rolling over a soft mattress so big that Elly would have her own side. She would never need to rely on the company of loved ones for warm meals. She would move far away from Gyldan and leave behind the bad memories and dead friends she’d rather forget.
“I thought I was going to kill you to make things easier, but you’ve surprisingly made yourself useful,” Malicine said. “I’ll take you to the princess and see what she thinks.”
Corin bit her bottom lip to strain a smile. The gears of her new plan clicked together, and she finally knew a way to escape from the tunnels, the darkness she had spent so long wandering. There was a light at the end, after all, and it glinted like gold.
Malicine beckoned their raven while descending the staircase. Corin trailed behind, then stopped at the handrail when she realized Elly hadn’t moved. Her sister’s brows remained furrowed, a darkened expression on her face.
“You don’t plan on giving the treasure back,” she said. “You’re going to keep it for yourself and let Ezran destroy this world.”
Corin shrugged. “Not necessarily. If the treasure turns out to be an artifact or some royal heirloom, I’ll sell it.”
Elly’s lips pressed tight. She dipped her chin to her chest, staring at her shoes. The floor reflected the icicles that dangled from the chandelier like teardrops.
“Harlow was right about you.”
Corin bit her tongue to refrain from cursing at her sister. A faint taste of blood lingered in her mouth. When her lips parted, a breath of smoke came out, a tremble of air before it disappeared.
“Harlow’s dead.” Her voice was flat, hard. “Maybe if she had been selfish, she would’ve survived like we did.”
A prickly silence hung between the sisters as they joined Malicine outside the castle. Corin didn’t want to deal with Elly’s moodiness, so they ignored each other while crossing frosted fountains and ice-coated trees. Elly ventured far enough to reach the end of the frozen lake, where the ice had pieced itself back together. Corin wished it was as easy for her to put things back in place. To no longer see the cracks of something after it broke.
She turned to Malicine, who kept an eye on Elly without saying anything. Whatever they thought of Elly or the tension between the sisters, they did not speak it out loud.
“There’s something else I want to know,” Corin said, breaking the silence. “If the dreamworld is supposed to collapse when people enter it, how are we still here?”
Malicine turned to her and broke into a grim smile.
“Because you and your sister are living a lie. And what are dreams, if nothing more than lies?”