Chapter 14
I wake up to the lasting image of icicles dripping steadily onto cracked earth and the feeling of impending doom. By sheer luck, I manage to untangle myself from the sheets and slip out of bed without waking either Tiernan or Taig.
Except … Tiernan is nowhere to be seen. The first rays of sunlight creep through the small space between the burgundy drapes over the windows.
Shivers rack my sweat-slicked body, cold chattering my teeth as though I’m standing out in the snow in my nightgown.
I close my eyes and summon shielding runes around the bed to keep Taig from falling out before heading to the bathing chamber.
It takes ages in the tub of hot water before my body finally feels warm again, and my racing heart slows down.
When I return to the bedroom, a towel wrapped around my body, Tiernan is there, sitting on the armchair beside the bed.
The quick sweep of his gaze over my form is not lost on me, but concern dominates his expression as he gets to his feet. “That dream again?” he signs.
I nod. This particular one has been bothering me since my arrival at the Verge.
I want to reciprocate his question and ask whether he’s had his recurring dream.
He doesn’t think I’ve noticed, but he’s barely gotten any sleep lately.
Several times a week, he’s startled out of his slumber, which then wakes me when the bed jostles.
He averts his eyes while I change into a comfortable dress with three-quarter sleeves that leave my branding scar visible. For a moment, I consider swapping the dress for one with longer sleeves like I always do, or throwing a sweater over it.
I know it’s a part of me; I know I should consider it a reminder of having escaped Paramount, but the sight of it always triggers a sinking feeling in my gut. Which then triggers more worries about Carys and the overall state of the entire kingdom.
I turn, half expecting Tiernan to be looking at me, but he’s staring down at the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
“Are you alright?” I reach awkwardly over my shoulder to button the back of my dress.
Tiernan turns to me, an odd coldness in his eyes. “Of course.” His signed words are curt, leaving no room for more questions. Yet the cold detachment vanishes from his face as he stands and walks toward me. “Here, let me help.”
I turn away from him, and the brush of his fingers through the fabric of my dress sends the tiniest jolt through me. I close my eyes and inhale, catching a whiff of the citrusy scent of his soap. When he finishes buttoning my dress, he gently turns me toward him.
“Thank you,” I say with a smile.
He smirks and shrugs a shoulder.
The moment I draw in a breath to say something, I’m hit with an aerial image of foliage withering and dying as though ink has spilled across the land.
Of ice spiderwebbing over the ruin, and trees beginning to crumble, thick trunks splitting as the earth cracks beneath them.
Pain lances through my head, and with a sharp inhale, I grab on to Tiernan.
For a moment, it feels as though I’m in a freefall.
I fear I’m about to slip into a dreamscape, but I ground myself in the moment.
I focus on the scent of Tiernan’s soap, on his strong arms squeezing around me.
Fear reverberates within me along with confusion and worry.
I cling to the emotions, and Tiernan’s arms tighten around me even more.
We’re propelled into a dark chamber, Tiernan sitting in that chair with the horrible figure looming over him.
This time, however, when he glances up at me, his face bloodied, torment in his eyes, the figure in front of him disappears, and the image of the blighted, frozen land spreads around us. Cold terror pierces me.
“Durvla—” comes Tiernan’s voice.
Everything crumbles around us, and I find myself falling again. I shut my eyes as my body becomes weighty once more. My awareness of a solid surface beneath me grows.
“Durvla!”
My head hammers, but my eyes fly wide open. I force a breath down as my stomach threatens to release my supper from last night. Saliva gathers in my mouth, bitterness creeping up my throat while my surroundings rematerialize.
Strong hands grip my shoulders, turning me toward a face etched with bewilderment.
I stare into Tiernan’s dark eyes, fear, confusion, and worry radiating off him so strongly that I shudder.
He releases his grip on me, and the feelings disappear.
I suck in another breath and scoot away from him, my hands against the cool floor.
“What in hells just happened?” Tiernan asks. His hands are shaking so badly, he doesn’t even try to sign.
“I don’t know.” I keep my own hands pressed firmly against the wood.
I watch a string of expletives leave his lips as he runs his fingers through his hair, tousling it. He looks toward the bed where Taig is still fast asleep. “Was that the dream you’ve been having?” he signs when he’s collected himself enough to face me again.
I nod.
“And … my dream,” he adds. His throat bobs as he swallows. “They merged. Except, neither of us were asleep. You daywalked.”
Again, I nod. It would seem so.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes before his shoulders sag.
“I could feel your emotions,” I say.
Surprise plays over his features, but he smirks despite himself.
“Empaths can sometimes inflict emotions upon others. In this case, I think it was more your powers merging with mine, giving you the ability to temporarily feel my emotions.” Getting to his feet, he reaches down, and I take his hand to let him pull me upright.
“Do you think you can project that dream onto me again?”
I stare at him, flabbergasted. “I don’t know how!”
“Do what you did before?”
I huff with frustration. “The dream hit me out of nowhere. Like a vision. But I don’t have visions.”
“Don’t you?” He raises a brow at me in that way that forces me to stifle an eyeroll. “You’ve had ominous feelings many times before. Like right before the attack outside of the Verge.”
“I assumed it was a coincidence.” I glance over at the bed to make sure that Taig is still fast asleep before looking to Tiernan again. “You’re telling me my powers can just keep changing?”
“Not changing,” he says. “Strengthening. Evolving. And that dream you keep having …”
I wipe my clammy hands on my skirt and lick my lips as my mouth goes dry. “I don’t want to think of that being anything other than a dream. Because it seems very …”
“World ending?” he offers.
I nod.
“You can say no, but do you want to try intentionally projecting this time?”
My fingers snag on my messy curls as I run them through my hair. Idly, I begin to detangle the knots as I try to think of how to use these evolved powers with intention.
My mouth still tastes bitter, and I could use some water, but I sigh and say, “I think I need to touch you.”
He quirks a brow, and I lightly whack the back of my hand against his chest, making him laugh. “Alright then, beautiful. Touch me.” There’s the tiniest spark of playfulness in his eyes as he holds his hands, palms up, toward me.
I suffocate another eyeroll, but a small smile twitches onto my lips.
Until my eyes shift to his extended hands, taking in the lines on his palms. The idea of intentionally projecting visions into his mind is daunting.
Breathing in slowly, I place my hands in his.
I close my eyes and concentrate on the dream.
On the land being sapped, the ice breaking across every surface.
My body grows weightless again, sensations morphing and undulating, multiplying until my mind is not just my own, but both of ours.
When the vision snaps into Tiernan’s mind, it’s like seaming fabric together—I hold on to it, letting the dream run its course—letting the icicles drip and the dark skies linger overhead.
When I can’t stand watching the dream any longer, I release my mental grip, and my hands follow, the vision slipping away.
My knees buckle, but before I can fall, Tiernan grasps my elbows. I grab on to him again. Throbbing grows behind my eyes as I meet his gaze.
Slowly, a smile spreads across his lips, his golden undertone seeping back into his face. “You amaze me,” he says.
I would laugh from the improbability of it all if I had the energy. “I need to sit,” I mumble.
The bed is too far away for the way I feel right now, so I shakily sit on the floor. Tiernan sits beside me and wraps an arm around me, letting me rest my head against his shoulder. The floor shakes very slightly and Tiernan’s body tenses. My head is heavy as I lift it from his shoulder.
“Chiyo,” he signs a moment before the door opens.
There’s urgency in her signs as Chiyo motions, “You’re wanted in the Assembly Lodge.”
I point to myself. “Me?”
Tiernan gets to his feet while I gawk at Chiyo. “Yes,” she signs. “Alys’s cousin came by to bring the news. It seems urgent.”
My heart clenches. What urgent matter could possibly require me to be present at the Assembly Lodge?
“I’ll get Taig to the Hatchling’s Nest. You two go on.”
I take a tincture, drink a couple glasses of water, and we head out as quickly as we can. It’s not the easiest given my exhaustion from the dream projection, but we arrive at the Assembly Lodge near the other main buildings. Inside, it opens to a large room with a platform and rows of chairs.
The O’Hara family is on the platform, and there are guards scattered through the room.
Ava looks bored, if anything, and Alys looks concerned and apologetic, as does her husband.
I’d expected Chief Badeaux to be here, but instead, there are more guards on either side of the platform where a thin form in a flowy, white gown is slumped in a chair.
Her platinum hair obstructs much of her face, falling over it like a veil.
Her hands are bound behind the chair, but she tosses her head to shake some of the hair out of her eyes. Her pale gaze locks onto mine in an eerily intimate way—as if she can see into my soul. My eyes drop down to her lips to focus on the words that tumble from them.
“A Basduun!” she shouts.
The word kicks my heart into double speed, and her next words throw it into an endless tumble.
“You are the one we’ve all been looking for. The lost Heir.”
Confusion furrows my brows, but I find myself stepping a little closer. What are you talking about? I want to ask.
The woman’s silvery-blue eyes seem ready to pop out of her skull. “She must be stopped! Together with … she will … the end. The sun and the moon will fall. The king … She will kill our gods!”
I can’t figure out half of what she says, but ice stabs into the pit of my stomach and radiates out to the rest of my body until my legs wobble.
The woman is inconsolable, spittle flying from her mouth as she continues to scream various things, most of which are lost to me.
“No royal should be allowed to live,” she says, suddenly calm, her eyes pinned on mine.
She tilts her head, her nearly translucent cheeks bright red from all her shouting.
“She must be killed along with her monster of a sister.”
With a hasty command from Dayfyd, a guard steps forward and presses his fingers against the woman’s neck. Immediately she slumps over, unmoving until a deep breath causes her chest to rise.
Her last words still hang in the air.
Both Alys and Dayfyd’s faces have gone ashen.
Ava’s arms are crossed even tighter over her chest while she levels a glower at her parents. “So …” she begins, signing with precision—she wants to make sure I understand. “Are you going to finally tell Durvla the truth, or should we wake the fanatic?”
“Tell me what?” I’m sure my voice comes out odd, because it feels strained.
Dayfyd seems at a loss for words, but he lifts a fist to his heart and rubs over it. Sorry.
My brows dip. Why is he apologizing? Why is the fanatic, as Ava called her, categorizing me with the royals? All eyes are on me, making me long for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. My skin prickles with anxiety.
Dayfyd gives me another apologetic look, then says something to one of the guards.
The fanatic is hoisted over a guard’s shoulder, but Ava is the first to storm out of the building.
As Dayfyd and Alys move toward us, I force myself to face them, to pay attention to Dayfyd’s hands.
“There’s something we need to tell you. If you can, meet us at our home before the next bell. Just you.”
Tiernan goes rigid beside me, but I nod.
Alys lifts a hand, but then seems to think better of it, offering me a tight smile before walking side by side with her husband toward the main door. Once they’re gone, I loose a breath, but I hold tightly to the control I have. Now is not the time to break down.
“I’m going with you,” Tiernan signs, stubbornness etching his face. “I don’t care what Dayfyd says.”
I nod, grateful for him sticking by my side.