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“Very good.” She flicked her finger and the hummer raced off.
I followed it with my gaze as it soared into the distance.
A lazy breeze wafted past, and I reached out on the slipstream to listen. The sound of fading summer ran through the currents, along with the whispering of leaves on the edge of turning color. The faint thunder of winter’s drums threatened in the distance. And then I understood. I turned to Lainule.
“Your Court is waning . . . Myst is sucking the life force out of your realm.” My voice was hushed. The thought that the Mistress of Mayhem could destroy not only Lainule’s people, but her very realm, was terrifying. The long winter had truly come, riding the coattails of Summer, with wolves baying.
Lainule’s face—unlined and clear—fell into sadness, and I wanted to reach out, to wipe away the mourning in her eyes.
“Yes, child. She is slowly draining me. She has taken over the Golden Wood, and while I can set up Court elsewhere, the woodland contains the Alissanya—my heartstone. I did not have time to retrieve it when they routed us. There was so much terror that night. So many people screaming and so much blood. My guards fought valiantly, but the blood ran like a river through the throne room, through the halls. Even if we reclaim our rightful home, the scent of terror will never vacate the barrow, and the ghosts of my people will linger. I will forever remember their screams. And I could not stop her. Myst’s people fed well.”
Shivering, I tried to block out the images, but I could see them—it was as if I had connected into Lainule’s memories. The Cambyra Fae, running, screaming, trying to escape as the Shadow Hunters broke through and began to rip them to shreds. The monsters raged that night.
Pushing aside my nausea, I asked, “Heartstone? I’ve never heard of it. What’s a heartstone?”
Lainule reached out and tipped my chin up. “I tell you what few outside of my realm know, but since your father . . . since he’s one of my people, I will tell you. And perhaps it will help you against Myst, though I do not want you running off half-cocked. Do you understand?”
I opened my mouth and then stopped. My tongue felt thick.
“I am placing you under a Binding Oath on this one, child. Whatever you promise to me on this matter will hold you to your word.” Her voice was solemn, and I realized that my assent would, indeed, give her power over me.
“I promise, I won’t do anything rash,” I whispered.
“A heartstone is part of a Faerie Queen’s heart. When we take the throne, a part of our heart emerges from our body during the ritual and is encapsulated in a gem. The gem is hidden within the depths of our realm. This keeps our land safe; it allows us to shift our lands in and out of the realm of mortals. It is what keeps my realm forever summer . . . it is what helps keep the realm of the Queen of Oceans forever submerged. All Faerie Queens have one.”
All Faerie Queens? I knew there were several, but I had no clue how many. “Even Myst?”
Lainule shrugged. “That I do not know. I should think she has to, in order to bring her winter with her, but the ritual may have been tainted, for she did not take the throne until she had been changed by Geoffrey. She was not a Faerie Queen before he got to her.”
“And if you lose your heartstone?”
Looking half-sick, she shuddered. “If we ever should lose our heartstone, or if we are driven out of our realm and cannot take it with us, we will fade and become a spirit, doomed to wander the earth like a ghost, and our heartstone will crack. Or . . . if someone finds it, they can destroy it and thus we will die. If Myst finds my heartstone, she can obliterate me.”
“And it’s still within the Golden Wood.” I breathed out a long, slow breath. Lainule was fading, slipping into the realm of spirit because Myst had taken over her land. “So she hasn’t found it yet?”
“I guarantee you, if she had, I’d be dead. No, the Alissanya is well hidden still, but it’s in the heart of the wood and there is no chance of reaching it without attracting her notice. As it is, reaching the Court of Dreams is going to be dangerous enough because you must go into the Golden Wood to find your way there.”
She took her place on the makeshift throne, and I sat cross-legged on the grass next to her, enjoying the warmth from the sun.
“She looks to cover the world in a new ice age, doesn’t she?” I asked.
Lainule hung her head. “Perhaps not the world, but her territory, yes. Winter’s banging at the door, and unless we can stop her, there will be no summer to balance out the world. Do you understand why Geoffrey and I had to try? Why we hoped this plague would stop her?”
Biting my lip, I nodded. “I do, but . . . Grieve. Please don’t tell me to forget him, because I can’t promise you. Not like I did to keep silent about the heartstone. I love him, Lainule—he is a part of me and there’s nothing I can do to change that. But I will be cautious.”
I picked a blade of grass and chewed on it for a moment. “How do I enter the Court of Dreams? How do I save Kaylin?”
Lainule smiled then, and once again the sun emerged from behind a lazy cloud. Summer’s tattered robes were still brilliant and beautiful, and not yet fully stripped away. And whatever I could do to keep Myst from destroying the joy of summer, I would willingly do.
“There is a portal in my realm that leads to the Court of Dreams. It is not near the barrow, so if you are cautious, you should be able to reach it. I would not allow you to journey into Myst’s territory without good reason, but Kaylin . . . he will be needed before this war is over. Once you find the portal, you can enter the Court of Dreams and seek out the Bat People. Ask their shaman for help—explain what happened.”
“Are they dangerous—the Bat People?”
Lainule pressed her lips together for a moment, then took my hand. “Child, everyone in your world is dangerous, including your own self. Get used to it—no matter whom you are talking to, they will be a danger. The Bat People are . . . unpredictable. They can be intimidating and they can be terrifying. But they are not unjust. Use caution, use diplomacy, watch your temper.”
“Can I take someone with me? I can’t do it alone,” I whispered. The thought of facing the journey by myself frightened me. Not only the Shadow Hunters, but also Myst’s spiders and the goblin dogs and tillynoks and other creatures pledged to the Ice Queen haunted the woods.
“Take Chatter with you. He knows where the portal is.”
