Page 140 of Whisper of Nightmares

The cracks in the walls deepen and splinter.

Dagfinn watches them as he folds his arms and leans against the wall. But his words are meant for her. “See you on the other side, my True North.”

And then, the dream shatters.

Chapter 27

The Ghost of Thorfell Manor

Outside, the birds are singing.

Euphemia opens her eyes to the dawn’s warm glow.

The words come back to her before she is even fully awake.

“When all of this is said and done, I might just have to marry you.”

Her stomach twists all over again.

She had wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe that the warmth in his eyes when he said it meant something more than his wicked sense of humor. But Dagfinn doesn’t know the truth. He doesn’t know that the woman meeting him at night is already his wife. He doesn’t know that a marriage was arranged without his knowledge or consent.

What happens when he finds out?

Perhaps his words had only meant to make her blush. Perhaps they had only been another bit of teasing between two people who had no idea what waited for them on the other side of sleep.

Still, the memory warms something inside her.

Whatever happens when Dagfinn awakens, she cannot deny that for one brief moment, he had looked at her as though he wanted a future with her.

For now, perhaps that is enough.

Even though she slept on the cold floor and her bones ache as she stands, Euphemia trusts today will be good. Today she is bringing Dagfinn back, consequences be damned.

Without bothering to change out of the garments she wore the previous day, Euphemia hurries her bedchamber and heads to the garden.

When Euphemia arrives, she stands at the edge of it and stares for a moment.

It is no small plot of land—far larger than the garden she had back home.

She grabs a shovel from the lean-to and sets to work.

By the time the sun has fully risen, she’s already begun to sweat.

By mid-morning, Euphemia regrets not eating breakfast first.

By lunch, her hands are cracked and bleeding.

Still, Euphemia keeps digging, moving in a straight path up and down the garden so that she does not miss a spot.

When Kelda finds her around lunchtime and asks her what she’s doing, Euphemia just says she needs to dig up all the weeds so she can plant a garden. Shortly after, Asvald brings Euphemia two biscuits and a large pitcher of water. Then she keeps digging.

She’s tilled over half of the plot by mid-afternoon.

There is still ample land to dig through, and Euphemia is starting to lose her confidence.

She doesn’t want to have to go back to the dream world and tell Dagfinn she’s failed.

And it’s on her next upturn of the soil, she spots it.