Page 91 of The Innocent Sleep

I sighed, shifting slightly away from the wall. “They took us in Muir Woods,” I said. “We had gone there to meet with our allies from the Undersea. Your father believed his best friend to have died in the Earthquake, not gone below the waves to marry a mermaid and shelter in the deeps. He was overjoyed and, in his joy, embraced the man.”

October turned to frown at me. “Why should that render him unwell?”

Dean helped Rayseline off the floor, the two of them moving silently off to the side as they allowed the rest of us to speak. I kept my focus on October.

“Patrick forgot that Simon still labored under the memories of another world, and met an embrace from his husband with a kiss, which Simon was not prepared for,” I said. “He reacted with shock and shame, and in the interests of avoiding a diplomatic incident, your sister unbound his memory. It was the only way to quell Dianda’s wrath.”

“That woman has a lot of wrath to go around,” said the Luidaeg.

“Even so,” I agreed. “Your father has handled the revelation of the true world . . . poorly.”

“But he knows us?” asked October. “He remembers August, and myself, and who he is? Nothing was lost by restoring his memory?”

“He was a happy man before I did this to him,” said August fiercely. “He loved our mother and his patron, and he was content to spend his life in service to our family. Now he’s lost. He knows himself, but believes his place is beneath the sea, and weeps for things he did willingly and with joy in service to his ladies! How can you not see this for harm?”

“Because you gave him back what was taken from him against his will,” said October. She grabbed hold of August’s arms, holding her where she was. “August, you can do it. You can see and snap the threads. You can release my memory!”

“I won’t.” August shook her head before turning to glare at me. “Threaten all you like, you can’t force me. I refuse to risk losing my sister as I fear to have already lost my father, as he swears I will lose my mother before this all comes to an end.”

“I’m not on the tower wards,” said October.

August stiffened.

“Mother removed me, in the other Faerie, after the divorce,” said October. “She took me off the wards, and it seems she never added me back on, because I went there when neither you nor Father was in residence, and I couldn’t get inside. Whether she remembers it or not, I’m not her family. You are my family. You, and Father, and several other people, some in this room, who I don’t currently remember the way I should. You don’t want to unbind me because it might cause you pain. Well, you’re causing them pain by leaving me as I am. And I think . . . I think you might be causing me pain, too. Please, August. This is something you can do. This is something only you can do. We know the last four months were real, even if everything before it was a dream. For four months, I have loved you desperately, with every waking hour. That doesn’t go away just because I remember who else I love.”

“There’s so much iron here . . .” said August.

“Here.” October pulled what looked like half a dozen large garnets out of her pocket, offering them to August. “The sea witch made them for me. They make my blood magic stronger. I assume they would do the same for you.”

She paused then, looking at the Luidaeg, who said nothing. I rose in that pause, wanting to reach for my wife, unable to force myself to move any closer. If she rebuffed me again, I thought I might die.

“Please, August.” October turned to look at me, and continued: “If you’ve ever loved me as I’ve always loved you, let me remember.”

August took half the stones out of October’s hand, tears starting in her eyes. “Am I not enough for you?” she asked. “Is my love not sufficient to feed your hungering heart?”

“I don’t think anyone should depend on just one person to love them,” said October. “From what Dean tells me, I’m not the only person who loves you. You don’t need to keep me bound to have my affections, August. Please.”

I started to step toward her. The Luidaeg put her hand on my arm, stopping me.

“Let them,” she said, softly. “They’re getting where you want them to be, you just need to trust Toby to take it the rest of the way. This is what she does. Every version of her. She convinces people to do the things that don’t seem like they should work.”

August turned back to Toby, a tear running down her cheek. “Promise me,” she said. “Promise me that no matter who we were to each other in that other world, no matter what neither one of us remembers right now, you’ll still be my sister, and you’ll still love me.”

“I’ll always be your sister, you walnut. If that were something that could be changed, I would have changed it long before now.”

She laughed, the sound thick and half-swallowed, and closed her eyes as she tossed the red stones into her mouth. October tensed.

August reached out with both hands this time, seeming to hook her fingers into something I couldn’t see, and made a hard pulling gesture. October screamed.

It was one of the worst sounds I’d ever heard in my life. I flinched away as she bent forward and dug her fingers into the floor, breaking a nail and releasing a single drop of blood before she healed from the small wound, recovering as she always did, without a scar left behind. Well, not all scars can be seen, and if she wouldn’t carry these, I would, for her sake, and for my own. I wanted to move toward her, to support her. I couldn’t move, and had to glance down to be sure my feet weren’t rooted to the floor.

The Luidaeg put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. “I’ll go,” she said, softly. “You stay.”

She moved to October, then, kneeling and holding her upright as she screamed and fought against the spell. It seemed to go on forever, agonized howling without end, her voice growing strained and then clearing again as she stripped the skin from her throat and regrew it, over and over.

Finally, she sagged, screams coming to an end, and the Luidaeg caught her before she could fall. August fell forward, catching herself on her hands, and stared at her sister, hair stuck to her cheeks and forehead with sweat, panting from the effort of what she’d just done.

October groaned, then raised her head, attention going to the woman in front of her. “Hey, Aug,” she said, weakly. “You okay?”