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"Are you ready?"
"For what?"
"To come with me. "
"I-No, I'm staying here. "
"Judging by the fact that you are here alone, your latest plan did not work. "
"Brilliant, Sherlock. " He raised his eyebrows quizzically and I shook my head. Faeries weren't exactly big on understanding the cultural lexicon.
"So you have only two options left. Appeal to the Dark Queen, or appeal to my queen. Might I, as someone infinitely concerned with your continued survival, recommend the latter?"
I pulled on my ponytail, nervously wrapping my fingers in it. "I don't know. Can't she come here?"
"No, she cannot. And if I recall, you owe me several debts. I am collecting. "
I opened my mouth to argue, then realized there was no point. He was right. I owed him, big-time. And I was out of options for how to fix things here by myself. If throwing myself on the mercy of the Light Queen meant I got to feel Lend's fingers on my skin again, well, so be it. And maybe she could help me figure out how to save the paranormals without losing myself in the process.
I took a deep breath. "Okay. What do I have to do?"
"Unless you plan on creating a door and walking the Paths alone, you really ought to take my hand. "
"I mean when we get there, you jerk. "
"It will be as simple as falling asleep. " There was a teasing note to his voice that made me nervous.
I looked toward the house, imagined running away from all this and spending the night curled up next to Lend. But then I imagined waking up in the morning and knowing he couldn't wake up until I left. And no amount of running away would change the sheer number of souls around the pond, waiting for me, needing me. So I took Reth's hand, an action that was becoming all too familiar now. It felt a bit cooler than it had even an hour ago.
"I knew you'd choose this. " The least he could have done is sound smug about it, but his tone was simple and matter-of-fact, like there was never any doubt that he would win. I stuck my tongue out at him and we walked together through the Paths toward what I absolutely would not ever consider my destiny. His steps were not quite as fluid as normal, and for once I didn't have to hurry mine to keep up. He opened another door and we stepped out into the Faerie Realms.
Which were as empty and pitch-black as the Paths we'd just come from.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
DREAM DATE
Umm, Reth?" I blinked, trying to find anything for my eyes to focus on, but there was nothing there. Unlike the Faerie Paths, I couldn't see Reth-not even the glow of his soul. I clutched his hand tighter, his skin against mine the only evidence I had that he was still here. "I think you made a mistake. This isn't the Faerie Realms. "
"Wrong, as usual," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "It's simply not finished yet. "
"What are we doing here, then?"
Another voice, a voice like the light of the full moon, pure and white, enveloped me. "You are here to dream. " The voice seemed to wrap me up; I could almost feel it on my skin, and I could definitely feel it in my soul. It tugged at me, much like the black hole gravity of the Dark Queen's voice, but rather than making me want to lose myself in it forever, it made me want to find myself through it.
I knew I couldn't see anything but I couldn't help twisting my head around, my eyes straining. I wanted to-needed to-see who was talking. "Who's there?"
"Close your eyes, child of impermanence and eternity. Sleep. "
I snorted, fighting the soporific glamour of the voice. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. This isn't exactly my ideal sleeping situation. I usually like a bed, and a blanket, and the comfort of knowing where the bleep I am and that I won't be attacked or killed or lost forever at any given moment. "
"You are as safe as ever you have been. Sleep, and dream, and understand. "
I startled as lips brushed against my forehead, but my eyes closed against my will, sweet and sudden sleep slipping over me like a sheet of water.
I opened them to see the Dark Queen, in all her porcelain-skinned beauty, and next to her, hands clasped, was a faerie of equal power and grace, her skin black and warm as ebony, her hair a white cascade of rainbow light to contrast the Dark Queen's oil-slick black. Even though the Dark Queen looked different from when I'd seen her-her features even less human, the borders of her body almost blurring with light-I knew it was her just the same. They stood on an empty and brilliant plane, bright and beautiful and serene. In the distance I could see what looked like trees, but the two women were alone here.
The voice that had spoken to me in the darkness whispered in my ear. "Too wicked for heaven, too good for hell. We wanted more. We had eternity, and each other, and the faeries under us, and the multitudes that dwelt with us in the unchanging space between heaven and hell. But we saw what the other plane had, though they, too, were stuck between heaven and hell. "
