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“Juliana,” he said softly, “I’m sorry about your father.”
Whether it was the softness of his voice, his choice of words, or just the sudden, overwhelming realisation ofeverythinghitting all at once, Juliana started to shake.
Hawthorn’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean—”
He reached out a hand towards her, but it was like grasping at smoke. The feeling of falling surrounded her, of sinking, of drowning. Air was pulled from her lungs.
Hawthorn called her name, but she didn’t hear it.
She tumbled backwards, through the air, through the floor—
Down,
down,
down.
Julianashudderedawakeina bed of leaves, unbound, not far from the wreckage of the carriage. Ladrien’s thorns had vanished, though the ground remained torn, the trees broken, bent and scarred.
Her own body ached, pulsing with bruises and shallow cuts. Nothing serious. Fine scratches littered her hands—
As well as a small, circular bruise on her thumb, a perfect match for her teeth.
Not a dream. Real.
Hawthorn was back at the palace, and waiting for her.
What happened to him now that she was awake? Was he still roaming the corridors, or did he fade into sleep? He seemed to have been there for a little while before she appeared.
Shehopedhe wasn’t awake. It seemed a lonely, shapeless existence.
Would she have another chance to speak to him? Perhaps the connection had only worked because Ladrien had thrown her forcefully into sleep. Maybe that was it, and they’d never speak again.
Until she reached the palace, and took Serena to his side to wake him with a kiss. Until she saved him, and the rest of Faerie too.
Iona, Aoife, Dillon, Miriam…all the people still there.
It wasn’t like they couldn’t handle themselves, but seeing as the plan was to quit Faerie if they couldn’t survive there…
They would see Serena had been brought back, if they hadn’t already. They would know the plan had failed.
They wouldn’t know why.
Father.
Juliana stared around the ruined woods, but he was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t waited for her, hadn’t checked to see if she was all right.
Her own father.
Why, Father, why? What did you betray a kingdom for?
She shook it away, not wanting to fall down that hole again. She couldn’t give it weight.
She had a job to do.
Unless someone worked out how to end the curse before her. It was the sort of thing Aoife might be capable of.
If she had the chance.
