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“That’s mighty impressive, woman.”
“Hush, I’m not finished.”
I rolled my eyes at the little brownie woman, but inside I held my breath. I couldn’t help but hope that she would figure this out swiftly. So much time had been wasted already. How did Hilda think she was going to find and break a curse while standing in the middle of the room like that?
“There you are,” she whispered under her breath. “Let’s clean that up. Shall we?”
With another stomp of her foot, I felt a wave of bristles rush over me. I started to ask what she’d done before I realized that had been a part of her brownie arcana. The crumbs and wrappers on the nearby coffee table vanished and a light sheen swept over the surface as if she’d spent time polishing it.
I inhaled sharply when I felt a snap in the air. I straightened, my eyes wide, and stared at the woman in astonishment. Once again, Cerridwen’s knack for gathering strange allies had pulled through.
Hilda turned, wiped her hands together as if she were brushing dust from her fingertips after a long day’s work. “Cleaned that mess up right quick. It was a sloppy curse, if I do say so myself. That man didn’t expect to have to rely on it. He really just planted it to create a thorn in your side.”
“Remind me to give you a raise later,” I said as my beast rushed out of me.
I turned and stepped in-between. When I landed, my paws touched the stone floors of the Seelie castle. I breathed in the fresh air of the realm I’d missed.
I’m on the way, Cerri.
Cerri
I stumbledthrough the portal and into the castle. All was dark. I grabbed for the wall to keep myself upright. Ears straining to hear past the thunder of my heart, I caught no screams on the air. There were no flames in the windows, either.
For a moment, I rocked back on my heels and thought to release a sigh of relief. Then a white-clad figure rounded the corner and came rushing up to me. Ostara nearly slammed into me, but she put her hands out and caught my shoulders right before impact. Together, we rocked back in the dark.
My heart leapt in terror. I braced myself for a fight in case this wasn’t Ostara but an illusion, but the woman remained unchanged as she bowed her head and caught her breath. Her hair fell in wild tendrils from her usually perfect coif. When she lifted her head and locked eyes with me, I saw the dark circles under them.
“What’s wrong?” I asked breathless as if I’d been the one running.
Ostara cupped my cheek and seemed grateful to see me in one piece. I placed a hand over hers and felt my heart clench. If she’d thought me dead or otherwise harmed, that meant something must have given her that idea.
“Taliesin said all was lost,” Ostara said, her voice small in the dark corridor. “He said that you had died, and there was no reason to keep fighting.”
I jerked as if struck.
Ostara used the hand on my cheek to pull me back. She smoothed my hair like a mother might to a child. “He told everyone that he’d watched you die. I saw the pain in his eyes and how he blamed himself for being unable to help you. He seemed so truthful that I had no reason not to believe him. The man looked as though he’d lost a child dear to him.”
“This isn’t…Beryl said that…”
Nothing matched up. Everything that Beryl told me would happen seemed like a figment of my imagination. I knew that’s what she wanted. The master of nightmares had crawled into my mind and twisted my thoughts so that I no longer knew what was true and what was false. A part of me still wanted to believe that this couldn’t be Ostara.
This had to be a glamoured fae pretending to be Ostara. Any moment now, the woman before me would draw a blade and plunge it through my heart. But that never happened. Instead, Ostara threw herself into my arms and sobbed onto my shoulder.
This was the same woman who’d called me a useless mutt not that long ago. I was honestly a bit troubled by how quickly she’d changed her mind, but I could still tell that this was the real Ostara. Only she would be this dramatic.
I gently pushed her back so I could ask more questions. When I brought up the sleeping fae, she gave me an odd look. Had I somehow stumbled into another nightmare realm? I’d seen Rhoan in the flesh. There was no way that this could be another layer to Beryl’s nightmare, but the doubt crept in and made me back away.
Ostara eyed me warily. I had no way to explain the feeling trying to take over my mind right now. If I gave it voice, it might go away but then Ostara would think I was going mad.
She reached across the expanse and captured my hand. My heart leapt into my throat, making my pulse race. Memories of being trapped and at the mercy of another crashed into the forefront of my mind.
I had to take the memories and shove them back before my arcana erupted. Beryl wanted me to be uneasy. She’d sown this discord so that I would lose my footing. I had to remember that.
“I’m sorry,” I said, voice low.
Lifting my head, I peered up and down the corridor. No one else appeared. The night remained silent and peaceful, but I still wanted to go check on the sleeping fae. There was still a chance that they could turn on us, and I wanted to make sure their crystal caskets were locked for now.
While we walked, I considered what Ostara had told me. Tal was gone. He’d left us without warning. I fought the urge to rub my temples. I needed him at my side almost as much as I needed Rhoan. While I didn’t have those kinds of feelings for Tal, he was still an important part of my power base. Without him, we were severely limited.
