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“Yes. Absolutely. Of course!” I threw my arms around my best friend.
The toxic energy drink sloshed in its plastic cup but didn’t spill as I hugged Ness tight.
Across the way, I saw Rhoan still waiting for us. He leaned against the building vent alongside Hilda. Ness’s question made me wonder what a child between him and myself would look like. I yearned to stand over a pot with a little version of him, just like my fae mother had. I wanted to watch our child explore the brilliant magic of the world just like my human mother had.
He had to live past this fight. There was no other option.
I would make sure of it.
Pulling away from Ness, I said my goodbyes. Rhoan and I had to pay a visit to the Seelie castle today. Now that our plan was laid out, we needed to consult with the fae there to make sure everyone was on the same page. I also wanted to go back to the tower laboratory where I could work with more than just a microwave and some grocery store herbs.
I had a potion to make.
* * *
The energyat the castle was oddly tense. We stood in the central foyer where a massive tree spread it’s branches up and out. Delicate red and white flowers hung from every branch like a tapestry swaying in the wind through the narrow windows. The scene was beautiful, and yet everyone stared at Rhoan.
He kept his gaze straight ahead no matter how I tried to catch his attention. His rigid stance couldn’t hide the growing tension between his shoulders. The fae whispered amongst themselves as they stared at the glowing Sluagh standing behind Rhoan. Sluagh beasts sat at his sides with their heads high, as if they couldn’t hear what was being said.
I never expected there to be so much contention about Rhoan’s new status. Having him back had filled me with so much exhilaration that I’d barely thought about the ramifications of bringing the new King of Nightmares back to the Seelie court.
No one saw him. They saw Faust in a new body, and it was killing me.
I leaned back and locked eyes with Tal. He, too, seemed annoyed by this turn of events.
Ostara sidled up to me. I stiffened, not sure if I should expect the worst from her. But when she cupped her hand around my ear and leaned in, it wasn’t Rhoan’s new status that she spoke of.
“The sleeping fae are growing restless in their nightmares. I cannot halt their screams no matter what I do. The entire court is going mad from the sounds of torment in the far wings of the castle.”
My breath left me. So, I wasn’t the only one struggling with the nightmares. It seemed that the seed of power I’d buried in Beryl’s court was connected to the seed here. The waking fae were not as bothered by this as I was, but the sleeping ones were still bound by Beryl’s nightmare powers.
I fought the urge to bury my face in my hands. Instead, I took a long sip from my very human energy drink and savored the burn of it down my throat. The supercharged candy flavor snapped my senses back to life. I sucked in a breath and lifted my chin.
There was work to be done, but we had matters to deal with here.
I turned my attention to the court before me. They were dryads, seelie fae, redcaps, and so many others that I had no names for as of yet. They came from all walks of life. It annoyed me that none of them could comprehend Rhoan’s new path.
“What are you looking at?” I challenged, perhaps too charged by Vi’s concoction.
This thing was more potent than any potion I could have brewed. Who would have thought that her damned drinks would have this much of a kick?
A rush of whispers erupted as they all muttered and turned their attentions elsewhere—to the floor, to the high ceiling, to the tree…anywhere but at Rhoan. My lips curled in a scowl.
“Come on,” I said. I had no time for courtly pretensions right now. I spoke to them like an equal. “Rhoan killed one of the scariest men tormenting our court and now you have the gall to treat him like this? He helped us!”
A dryad stepped out from the crowd. She wrung her hands in front of herself while looking up from beneath her nervously fluttering lashes. “The nightmares, though, my Queen. We can hear the sleeping fae screaming from the nightmares plaguing them. It begun recently, perhaps right after your knight took the title of King of Nightmares…surely this is no coincidence.”
She was right. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was Beryl’s machinations at work again. She’d used her nightmare prowess to sow discord. Once Rhoan picked up the charged title from Faust, she’d wrought a curse that would sully his name in his own court.
Tired of this, I sighed dramatically. “Do you really think that this isn’t Beryl’s doing? If Rhoan was here to cause problems, he would have done so already. He would have sent his army through the court right here and now. It’s not like we could stop him.”
My last statement had the crowd in an uproar. Women gasped. The redcaps stomped their feet. The Seelie men grumbled that they would be able to fend off a Sluagh warrior. While this all took place, a Sluagh beast came up to my thigh, dropped, and rolled over to expose his belly.
I sat on the floor beside the beast and sipped my energy drink while rubbing the beast’s belly. I could feel Rhoan’s smile warming my back. When I looked over my shoulder, he tried to hide his smile, but I could see his tongue in his cheek and the way his eyes glimmered with love.
The room went silent. Turning back, I saw that all eyes were on me. The dryads smiled and chatted happily behind their hands.
Look at how she loves him.
