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I gasped, mind churning in a panic. I needed to find a way to protect the seed of power, or our plan would fail. If there was no seed in the underground court, I would have no way of stealing her power base from her. Everything we needed to do relied on taking everything from Beryl.
Thinking quickly, I wrapped it in a dream. While tucked in Rhoan’s arms, I lightly dozed and slipped into a dream state where I could build a nest for the seed of power. Even in here, I could feel Beryl slamming against the walls of it. I heard her enraged howl. The seed would allow me to steal her base of power and push her out. It had to survive.
So, I did the same thing she’d done to me the other night. I wrapped the seed in dream after dream so that it was buried many layers deep.
“I’m so proud of you,” a female voice said.
I jerked upright and found myself standing in a rippling field. Wheat shimmered under the sun. The entire field rippled like molten gold. It stole my breath until I saw the woman approaching me through it.
Her hair flowed down her back the same way the wheat flowed along the horizon. I knew exactly who she was without even seeing her face.
“Mother?” The word broke on my tongue.
Tears suddenly burned my eyes. I clenched my fists at my sides, afraid that this could become a nightmare. There was a chance that this was only an illusion. Glmaours were powerful in fae realms, and what was more fae than dreams?
I took a step back as she approached. She stopped, five feet away. The sun moved just right to shine upon her face and reveal soft features. Her smile radiated pride. When she touched her chest where her heart would be, mine clenched tight with hope.
She nodded. “I understand your hesitation. My sister has always been the kind to play tricks. You are right to protect yourself first.”
Hot tears ran down my face. I remembered that voice. It was like every door Ostara had sealed shut all burst open at once. Every memory of my fae parents came rushing back in. I gasped and forced myself to stay rooted to the spot even though I so badly wanted to run to her and throw myself in her arms like a child.
She smiled wider. “You have another mother who can do that for you. I trust that when you return to the waking world, you’ll pay her a visit and let her hold you. Let her do it, for me.”
I nodded, unable to speak.
My fae mother crouched and touched the earth. Her eyes drifted shut and the sun blazed down upon her as she tilted her face to its light. “You did a wonderful job with this little seed. I’ll do my best to keep it safe.”
She was everything I could no longer be. Her hair was golden and perfectly straight. She had a lithe frame and long, fae fingers. Even her high cheekbones screamed fae nobility. And the sun greeted her with the warmth that I missed so deeply.
My own arcana had become a garden of the night, blossoming with poisonous white flowers.
“Ah, but it is still a garden within a dream,” my mother said. She came up to cup my cheek. “And that is where our power lies. It is still full of life and possibility. Only when that withers should you be concerned.”
I gulped and nodded.
My mother pulled me close to kiss my forehead. “Now, go back to your consort. I knew he would be a good match for you someday. That is why I commanded him to live. No matter what trouble you got up to, he would charge in right behind you.”
My vision blurred with hot tears. Lips twisted in pain, I tried to ask her to stay, but I could already feel myself waking. The dream fell apart like pieces of a puzzle on an overturned table. No matter how I tried to pull it all back together, I could only grasp scrambled bits and pieces.
I wanted to scream and shout as I came to in the waking world. I slammed my fist against Rhoan’s chest and fought back tears all over again. Rhoan took it. He rubbed my arms and told me that everything would be all right.
But I had no way of telling if my fae mother was alive or just a figment of my dreams.
“She said that she saved you so that we could meet.” I dropped my forehead against Rhoan’s chest in defeat.
He stilled. “What now?”
I swallowed. “My fae mother. I saw her in my dream. She told me that she commanded you to live so that we would meet in the future.”
Hand flat to my back, he hugged me close. His warmth eased my tight body so that I could breathe once more.
“Can we…Can we pay my Mom a visit?” I asked nervously.
It felt strange to go from one parent to the other, but that was what my fae mother had asked me to do. She wanted someone to hold me and love me, and I desperately needed it right about now.
Rhoan agreed and helped me off the kitchen island. We could have taken his steed, but I didn’t feel comfortable driving around Lakesedge with Beryl having a meltdown in her court. So, we stepped in-between and shocked the hell out of my mortal mother when we appeared in her kitchen.
Mom shrieked and flung her hands. A large kitchen knife went flying. Rhoan deftly snatched it out of the air and slammed the tip of the blade down into the butcher block Mom had been working at. She stared at it blankly before blinking up at us.
