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"Break the window and step through,théa," Asterion said, solemn and steady. A promise. "I'll keep you safe."
I struck the mirror, tall enough now for me to step through, just as I glimpsed the door behind me cracking open.
There was nothing but the black hall behind the shattered glass, but they called to me altogether, a trio of familiar, safe voices.
Wait, Evanthia!
But it was too late. I lurched into darkness, falling out of the dream and through the shattered window of Laszlo's nest.
For a moment, as cool sea air rushed over me, caught the tangled hem of my dress and licked around my legs, I was relieved. Relieved to be out of The Seven Veils once more. To be here, at the castle.
Except I was falling from the high tower, screaming, hurtling down toward brutal rocks that rose like fangs from the water. I heard the call of those voices that had lured me in the dream, but they were too far away and I was dropping too quickly.
I heard the roar of the world rushing past my ears, the sea and the rocks soaring up to meet me.
A louder roar than I'd ever known, one that shook the marrow in my bones. One that made me weep, even as the air stole the tears from the corners of my eyes.
And then there were no rocks beneath me, just a huge, dark shadow, a glimmer of opal and ruby. It swooped up to meet me, circled away to expose my demise once more, black wet stone jutting up from churning sea foam.
The world whipped and turned, unbalancing my fall, twisting me in midair, and suddenly I was caught, talons clamping around my waist, all my breath stolen by the grip of the dragon hauling me up from death and back into the air.
"Hywel! Bring her—"
No. You nearly lost her,Hywel boomed in my head, and my hands slipped over the long, black claw circling me carefully, holding me in a tight grip.
Hywel was awake. Hywel was flying!
I'd been sleepwalking again. I'd thrown myself out of Laszlo's bedroom window and—
Hywel had woken.
He turned us back toward the castle, below it, the sea moving madly, splashing mist up to my toes. There was a dark hollow in the cliffside, the cavern opening, and Hywel flew there with me clutched in his grip.
You scared me,blodyn bach.
The cavern was warm as we dove inside, and Hywel dropped me immediately into a pile of pillows and bedding—his nest. He growled and grunted, hovering above me in the too-tight space, wings beating the stone overhead, an unsteady rain of rubble landing around us. The talons that released me reached down to the floor, wings knocking treasure in every direction, thrashing tail making chaos of the space.
And then suddenly, there was no dragon snarling above me, bringing the hoard down around us. Just a tall, pale man yards away.
My breath was ragged and loud as the hoard settled back into place. My hands were clutching the pillows around me, and the world was still rushing up, up, up to meet me roughly, even as I sat still and frozen, staring at the new face before me, his red wings a smaller version of Hywel's.
He was exceptionally lanky, with sharp cheekbones and a faint glimmer of opal-pink scales near his temples. His stride was long as he moved toward me, pausing once to frown and bend his knees, bouncing there for a moment.
"So strange," he murmured, and the voice was a simpler but perfect match for the incredible low and heavy tone of the dragon's.
I had never imagined Hywel as a man—Laszlo had never described him as one—but there was no other explanation. That he was standing before me now as one wasn't so complicated in the scheme of the world I lived in, except that I had just thrown myself out of a tower window to certain death before being snatched up by a dragon.
And now he was not a dragon but averytall, very pale man, with spectacularly broad shoulders and an extremely narrow waist and—
"Hywel!" Laszlo shouted, footsteps thundering down the stairs to the hoard. "Quit making a maze of the castle!"
"No," Hywel bellowed back over his shoulder, his steps growing faster, feet tripping over pillows. A wing snagged on a bit of velvet and he growled, and then his wings were gone entirely. "Damn mess. Come here,blodyn—No, you can't, look at you."
I flinched back as he loomed over me, and he scowled but didn't stop from scooping me up from the floor.
Thin, but very strong. All muscle.
"Hywel." It was the first word I'd managed. I was surprised I wasn't still screaming.
