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Birsha's eyes tore away from mine and I gasped, gagged convulsively at the air of the cell, but then swallowed and found a strange new flavor on my tongue. Incense. Amber and myrrh. Sea salt too.
"Who's there?" Birsha barked. He strode forward, but there was no progress in the movement. He didn't loom closer, didn't reach me, didn't even seem to cross space. His nothing eyes blazed in the dark, but he couldn't reach me. "Little spy," he hissed in something like approval. "Theyusedyou. Child of a goddess no one remembers, and all you're good for is the use of others. Just atool," he spat. "My tool."
"You ran. You were frightened," I said, finding that Birsha was not the only one now wearing the garish impression of a smile on their face. Mine was fierce and painful, the horrid twist of muscle I'd practiced for hours in the mirror.
"Enough!" Birsha shouted, the word like a blade of ice. He clapped his hands together, and the fire went out with a snap, dropping me back into darkness.
But I thought I saw the muscles of his face convulse in a flinch before he vanished.
I screamed and lunged from the bed, suddenly freed from my trapped pose. I reached for him as if I had Hywel's talons. Or Laszlo's. As if I might sprout Conall's fangs in my open mouth, Asterion's horns from my temples. I howled and reached out into the darkness. I would draw Birsha back, tear him open myself, end the nightmare—the one I'd lived through for centuries—in a flash of blood and claw.
But the cuff around my ankle caught, cold and cruel, and my foot slipped on the moss and grime of the stone floor, toppling me forward. Down, down, I would crash into the—
CHAPTER25
A TENDER TRAP
Igasped, upright and thrashing, gripped tight by my shoulders.
"Lovely girl, wonderful creature,blodyn bach," Hywel murmured, rising up from the bed in front of me, holding me tightly in his warm hands, gently cuffed.
Laszlo's nest was cool and dark, only a few candles tucked inside of glass lanterns at the edges of the room. The cloying memory of incense lingered in my nose but was quickly replaced by the fragrant oils and the soft, dry scent of feathers.
Kisses fluttered over my shoulders, crisp presses of tender lips. I shook, but Laszlo didn't retreat, his nose trailing over my skin.
"You did beautifully. So patient, my treasure," Hywel continued, one hand releasing me to pet at my cheeks. He smeared tears away and I gaped at him, lungs and body heaving for air. "My fearless goddess, you did so well. So brave."
I shivered as Laszlo traced careful fingertips up and down my spine, rewriting the sensation of my own skin in my mind. My head turned toward the window I'd crashed out of, but it was already repaned in glass and sealed tightly shut.
The sea air, I thought, not quite connected to my surroundings but ripped from the nightmare too.
"Never again,blodyn bach, I swear to you," Hywel said, still wiping my cheeks, pushing back sweaty strands of hair, drawing me into his warm chest.
I was burning up and frigidly cold all at once.
"Never again," Hywel repeated, kissing my temple.
Pretty vows.
I bit my lip, and Laszlo combed my hair back, tied it into a straight braid that brushed against the nape of my neck.
"Birsha has an—"
"Hywel, let her recover," Laszlo said, his arms sliding around my waist.
"Facts will ground her," Hywel answered, and continued, "He has an oneiros—a creature that feeds on dreams and forces nightmares—and an impressive witch working together. They steal your strength to keep from killing themselves with the work. But they're easy enough for me to shut out."
"He was there," I said, words barely audible.
Hywel was glowing in front of me, cool and handsome and fierce, and the longer I looked at him, the easier I found it to breathe. He nodded, thumbs still stroking my cheeks. "They have some of your blood, I think. The witch creates a channel. The oneiros opens your dreaming."
"Then itwashim?"
"The cell you were in was part of the nightmare, but yes, that was Birsha," Hywel said, eyes flicking back and forth, watching me, my reactions.
I sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, softening between them. "I could smell smoke, incense, like a church. And sea air." I glanced to the window once more to be certain, but it was still sealed shut, and there was no hint of brine and salt in the room.
Hywel blinked and looked over my shoulder at Laszlo. "She's right. I was focused on how they were manipulating her, but he skittered off like the rat he is for a reason—he didn't want us to see him, which means there was something to learn. Perhaps a hint of his location."
