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“The spell on the hedge is also on them. They’re asleep in the cottage behind it.”
“How do you know this?” Lachlan’s brow furrowed. “There’s more–”
“Yes,” Luc said, sensing Nix was trying to hold himself together and couldn’t find the energy to speak, so Luc told the story with Nix filling in details he failed to add. When he got to it, he added the bit about Nix and Auri’s god-yoke, explaining Nix’s weakened state, which necessitated sharing how they’d met.
“Is this why you look awful?” Lachlan asked.
Nix huffed an amused but weak laugh. “Thank you for pointing that out. Now my pride and vanity can take a hit along with my health.”
Luc continued with what they’d learned at the Library of Oracles.
“Azleah?” Lachlan asked. He glanced at the other three men in the tent with them. “We were on the field that day. Heard that awful voice say that name. Seemed like Tomas recognized the name.”
Two of the three guards nodded, the third—Johesha—just scowled.
Luc shared their journey through the Netherrealm to find Zollah Cumbria, what they’d learned about Azleah’s lineage, her connection to the king, and the disowned goddess. “With the help of a witch in the woods. Which is why we’re here.”
“But how does this Azleah connect to Tarley? To what’s happening now?” Lachlan pointed at the wall of the tent in the direction of the hedge.
Luc glanced at Nix. “We think AzleahisScarlett.”
Lachlan’s eyebrows arched over his eyes. “Wait–” But he stopped, his brow collapsed as he thought it through.
“You said that was eons ago. How?” Johesha finally spoke.
“Time,” Nix said and sighed as if it would replenish the strength used to say it.
“Time travel,” Luc clarified, reaching out to lay a hand on his brother’s back, wishing he could infuse him with some power and growing more worried by the minute. “It isn’t an impossibility. Brinna Dream Walks. That’s how I’m able to share the name of the witch.”
“You’ve shared dreams with her?” Lachlan asked. When Luc nodded, he asked, “Have you been behind the hedge? How is Tarley?”
“I can’t get beyond the hedge, only Brinna can. And Tarley sleeps.” He said nothing more, not wanting Lachlan to understand his new wife’s torture.
“I knew Brinna could dream–” Lachlan pushed away from the table, as if he’d been given a quick infusion of energy. “Her dream was how we knew to go after Tarley—when the darkling–” He stopped, then shook his head and looked at Luc. “The details of the dream hadn’t been perfect, but it had been right. And Tarley sometimes sees things, before they happen.”
“Brinna has been in her mother’s dreams. It’s why I think it’s these woods. That the witch is here.”
“But the witch… in Scarlett’s dream, was a woman?”
Luc nodded. “Baba.”
“A female witch?” Lachlan looked at his three guards. “But wasn’t it a man’s voice?”
Jude and Brendsen nodded.
Johesha scowled.
“That’s what I remember,” Jude said.
“Awful voice.” Brendsen shuddered. “I’ll never forget it. Definitely male.”
“Regardless,” Luc said. “It’s what we have.”
“Where do we go? To ferret out this… witch?” Johesha asked, his voice grim but determined. “Highness, I think you remain–”
“No,” Lachlan said. “Thank you, Jo. But no. Not with Tarley stuck behind that monstrosity.”
“Your highness?” a voice called from beyond the tent.
