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His shadow proceeded on slow, careful feet.I can’t. But I can disappear into a crevice. I won’t come out.He did as he said, his phantom turning into a mouse and backing into a hole—out of sight, but not out of mind. He would always be there from now on… until one of us died. Unless there was a way for it to be reversed.
“I’m sorry.” He looked at me, his eyes pleading, his face saturated in anguish.
“It’s just a lot to take in.” I stumbled over my words, still battling the thick of it.
“I know. I felt horrible while I was doing it,” he said, tears brimming in his eyes. “Your screams—your night terrors—it sounded like the hounds of the Spirit Realm were chasing you down.”
“I have fought with those nightmares ever since I was a child. They are a part of my Dream Curse. You really didn’t have to—” I sighed again. There was no changing what had been done now. “It’s alright. Ezra might have an idea how we can fix it. Until then, I guess you’ll just be privy toeverythought I have.”
Saying it out loud did not make me feel any better.
“Where is everyone else?” I asked, my hands fisted in the lilac sheets.
“Preparing to leave,” he replied.
Leave?
How could we? I’d bombed the mission with the king’s advisor. But I would try again until we had the information we came for. We could not leave now—not when we had no idea where Kaleb was stationed.
The bottom of my cotton nightgown dusted the lip of the wooden stairs as I scrambled towards the main floor. Soren followed me, protesting me moving, suggesting I should still be in bed resting.
I shot him a fierce look. He clamped his mouth shut.
The front entrance door teetered back and forth as the wind pushed against it, a large, burlap bag placed in front of it, effectively keeping it from closing.
Outside, Ryker slung a bag over the back of his horse, his hands expertly buckling it in place. Harper was checking her mare’s hooves, her bags still on the ground.
“We can’t leave,” I declared, my voice saturated in authority.
Ryker shook his head, his fingers gently stroking the backside of his gelding. “Sorry, darlin’, the other night was a bust. We need to go home, regroup, and come up with a different plan.”
“There has to be something else we can do.” I refused to admit this was defeat.
“Like what? We blew our one and only option,” Harper said as she let go of the horse’s leg. She jerked upright, the cool autumn breeze tugging at the tips of her swaying ponytail. I caught the superiority in her voice—the blame.
“Are you implying it was my fault we didn’t get the information?”
She looked at me pointedly.
“Are you serious?” I seethed.
“You should have come to me. If you’d let me know you were chosen, instead of just leaving without saying a single word, I would have made it there in time to question him, but instead, you decided to work alone.” Harper crossed her arms. Oh, she was pissed.
Good. I was looking for a fight.
“When do you think I had the time to come to you? When the madame was stripping me naked or when they shoved me in that room with him?” I shot back, my rage echoing the fire twin’s temper.
Her fierce expression—the anger, the rage, the fire—was suddenly snuffed out.
She strode over to me and took me in her arms, squeezing me tightly. Her voice softened. “I’m sorry. Sorry we didn’t get the information we need to find Kaleb.”
It hit me like a bag of bricks. The loss I felt. The failure. All of it had been for nothing. I wanted to sob, but I bit the tears back. Those feelings slowly caved to something else—a new plan began to form.
“I want to go back,” I said, determination setting my jaw.
Harper pulled away from me, sharing a confused look with her twin. “Back?”
I nodded. “To the bathhouse.”
