“Please.” It was a struggle to sound sincere. I had no intention of ever joining him on that bed, nor would I allow him to return. “Come to me, and we’ll fulfill our bargain.”
Drayce dipped his head, exhaled a long breath, and moved to the edge of the bed. My heart leaped toward him, but I forced myself to stay by the wall. If I moved within grabbing distance and let him keep me within those four trunks, the next time I found him in this room, the moss would consume him.
He parted the curtains and poked his head out, glancing from side to side as though what was outside the bed was new territory. I wondered if time moved differently within this dream compared to the outside world, and if that explained why the moss had taken root into his skin.
Drayce stepped out of the bed, and the suspicion in his eyes turned to alarm. “Neara.”
Hope surged through my chest. “Drayce?”
He glanced from side to side. “What is this place? What are we doing here?”
“Step away from the bed.”
Drayce took several steps toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder. He turned around and swept his gaze up the length of the nearest post and along the branches that sprawled across the ceiling. “The last thing I remember was the oak sprite.”
Relief flooded my veins and a surge of emotion flooded my eyes with tears. I slumped against his hard body, enjoying the comforting arm he wrapped around my shoulders. For the first time since the sprite stuck that needle in his heart, I didn’t feel so alone. Through ragged breaths, I explained everything I had learned.
Drayce drew back and cupped my face with both hands. “Don’t blame the sprite.”
“But she—”
“She probably didn’t have any choice.” Compassion shone in his eyes. It was the same understanding I imagined came from losing his father at a tender age and falling prisoner to his stepmother and those who were supposed to be loyal to his royal court. “The Fear Dorcha is a very powerful being with absolute control over the Summer Court.”
“You know him?” I asked.
Drayce shook his head.
“I only know that he’s an associate of Melusina, and he maintains the Summer Court’s accursed darkness.”
“Alright.” I lowered my gaze and tried to process what I had learned. “If Prince Calor and all the high faeries of the Summer Court couldn’t save themselves, what chance do I have to defeat the Fear Dorcha?”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “We still don’t know the extent of your magic, but the title you hold should attract some powerful supporters.”
“We need to break your curse first.”
I stared into his eyes. As always, they were green, but I couldn’t tell if the richness of their color came from the moonlight or his connection to the bed that had tried to consume him.
Drayce smoothed a strand of my hair behind my ear and placed another kiss on the tip of my nose. “I would rather face the Fear Dorcha with you, but defeating him might be the way to break this curse.”
The implication of his words hit like an anchor, and my heart sank into the depths of panic. I couldn’t face this challenge without Drayce. “There’s a musician called Cliach, who has a harp that can rouse anyone from sleep,” I said. “We just need to find him, and he’ll make you wake.”
“Who gave you that information?” Drayce asked, his brows drawing together into a frown.
I told him about Crom Cruach, who had helped Queen Melusina over the years in exchange for the bodies and souls of her babies. I told him that the golden statue was a form of spirit that needed the souls to retain a corporeal form and how he told me about the harp out of desperation to remain intact.
“He probably thought I wanted the information for free,” I added.
The corner of Drayce’s lip curled into a half-smile. “He made a mistake to think you were anything like Melusina.”
“What do you think about my plan to find the harpist?”
Drayce tilted his head up, seeming to consider my words. “Anyone wielding such a powerful magical artifact won’t help you so easily.” His fingers curled around my shoulder and gripped tight. “Be careful not to promise him something you cannot give or anything you might regret.”
I swallowed hard. “I won’t—”
“Your Majesty?” A frantic voice filled my ears, accompanied by the fingers digging harder into my shoulder and shaking me awake.
I opened my eyes to Rosalind leaning over me with Osmos and Destry standing at her sides. Her violet eyes widened, and the determined expression on her face melted into joy. She drew back and held onto the arms of her companions, each of them sagging with relief.
Behind them, the bed curtains hung open, letting in the warm, orange light of a setting sun.
“What time is it?” I pulled myself off the bed and yawned.
“Two days have passed,” said Osmos. “We have tried every method at our disposal to awaken you to no avail.”
I glanced down at my silk nightgown. “But I was only there for a few hours.”
Destry leaned forward, her green cat eyes imploring me to elaborate. The honey-blonde hair curling around her delicate features look dark compared to the pallor of her skin.
I glanced at Osmos, who stood at Rosalind’s other side with an equally beseeching gaze.
“Where’s that glass Nessa gave me?” I asked.
My secretary disappeared around the curtains and produced the seeing-glass. Its convex surface was a black obsidian, with an opaque frame carved in a curling pattern of elaborate flourishes.
I hummed. “Somehow, this thing transports me to the room where he’s being kept.”
Osmos nodded as he had already heard me explain this to Nessa in the palace kitchen. I told them what I had found the first time I visited Drayce and how the moss covering his skin had been easy to remove
