I padded across a green carpet that felt more like wool than moss, wondering if the curse was weakening.
“Drayce,” I whispered.
He turned around with a huge exhale and stared at me with shining eyes. “When you disappeared and didn’t return, I feared the worst.”
“Time moves differently here.” I rushed into his arms and rested my head in the crook of his neck. Drayce’s masculine, leather scent now carried hints of moss, but it still warmed my heart. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and back, pressing me into his strong body.
The tension in my muscles relaxed, and I melted into the embrace. Tears welled in my eyes and my throat thickened with a surge of longing. We had only been separated for a day, but it felt like an eternity. Perhaps it was. This dream realm wasn’t the same as having Drayce at my side. Here, he was trapped and powerless, but in the real world, he was slumbering and without a means to protect himself.
I swallowed back a lump in my throat. “That time I spent with you was two days in the outside realm. How long has passed for you here?”
“You can’t come back.” He released the embrace, released the strength and comfort and warmth of his body, and turned back to the window.
I placed a hand on his back. “Why?”
“There’s no escape from this room,” he said without looking at me. “I’ve tried the door, tried jumping from the tower but each escape brings me back here.”
I rested my head against his broad back and wrapped my arms around his front. “We’re making progress,” I murmured. “Crom Cruach was right about the musician. He doesn’t have the magical harp, but he knows its location. Aengus is going to direct us to the Palace of Bóinne to get the Harp of Dagda.”
Drayce groaned. “You can’t go there.”
“It’s on the edge of the Summer Court. If we’re fast, the Fear—”
“Melusina once mentioned that Dagda was a collector of rare things.” Drayce turned around and cupped my cheeks with his hands. His green eyes looked like pools of black in the dim light, and his cheekbones sharp enough to cut stones. “You look too much like Dana for him to resist not making you part of his collection.”
“Aengus didn’t mention that,” I said. When Drayce didn’t react as expected to my mention of his name, I exhaled a long sigh. “We don’t have any choice.”
He broke eye contact and turned his head to the side. “There is one.”
My heart skipped. He couldn’t suggest a confrontation with the Fear Dorcha. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know how to use my new power. I hadn’t gotten the chance to practice anything except put my blood on a blade.
“Plunge an iron dagger through my heart,” he said.
“What?” I broke away from his grip.
His arms dropped to his side. “Neara—”
“No.” I raised my palm. “How do you know you won’t die?”
“I am more powerful than I was before,” he said in a monotone. “I will survive.”
Stepping back, I shook my head for emphasis. “Queen Melusina managed to kill your father, and he already claimed his throne. I won’t kill you again.”
He shook his head.
“Even if you didn’t die, stabbing you in the heart could send your soul to the Otherworld.”
Silence stretched between us, and Drayce dropped his gaze to the floor, which was now ankle-deep in moss. A breeze swirled around the room, and soft leaves caressed my bare skin.
Was this even Drayce? I stepped back to find vines wrapping around the bedpost, their tendrils spiraling toward me.
“What’s that?” I took another step back and bumped into Drayce.
“The bed is trying to capture you,” he said. “Each time I escape the room, I end up on that mattress, and each time it becomes more difficult to leave it.”
My throat convulsed. “Do you think the curse is getting stronger?”
“Or more determined.” Drayce’s hand wrapped around my shoulder. “I won’t die from a dagger in the heart.”
“Has anyone stabbed you there before?”
He shook his head.
“Have you ever suffered a fatal wound?” I asked. When Drayce parted his lips to reply. “I’m not counting the time I set your scales on fire.”
His nostrils flared, and he clenched his jaw. “If an hour in this dream equates to a day on the outside, this place is as much a trap for you as it is for me.”
The truth in Drayce’s words rang through my ears like church bells. When he had been under the influence of the moss, he had been desperate to keep me in that bed. Now, the bed appeared harmless until a person got close. It was a trap within a trap, but I couldn’t cut myself off from Drayce.
“Even if you’re right, and the iron dagger doesn’t make you permanently dead, do you think you can survive without a heart?”
He didn’t answer.
My brows drew together, and I bit down on my lip. Was this even Drayce? He knew I hadn’t forgiven myself for the way I broke his last curse, yet he wanted me to hurt him again. He stepped toward me, but I raised my palm, making him retreat to the window.
“Let me think about it,” I said.
“We may not have the time,” he replied.
I shook my head. “You don’t know what you’re ask—”
“Your Majesty!”
My eyes snapped open, and I stared into the worried faces of Nessa and Rosalind. The lanterns in this part of the suite glowed with dim light, illuminating Drayce slumbering beneath the sheets.
“What’s happened?” I asked.
“You wanted me to wake you when we reached the border,” Rosalind said.
I pushed myself off the mattress and rubbed my eyes. “How long was I gone this time?”
“Three days,” Rosalind replied.
“I was barely there for ten minutes.”
Nessa stared into the seeing-glass. “We’re close to the caster of His Majesty’s curse, and the enchantment’s effects have
