If I didn’t do something now, she would assimilate my face, pretend to break the curse over the Summer Court and take Prince Calor’s blessing and the blessings of the other princes. Once she took control over the kingdom, she could resume her original identity and continue her quest to free the Fomorians.
“You’re exquisite.” Her cloying voice coated my insides with nausea. “Drayce and Ailill did a splendid job in molding you into my perfect vessel.”
“I won’t let you win.” With two hard kicks, I snapped the vines trying to encase my legs.
Melusina didn’t reply, and my jaw clenched. Did this mean she had completed her task? That I was alone in this room of trees and shrubs and creeping vines?
I spun in the direction of the Fear Dorcha’s throne to find him sitting between two tall saplings connected by low branches creating a backrest and a seat. Erin continued to stare at me, her eyes heavy with pity.
When Melusina’s delighted laugh rippled through the room, the muscles around my chest loosened with relief. “Others have said the same, you foolish girl. But this room will hold you until you are digested.”
“No,” I screamed, but I only managed to loosen a few acorns.
I screamed again, loud enough to rattle the branches. Acorns rained down on my head, and I screamed louder, uprooting the trees that made up the four-poster bed. Their trunks groaned and slumped into each other, and the mattress collapsed onto the lawn.
Erin slipped off the Fear Dorcha’s lap and tumbled down the stairs, and the eight-foot-tall, shadowed figure stood on stilted legs. His blackened finger rose to point at my head, and he bellowed for me to cease wailing.
Drawing upon every ounce of hatred and despair, I shrieked once more.
The ceilings crumbled, dropping leaves and branches and acorns, the cornerstone thrummed against my chest in time with my screams, but the room remained intact.
Silence filled my ears and panic rippled through my chest. The banshee’s cry wasn’t working. My gaze darted across the windowless room. There was no escape. I was completely and wholly trapped. Trapped to do nothing but stand here and scream within this dreamscape while Melusina devoured my body in the waking world.
With hands that wouldn’t stop trembling, I reached for the Sword of Tethra and pulled it out of the sheath. It was my only way out.
Melusina’s laugh echoed through the room. “Predictable! Cut through this dream, and another will take its place and another and another.”
“Then I’ll keep cutting,” I snarled through clenched teeth.
I sliced into my palm and coated the blade with blood. My wound sealed shut in the blink of an eye, and I slashed the sword through the air. Salt water gushed through the rift and gathered around my boots. I slashed again and again, making a wide enough rift.
Water gushed through the hole between dreams. I held my breath, surged through the torrent and swam hard against the whirlpool, through the sea, and up to the water’s surface. The gentle waves bobbed up and down, reflecting an azure sky streaked with white clouds. Blinking through the stinging saltwater, I paddled to stay afloat.
“Neara,” Father’s voice cried from behind. “Swim over here.”
My throat tightened. I didn’t want to look at the vision of him alone on that boat. I didn't have the time to waste. I cut my palm once more and slashed above the water’s surface. Darkness spilled out of the rift. I slipped my hand inside to find a familiar mossy surface—the room with the collapsed four-poster bed. After hauling myself onto the carpet, I lay on its surface, panting hard.
“You see?” Melusina’s voice echoed through my ears. “The Fear Dorcha has placed you back exactly where you belong. Exhaust yourself, run through dream realms. I will take excellent care of your new body. Hopefully, Cathbad will make a more grateful pet than Ailill.”
Resentment tightened my skin. What else could I do except use this sword and the banshee’s scream? I pulled myself to my feet and staggered across the room.
“What are you doing now?” Melusina said, sounding bored.
“Why are you preoccupied with taunting me when you’re so close to victory?” I asked. “Is it so I don’t work out how to defeat you?”
She didn’t reply because I was right. If she had truly won and taken over my body, she would relegate me into a corner of her mind and focus on regaining the throne. But she wanted me distracted with screaming and jumping from realm to realm. Wanted me distracted so I wouldn’t do something to break this curse.
I turned in a slow circle, looking for clues. Erin and the Fear Dorcha had left, along with the throne. The four-poster bed lay in shambles, the shrubs making up the walls stood bare, and most of the ceiling branches had shed their acorns and leaves.
Screaming didn’t work, the sword didn’t work, and I doubted that turning incorporeal would work. I inhaled a deep, calming breath and stared at the wrecked room. Drayce was locked in a dream, and there was nobody to stab my heart except for myself
After placing the Sword of Tethra back into its sheath, I reached for the iron dagger on my sword belt. My fingers burned and sizzled around the corrosive metal, but I clenched my teeth and hissed through the pain.
“What are you doing this time?” Melusina said, not sounding quite so bored.
I had to do this now, before she completed assimilating my body.
My pulse accelerated as I wrapped my other hand around the dagger’s grip. My breath quickened as I pointed its sharp tip at my thrashing heart.
“Neara,” she hissed.
The desperation in her voice confirmed that this was exactly how I needed to break free. With a deep breath, I filled my mind with thoughts
