and a snort has Chastain jumping back. Piggy Phinelas trots into the room and plops onto a wide damask pillow. He grunts, then closes his eyes.
“When is the spell going to wear off?” I stare at his pinkness, the cute curl to his tail. Maybe I like him better this way.
“Soon, hopefully. But Raywen can’t say for sure.” Chastain resumes his pacing. “She’s been trying to reverse the spell, but no luck so far. Can’t get enough magic to make it happen.”
Gareth stands and pulls me to my feet. “If that’s all we have to discuss, Beth needs to rest.”
My eyelids are already drooping.
“We’ll have more to discuss.” Chastain is still mumbling to himself. “In the morning. When Silmaran is back.” He stops pacing to give us a small nod of appreciation. “Good night. Pick any room you like that’s not occupied.”
“Sure thing.” I loop my arm through Gareth’s. “Let’s find the poshest one and build a pillow fort.”
“A pillow fort?” He takes the lead and guides me up the sweeping staircase.
“Yeah, did it when I was a kid. You sneak into one of the master’s bedrooms and stack up all the fluffiness you can find until you have your own fort. It’s great. Don’t you winter realm fae know how to have fun?”
“When winter realm fae are young, we don’t play with pillow forts. Each of us is taken into the wilderness at the age of six and left alone in a vale of twisted trees. The snow pours down thickly there, and we aren’t allowed a scrap of clothing, a weapon, or even shoes.”
“That sounds terrible.” I can barely keep my eyes open.
“It gets worse.” He peers into a darkened bedroom, shakes his head, and continues down the hall to choose another. “The ice bears come out at night, and they prowl that section of forest looking for winter fae children left to fend for themselves.”
“And here I was thinking the winter realm was the most civilized of all.” I hang on his arm as he checks another bedroom, then pushes the door all the way open. With an easy scoop, he lifts me up and carries me to the fluffy bed, the blanket made of some sort of feathery softness. Then he grabs a golden chair from along the wall and wedges it beneath the door handle.
I scoot to the pillows and flop onto my stomach as he checks the en suite and the windows. By the time the bed shifts and he’s lying next to me, I’m almost out.
“Sleep, my beloved. I will keep watch.”
“Nothing to watch,” I mumble into the pillow. “No danger anymore.”
“There’s always danger.” He settles next to me, his heat warming my side. “And we haven’t found Zatran or Cenet yet.”
The thought threatens to bring me back to consciousness. Because he’s right. They’re still out there, which means more trouble for us and for Silmaran. And not just us.
I pop my head up. “Zatran said his special guest wanted to buy every slave he could get his hands on. That’s Cenet. He was trying to buy—”
“An army.” Gareth strokes his palm down my hair. “Yes. He’s continuing the work his father started.”
“That means he’s still a threat to all the realms. We need to warn Taylor, to—”
“Shh.” He slides his hand to my back, rubbing in comforting circles. “We will. I’ll dispatch Phin once he’s back to his usual form.”
“But what if Cenet’s, I don’t know, gathering his forces right now?” I roll to my side and peer into his dark eyes.
“I’m certain he is.” He sighs. “I should have finished him. When I heard his neck crack, I thought it was enough. And I couldn’t wait another moment, not when your life was draining away.”
“You did everything you could.” I reach out and take his hand, intertwining our fingers.
“Stop worrying.” He kisses my forehead. “Get some rest. Or shall I make up some more fiction about being left in the frozen forest while surrounded by ice bears?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Fiction?”
He shrugs, a wry smile at the corners of his mouth. “Maybe we don’t leave our young out in the cold, but we certainly don’t build pillow forts ... We call them pillow castles, and they are magnificent.”
I kick his shin, and he laughs, then pulls me to his chest. “Sleep. You are safe.” He kisses my forehead again. “And loved.”
Warmth suffuses my heart at his words. I want to return the sentiment, to give him my vow of love the