the outside—with apologies to your Household Staff—the danger will pass.”
But Jewel was staring at the mage. She had known him for half her life, but only seldom found him beautiful. Meralonne had taught her much about beauty, all of the lessons unintentional on his part. He was beautiful when he fought. He was beautiful when he drew sword and danced upon currents of air that he could summon with a whisper and release with a benediction. Beauty was death.
He was death, now. He was tall, proud, and very, very cold. He held no sword. He faced no foe. There were no demons to draw his attention away from the occupants of this tiny, mundane room.
“Yes,” he said softly, as he met and held her gaze. “You understand.”
“I—I don’t.”
“I cannot close the ways, Terafin; they are the dreams of sleepers far older and far more powerful than the mortal handful you hold.”
“I don’t hold them now.”
He smiled. “Is that what you believe? I do not always understand your kind, Terafin. I am conversant with the art of prevarication; I have no qualms whatsoever about a well-placed lie. Indeed, it can alleviate drudgery and boredom. But I do not lie to myself. It is pointless.”
“I don’t,” she repeated, with more force, “hold them now.” She started to speak, but Haval gestured in broad, quick den-sign; the movements were fluid and emphatic. Although she hated to see him speak in the private language of the den, she respected his right to do so in this one case. She did not speak of Hannerle.
“I will not argue; it is pointless. Mortal belief flies in the face of fact and logic, as it so often has. You do not hold these dreamers; nor can you. But if you are foolish, if you are very, very unwise, you will wake them in your ignorance. They are close to waking now.” He smiled. “I have never been particularly concerned with the Warden of Dreams before this day, and perhaps I have done them an injustice. This was clever, Terafin. It was cleverly wrought, and I did not imagine any one of the firstborn would show such effrontery.
“If the Warden of Dreams worked at the behest of the god you will not name, this one act would not be to his liking. Very much the opposite.”
“Meralonne,” she whispered, “where does this door lead?”
“I cannot say without opening it.”
Do not allow it, Jewel. If he makes the attempt, I will be forced to counter it, and we will destroy much of your manse in the process. I cannot guarantee that any of you will survive it.
He would not destroy the manse.
No, Jewel, not yet. But he is burning, now. Call him back, Terafin. Let him play with the book he has found. Let him smoke his pipe and let him once again assume the comfortable seeming of mortality. It will not be long before it is beyond him.
“What is your command, Lady?”
“Tell me where these doors open.”
“They open into the ancient wilderness,” was his soft reply. “You stand, now, on part of it; you have made it substantially your own and you do not fear it. You should, but mortals seldom have the time to grow wise.”
“Do you know where my den-kin are?”
“No, Terafin. I do not. They might be found in the vast winter plains, or at the heights of serpent’s reach; they might find themselves in the depths of the vast, sleeping oceans. There is no place but one that cannot be accessed by doors such as these—but such openings are not deliberate; they are the random thoughts of those who sleep. They make no conscious decisions.”
“Where is that one place?” she asked, although she thought she knew.
“The Winter Court, Terafin. Or the Summer. They cannot go to where she waits.”
“How can they dream?”
“In truth, I do not know; I suspect it is mischief on the part of the Warden; he is firstborn. My kin do not sleep and do not dream.”
“These—”
“This is not a sleep they chose, and they are not mortals, to be conveniently fettered; even in sleep, they have long been considered a threat. But not this way. I do not know if these doors exist because they are searching for a way out of their captivity—but if they are, and they find it here, you will not survive.”
“How do I prevent it?”
“I do not believe you can. You might petition the Warden of Dreams—if you know how to summon him. But I am