fulfilled. We now knew where she was. The darkness that had been haunting the edges of my vision receded slightly.
Breathing in and out through my nose, air flowed into my lungs and left without leaving me feeling like I was breathing in jagged pieces of glass. The dream magic dispersed and the darkness was pushed back as I recalled the way she’d looked when she’d seen me. The beauty of her sunshine colored hair and those wide eyes. How was it that in the course of only a few short months, I’d fallen for her as hard as I had?
When I finally opened my eyes, the library was dark, but I was not alone. Roan and Sorrell waited just a few paces away, watching me with their brows lowered and a deeply rooted concern in their expressions. Unlike them, I could see in the darkness—it was where I’d been born and it was where I belonged. Fires flared to life, illuminating the room, as Groffet lit a few candles. I forced myself into a sitting position, reaching up and wiping the sweat from my brow.
Groffet’s little body waddled to another part of the room as he continued to light the rest of the candles along the walls. Roan grunted. “Enough,” he snapped, and suddenly all of the candles in the room flared to life.
The old man shot him a look that—had anyone else attempted to deliver the same harsh glare, they’d find themselves in iron chains in the dungeons. Groffet, though, was far too valuable and he knew it. Roan drew all eyes to him as he pushed away from the wall. “Well?” he demanded. “How did it go?”
Three pairs of eyes settled on me expectantly. I opened my mouth to speak and coughed. Dry and hoarse, my throat felt as though I’d not drunk water in ages. Groffet hurried over and picked up a pitcher, pouring me a glass before handing it over and stepping back. I drained the liquid, gasping in relief. Dream magic had so many irritating side effects, but I should count my blessings that I hadn’t gotten lost and ended up sleeping for months, years, or worse. I should count myself lucky that I hadn’t ended up dead.
"Orion,” Roan said. “Did you find her?" His leg bounced up and down in front of him as though he was struggling to restrain himself. He ran his hand through his hair and pushed it back, away from his face, squashing some of the smaller flames that had flickered to life as he spoke.
"I found her, but we have a problem," I said. The hoarseness was not yet gone and I had to stop and swallow around the crusty feeling in the back of my mouth. Problem was an underestimation of what we faced. We had a fucking catastrophe on our hands.
"But she’s alive?" Roan asked.
“Yes.” I coughed again and again, had to take water from Groffet, before the feeling of being suffocated by sand and dust finally receded.
“Get on with it,” Sorrel snapped. “Where is she?”
“She's being held prisoner.” How could I explain the rest? The words stuck in my mind, right on the tip of my tongue. I turned my gaze down as I clutched the sides of the small settee I’d laid upon before passing into the spell. Wood creaked under my fingers as I clenched hard. “Tyr is with the human King. She’s being kept in a tower within the castle.” Had Tyr not considered that we would find her? I wondered. Or was he planning on it? I couldn’t say. I didn’t know what he was thinking at all.
“She’s alive, though. We can save her as long as she’s still breathing.”
I hated to destroy the relief in Roan’s voice, but it was necessary. I lifted my head and met his gaze, letting him feel the weight of my stare. “Tyr is antagonizing relations between Fae and the humans. The King’s planning a battle of some kind.”
“Like the Queens…” Sorrel said, his gaze straying away as he considered my words.
The worst part had yet to be spoken. “They’re not just holding her,” I said. “They’re planning to execute her on the seventh day of her imprisonment.”
A brief echo of silence descended and then all of their wrath broke loose. Fires erupted across Roan’s scalp at the same time Sorrell’s head snapped to the side and the roaring heat of my Crimson brother’s fire was doused by the icy chill of his anger.