The Fae King's Dream (Between Dawn and Dusk #2) - Jamie Schlosser Page 0,113

back to me. According to my first premonition about the clearing, the witches should emerge any second.

Anticipating the next events fills me with all kinds of anxiety, but as I stand here, waiting, something seems different.

Suddenly, the knee-length grass rustles in front of Damon. The flowers shake. A twig snaps.

I want to shout out a warning, but I can’t get my throat to work.

When he kneels, forms take shape on blackened grass. The ground is steaming, and I squint, trying to figure out what we’re looking at. Hot rocks?

No.

Rocks don’t wiggle and writhe. Bodies do.

I creep closer, until I make out slender feminine fingers belonging to a limp hand and long dark hair sticking to a sweaty, muscular back.

A colorful sundress and floral swim trunks.

My hand flies to my mouth.

It’s Damon’s parents.

A voice comes from somewhere on my left. “Have you come alone? Just you and the king?”

Startled, I glance around for the source but find nothing.

“I get the feeling there’s a wrong answer here,” I quip, finally finding the will to speak.

“Smart girl. Swear that you and the king came alone.”

“Do I have much of a choice?” I ask, projecting the question toward the sky.

“One of the king’s parents will die if you don’t.”

Well. Looks like I have to tell them what they want to hear.

“Fine,” I relent. “I swear.”

The flutter of the oath knocks around in my chest, and I gasp a little when my heart skips a beat.

The promise is solid. Real.

At least it feels that way.

I touch my sternum, not knowing if the heaviness beneath my bone is only in the dream.

In a flash, the scene changes. I’m not sure how much time passes, but now Silas and Tehya are on their knees. Their hands are bound by shackles and they’ve been wrapped in iron chains—lots of them.

Their exposed flesh is marred with burns and blood.

My eyes go to the blades at their necks. Machetes, like the one Damon carries. I follow the hands holding them to the people behind Silas and Tehya.

The witches, of course. They’re so small, they’re almost hidden by the former king and queen.

I don’t understand. I did what they wanted. I promised we came alone to keep Damon’s parents safe.

“Damon, don’t you dare make a deal for us,” Silas says, his voice full of father-like authority. “You either, Whitley. Say nothing.”

I glance to my left. The look of devastation on Damon’s face is painful.

Before I can make sense of what’s happening, one of the witches says, “Better decide fast or one of them will lose their heads.”

Decide? Decide what? I feel like I’ve been tossed into a lion’s den, unprepared and unarmed. My heart kicks into overdrive, pumping so hard I feel my pulse in my head.

Blood starts trickling down Tehya’s neck, and she whimpers as she closes her eyes, like she’s bracing herself for death.

“Stop!” I throw out a hand, and it’s as if time halts.

The breeze barely moves the blades of grass around me. They sway, but in slow motion.

Blink, blink, blink.

In a matter of seconds, I lose minutes, and Damon is grasping me by the elbow while looking at me with an expression I can’t read. There’s devastation and a hint of… betrayal?

“I have a condition of my own,” I say, the words propelling out of me against my will, as if I’m possessed. “If one more drop of blood is spilled tonight, the deal is off.”

Deal? Oh, for the love of all things. What deal?

Then, for reasons unknown to me, I rise on my tiptoes, and quietly whisper by Damon’s ear, “If you ever miss me, use this.” I pat his whistle. “Maybe I’ll hear it and know you still love me.”

Several witches grab my arms and drag me away from him. Their wrinkly skin is cold on mine as they turn me toward the path going into the trees. A flock of geese fly overhead in a V formation, their numbers uneven so it looks like a check mark.

Time speeds up again, and I’m walking through the forest. Without Damon. I’m surrounded by the witches and there’s a feeling of doom hanging over my head. A sense that I’ve lost myself.

They own me.

I don’t want this. It’s wrong to be putting distance between myself and the man I love. Yet, I don’t have a choice. This is the best option.

Being taken away from him is the only way we’ll all survive.

I wake with a gasp. Pressing a hand to my chest, I feel my thundering heartbeat