Page 20 of Vale of Dreams

His lover, Odelia, left him last month for a lord. He’s spent every night writing her poetry about his heartbreak, emptying bottles of mead down his throat, but he can’t let himself fall apart. His father has lost his job, and Cadoc needs to keep the money coming in for his family. Just this morning, he called the chatelaine a cunt under his breath, and he still doesn’t know if his superior heard him. The chatelain said, “I’ll speak to you later.” What does that mean?

I flip through his thoughts, searching deeper. The prisoner. Does he know anything about a beautiful, silver-eyed demi-Fey?

The prisoner has been here for some time. Captured in the war with the humans, but they didn’t put him with the rest of the rabble. He’s too valuable, for some reason. Doesn’t seem particularly valuable to Cadoc. Just another half-breed mongrel…

My heart skips a beat. Raphael.

I invade Cadoc’s every thought, sifting through ideas, memories, everything he knows. I’m ravaging the inside of his skull, grasping the threads, then pulling the strings to bend him to my will.

Now, Cadoc wonders if the prisoner is literally valuable.

Maybe he’s rich. In fact, he’s probably rich, or they’d leave him with the rest, right? If Cadoc will just do this tiny thing, just unlock the door, the prisoner might reward him handsomely. Yes. That’s what he should do. Odelia will fall back in love with him, and his father will get his job back in the stables. Cadoc absolutely shouldn’t question this drunk lady more because she’s a distraction from what’s really important. She’s just a tiny woman, a drunken musician, not worthy of his notice.

When I withdraw from his mind, he stares at me, dazed. Then, without a word, he pulls a skeleton key from his belt and opens a door into yet another torchlit stairwell.

I follow him down a flight of stairs, the air growing staler, like wet earth and mushrooms.

My heart is pounding as he leads me to another wooden door. He slides a second key into a rusty lock, turns it twice, and pushes the door open.

I can hardly breathe.

“You,” he says into the darkness. “Get up.”

I step inside, trying to see in the dark.

In the corner of a grimy stone cell sits a shirtless man. For a second, I almost don’t recognize him. Dirt smears his body, and his hair has been shorn. But when he raises his head, his silver eyes gleam in the dark cell, and my breath leaves my lungs.

Raphael.

CHAPTER 8

Raphael’s eyes widen as he sees me. I’m starting to adjust to the dark, and I can get a better look at him.

His jaw drops, but he stays silent. He has just enough of his wits about him not to call out my real name.

Scars mark his skin, barely healed over—and it looks as if his collarbone was broken and not healed properly. Under his skin, a bone juts out about half an inch.

I grit my teeth, and the magic within me roars.

My hand shoots out, and I grab Cadoc by the face. I push my powers into him, whispering that all his dreams are just within his grasp. Money, fame, a promotion, his old love back in his arms. No subtlety anymore, I simply burn through his mind with fantasies and desires, scorching his true self until his mind turns to ash. He becomes a puppet fully under my control.

Leave us, I order. Wait for us above.

He swivels like a doll on a string and stumbles up the stairs.

“Raphael.” I crouch down, clasping his face between my hands.

“Nia,” he rasps. “You came for me.”

“Of course I did. I’m getting you out of this godsforsaken place now.”

He pulls back a little, and his pale eyes flick to the stairwell. “The guard. He’ll call for backup.”

“No. He’ll stay where he is. Trust me on that.”

He leans forward and rests his forehead against mine, closing his eyes, and I know he’s weak as hell. Otherwise, he’d be springing out of here.

“How did you find me?” he asks, his voice hoarse. “How did you get here?”

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