Page 6 of Heir to His Court

Some of what I'd experienced had been a dreamscape, and some of it real. Which parts, and why had his own Guard attacked him?

I swore, viciously. “I don't know what's real and what's not.” I couldn't tell the difference between an Old One’s dreamscape and reality.

She gave me a sharp glance. “What do you mean?”

“We have to find Baba—no, I have to find Renaud.”

“Are you insane? Leave that male alone. He snapped.”

Never get between a High Lord and the mate they were fixated on. Except, in this case, I was the one who had gotten between us.

Darkan. Where are you?

Come to me.

Damn you, let's not repeat the scenario from the last several hours.

A chuckle in my mind, though it held little amusement.I am mostly myself.

The Ancient? That was you?

Not entirely.His mental voice darkened.I almost succumbed.

Why did you stab me?

It distracted her for three seconds—she did not expect me to strike you. The other reasons you will guess for yourself. I told you it is dangerous to draw that one's attention, and we are not strongest so soon after waking.

So she really had you?

For a short time. Her presence was not entirely a seeming.

Hearing Raniel admit to weakness chilled me.What do you need me to do?

Come to me. And do not block me,he added. He paused, his silence heavy.Your presence in our mind anchors us.

Why the plural?

I have vanquished her influence for now, but it required power I was unprepared to spend. My Guard intervened. At least two did not survive.

Ah. That had to hurt.Understood.

What did he mean byus? On some level I knew Raniel’s personality was still fragmented—Renaud did not know I had killed his son, though Darkan did and Raniel as well, I assumed. I also assumed that was an artifact of how he had risen from sleep, but Raniel made it sound almost as if he considered himself entirely separate from. . .the other two.

I wasn't sure how I was capable of shouldering the dubious honor of being an Old One’s anchor, but there was no one else, and keeping him stable was the most immediate priority. I could shove aside our personality conflicts for now.

Are you done killing people, Renaud?Raniel? I needed to come up with some rules for what to call him and when. We continued to pass bodies, though it lacked the gruesome artistry of the dreamscape.My father? Tell me you have not harmed my father.

He is alive. I would not harm Lord Étienne. He is one of the more competent Lords in this city, and thus serves me well.

That was all that mattered, of course, that my father was useful toRenaud. I bit back a less than polite response.Numair?

He is your reward for breaking my dreamscape. Come and claim them both.

Fine. I'm coming, and then we are going to discuss the flaws in your decision making process.I should have known it was a dreamscape the first moment I “woke up”. Numair had been there—then he had been gone. The dream had glitched. Caught, I had not even noticed.

As much as I wanted to run straight to Renaud and do damage control, there was still a disordered city to deal with. Though the faire had been evacuated, the streets were crowded with panicked people. There were a few bodies, some destruction, but I wondered how much of that was deliberate on Renaud’s part, and how much of that was due to either the citizens putting up resistance, him losing control after he snapped, or an inadvertent effect of him fighting off Juhainah.

There was a certain Escher like quality to her attempting to take him over in a dreamscape in which he attempted to take me over. These were the people I was distantly related to. Very, very distantly, but. . .

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