Page 186 of Gift from the Wing

Wish any other time I asked myself questions, the answer would come that easily.

The soft blanket beckons me in, and I sit, watching as what I assume to be my awareness takes over my dreamscape. As I snuggle down, adrawn-out, seemingly never-ending yawn pours out of me, and the longer it lasts, the less clarity I have.

My head hits the pillow in sync with my eyes scanning the darkness one last time.

Then there’s nothing.

?

My eyes fly open and slam back shut just as fast. The blinding bright sun of Elementra is vastly different from the subtle lilac sky I created and with no fog to dim the shine, my lids refuse to lift.

Turning my face to the side sends a wave of dizziness through me, and the other two heads that are connected to mine flinch at my movement.

“Fuck. He was right there.” Trex’s groggy voice pulls a groan from my throat and the godawful feeling of being drunk makes my head swim.

“Will someone get me a healing vial, please? The two of them probably need one as well.”

Quiet murmurings ring in my ears, and I breathe through my mouth, fighting back the nausea crawling through my stomach. Each of my men’s presence flutters through my chest, but I can’t focus on that right now or I’m going to be sick.

“Here, princess. I’m going to sit your head up a little,” Corentin, my hero, whispers.

With one hand, he holds my head tenderly as the other pours one vial, then another in my mouth and I take every drop thankfully. The sweet liquid makes me hum in both appreciation for it being given to me, and with how fast it works.

Gaster is healing vial craft master, I swear.

The back of my lids changes from red to black as someone so graciously blocks out the sun and I blink a few times to straighten out my sight. It’s no surprise when they finally open on my command, I come face-to-face with my men all kneeling around me.

“Are you okay?” Tillman asks.

“Much better now. I didn’t know the tonic would make us feel so drunk and groggy.”

“And it worked? He came to your dream?” Caspian asks stoically, and I arch a brow around at all four of them, but no one gives anything away.

“Yeah to both and I was able to pull Trex and Codi in there. Eventually.”

“Okay then,” Corentin says flatly, and confusion colors my face, but he doesn’t look at me. He nods behind me.

“Okay then…what does—”

I don’t get to finish my question before shadows swarm me and my men, whisking us through the walls of the mansion in seconds.

We’re spat out in the middle of my bedroom, but unlike my men, who step away from me, I find my feet tethered to the floor by vines and my arms strung up by shadows.

“What in the realm is going on with you four?” I ask, glaring at them as they stand together in a line, glaring right back at me.

“Who the fuck did that to you?”

I startle at the venom in Corentin’s voice. It’s not aimed at me, but the shaky tremor and anger behind it cause my brain to malfunction, and I have no clue what he’s talking about.

“Who did what?”

Despite my soft voice trying to rebuild the small thread of control I see him holding onto, it doesn’t work. He’s on me faster than my eyes or gift can track.

Gripping my chin in his hand, he turns my head to the side and with his other, he runs his finger across my cheekbone.

“Just because it’s healed up now doesn’t mean we didn’t have to watch that little cut bleed for an hour with no way to check on you or know what was going on. Which one did it, Willow? Now,” he whispers, completely contradicting the demand evident in his question.

He kisses my cheek where the mark I got must have come through to the real world and my breathing stalls in my chest.

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