Page 110 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“How do you know this?”he whispered, his voice laced with anxiety and agony .
“I am of the Fold,”the serpent whispered. “Undo the glamour. Find the piecessss. Repair it ... and bring back what wassss losssst.”
I could feel the weight of Vareck’s hesitation ripple through the dream scene. My stomach flipped over, threatening to drop me to my knees. He was in a horrible nightmare. One I shouldn’t witness. One that was filled with fears and wounds he tried to keep hidden, tender and still bleeding, and wrapped tightly beneath his stony exterior.
“Then why keep it sssseparated?”it asked, wrapping its body tighter, rising as though it were ready to strike.“What have you protected, Vareck, king of winter and death?Nothingchanged. The cursssse sssstill sssstrangles the land. Fatessss are losssst. Your mate issss sssstill gone.”
My heart pounded so loudly I was afraid he’d hear it. Afraid he would see me and know that I was invading such a private moment even though I didn’t intend to. I wanted so badly for our sleep to sync. I wanted so badly to talk to him, but this was never the reunion I had imagined. Now I worried if he saw me here it would hurt more knowing he wouldn’t have me when we woke up.
“Resssstore it,”it said.“And perhapssss the old wayssss will return. Perhapssss she returnssss. Whole. Yourssss. Again.”
“She would be mine again?”Vareck whispered.
I couldn’t breathe.
I was already his. Couldn’t he tell? Even though I was scared and even though the realm played its tricks, hehadto know he was mine and I was his. Damn the invasion of his privatethoughts. I couldn’t bear to watch any longer. I couldn’t let him think this way, dream this way. Even if he didn’t have me when we woke up, he had to stop thinking what we have is gone just because I wasn’t there. I walked forward, but he didn’t move.
“Vareck?” I said softly, but nothing happened. “Vareck.”
Nothing but stillness. Sickness roiled in my gut.
The air felt suffocating. Cloying and rotten and no longer crisp like autumn.
Everything was wrong here. Something had taken hold of him. Something perverse and evil. Whatever this thing was, it didn’t belong to the beauty of this place.
I moved quickly, screaming his name. Trying to tell him I was here. Trying to free him from his nightmare.
For a moment, I had hope. His head jerked slightly. His eyes searching like they were looking for mine, but he never saw me and my steps faltered.
“Why can’t you see me?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself.
Then the serpent turned with methodical intention. Its mouth separated into a horrifying smile, its tongue again flicking and tasting the air. Blackened eyes glowed with the red embers of a dying fire, watching me with hunger.
“I ssssee you, lovely,” it whispered, smug and soft.
My body froze as it stared at me. This wasn’t right. This was Vareck’s dream. His nightmare. “How?” I breathed out in a shaky voice.
“I am of the Fold. The Fold knowssss everything.” The snake’s eyes flashed with power as it coiled tightly, rising higher. The thick muscle of its elongated form twisted. “I’m afraid it’ssss not time for you yet.”
Before I could move, before I could reach him, before I could even scream his name again, a wall of raw, ancient magic hit me like a tidal wave.
The ground disappeared.
The light vanished.
And I tumbled backward into darkness.
I woke with a gasp, the scream still lodged in my throat.
Pain bloomed at the back of my skull, sharp and hot, like I’d been dropped from a height I wasn’t meant to survive. My limbs were heavy, leaden. As if my soul had been dragged back to my body too quickly.
I tried to sit up, the twisting of my gut threatening to spill the contents of my stomach.
Strong hands shoved me back down.
“Don’t move,” a voice said, low and unfamiliar. Calm, but cold.
I blinked hard. Everything spun. My vision swam, colors flickering like candlelight before settling into shapes.
