Page 88 of Realm of Nightmares
“Silver lightsthat twinkle at night,
Only to be seen by the keenest of eyes.
A trooping of will ó wisps whisper in the mist,
To tempt, and lure, and surprise.
Faeries of great lore, they were many and more,
Their magic rare, but their time was dire.
So they fought alone to save their home,
And only one survived the night and the fire.
In a dream, and so it would seem,
She is never found but always quite missed,
In the woods she waits to coerce the fates,
The solitary, the fabled, will ó wisp.”
As Tiernan strummedthe final chord of the melody, his fingers faltered over the strings.
Tears slid down the will ó wisp’s cheeks, except they were sparkling, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. Like she was crying diamonds.
“Lovely,” she said with a sniffle.
His hand tightened around the neck of the guitar, squeezing the rosewood so tightly, the instrument vanished completely. He couldn’t even begin to understand that kind of loss, to imagine the depth of her devastation. Yes, he’d suffered through the loss and death of his parents, but to imagine having every faerie vanquished from the realm? To have their entire existence annihilated and be the only one left to survive? The mere thought of it was enough to turn his blood to ice.
“As per the terms of our agreement, Lianan shall grant you the answer to the question you seek.” Lianan sniffed once again and flicked away the tiny gems tumbling down her cheeks. They turned to ash the moment she touched them. Then she sat up a little straighter, her eyes glittering like faceted sapphires. “Permission is not needed to be free from the Ether. No deals nor bargains must be made. If Maeve wishes to leave the realm of the in-between, then it must be the will of her soul.”
Tiernan would’ve been no less surprised if someone punched him in the gut. The air squeezed tight in his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. His heart pounded, and a sickening sensation took firm hold of him, roiling his stomach. Lianan made it sound as though Maeve could return from the Ether any time she pleased, but she’d yet to come back. The obvious reasoning behind this was that she didn’t knowhowto come home. The more realistic choice was that Aed simply refused her.
A bubble of anger rose to the surface inside Tiernan, and thunder cracked overhead, the sound of it like rocks tumbling down the face of a mighty mountain. He recalled the time the god of death visited him in his state of delirium, after he’d ripped the magic of destruction from inside him.
“She trains daily with Rowan Celenae.”
He’d been certain Aed was trying to bait him at the time, attempting to garner a reaction from him based on outrage and jealousy. Then, the bond between him and Maeve was strong, their Strand unbreakable. Now, however, it was barely more than an unraveling thread. A fraying ribbon connecting two souls, on the verge of tearing completely.
The longer she was gone, the more impossible it became to reach her.
He was debating asking another question, one that plagued the darkest corners of his mind…like if it were possible for a Strand to break when the two souls sharing it were separated by a distance greater than time and space. But Lianan shimmied on her rose petal and turned to face Aran, her gaze bright with mischief.
“Two truths from you in exchange for the answer you seek.”
“Two?” Aran rocked backwards, baffled. He shoved a loose strand of hair that had fallen from the knot on top of his head out of his face, a line of resentment furrowing across his brow. “That’s hardly fair. All he had to do was sing you a song.”
“Two truths,” Lianan repeated, her resolve unwavering. “Your deepest desire and your darkest secret.”
The High Prince shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable.
Tiernan angled toward him, turning away from the will ó wisp. He kept his voice low. “You don’t have to accept her terms.”
“No, we had an agreement. Besides, if two truths is all she asks of me, then that’s what she’ll receive.” Aran’s expression shuttered and a coldness crept into his eyes, darkening them with shadows of the past. “My deepest desire…”
Lianan looked damn near giddy. She twisted her hands together, her knees bouncing in anticipation.
