Page 103 of Realm of Nightmares
“I need to know how to change this, how to save them. This can’t be my fate. Not even the stars are so unkind.”
To this, the goddess said nothing.
Maeve tried again. “If I lose them, if I losehim”—her gaze betrayed her, sliding over Tiernan’s lifeless body once more—“it will be the end of me.”
Danua offered the lightest shake of her head. “No, it will not.”
“Just tell me what to do!” Maeve screamed, fury imploding inside of her, splintering through her like a broken dam.
“I already have.”
Another peal of frustration ripped from the back of her throat and Maeve lurched forward, tumbling into the looming darkness of nightfall.
Swiveling around, she took inventory of her surroundings. She was back in the Stygian Spine.
The battlefield had vanished along with the bodies. Tall trees stretched overhead, and a worn footpath wove along the forest floor to the northwest before disappearing in a shroud of mist. Danua was gone and with her, the memories of Maeve’s life were slipping away, blending into the background, becoming a fog of blurry, nameless faces and moments lost to time.
On a gasp, Maeve started running along the footpath, knowing it would take her to the base of Diamarvh. But she had to hurry because it was already happening. She was forgetting, glimpses of her memory were fading into nothingness and if she wasn’t quick, she would lose them forever.
ChapterThirty
Tiernan wandered the empty courtyard of his palace. In the darkened haze of the midnight hours, sleep eluded him. Having returned from Maghmell, he expected to sleep for days, maybe longer. But such a thing would never be possible, not until all was finally right in his world. The mark on his wrist brought a new sensation, one of frustration and quiet resolve.To him, that meant only one thing.
Maeve was still alive.
The night breeze sifted through what remained of the palm trees, ruffling their thin, frail leaves. He inhaled, but the air was musty and stale. Thin, silver clouds floated across an inky sky, casting the moon in an obscured halo. Torches lit by faerie fire lined the courtyard and its surrounding corridors as guards patrolled throughout the palace grounds. It was quiet, and only the distant crashing of the waves upon the shore disturbed the stillness.
Tiernan sensed Lir’s presence before he heard him. His calm and reserved demeanor silenced even the most sacred of places.
His commander strolled along beside him, with his hands tucked behind his back. “Care for some company, my lord?”
They rounded a corner where the bursting fountains had run dry, and the flowers had turned to ash. Tiernan lifted his hand to one of the decrepit rose vines, stifling a sigh as the petals crumbled beneath his touch. “Does your company come with a way to ease the weight of troubles from my mind?”
“I’m afraid not.” Lir’s gaze followed the decaying flower as it withered away to nothing on the stone courtyard. Beats of measured silence passed between them before he spoke again. “She will return, my lord. I am sure of it.”
Tiernan absently rubbed at his chest, where the Strand connecting him to Maeve had dissipated. Weakened. There was an ache there now. A deep and grievous longing. “And yet, she has not.”
“She will,” Lir reiterated, his voice full of conviction. “The Ether is not for the weak-minded. She is intelligent. Maeve possesses a spine of steel and the heart of a warrior. She hasn’t returned because she wants to stay, but because she hasn’t figured out how to get back.”
Tiernan stilled, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked over at his commander, hating himself even as the question fell from his lips. “What if she can’t?”
“My lord?” Lir’s brow furrowed, shadows shifting and darkening the silver of his eyes.
“What if she can’t figure out how to return to us?”
Return to me,he wanted to say.
Lir gestured toward one of the balconies overlooking the sleeping city of Niahvess. “You doubt her so easily?”
“Of course not,” Tiernan countered a little too quickly. He heaved a breath, letting his shoulders rise, then fall. “I just…worry.”
“As one does.” Lir nodded, running his palms along the railing. Once bursting with plumeria, roses, and an assortment of other flowers he couldn’t name, the gilded stone balcony now stood empty, having been cleared of all the wilted blossoms.
“You know,” Lir continued, “it is not uncommon for one to lose sleep over those they love.”
Lir would know.
Tiernan crossed his arms and leaned out over the railing, his eyes flitting to the mountains, the city, the sea, then back again.
