Page 124 of The Toymaker's Son

I pulled him into my arms and crushed him close. He sighed, tucked his head in, and trembled, but his warm embrace brought life and strength back to my bones. This world didn’t seem so terrible a place now that I’d found him again.

“Val, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “For all of it. I told him not to bring you here. I begged him to leave you alone.” His whole body trembled. “You were free. I wanted that for you. I’m sorry, so sorry. Forgive me.”

I hugged him harder, as though the closer we became, the stronger it made us. “It’s all right. I should never have hurt you like I did. It was terrible. I’m sorry too, Devere.” I clutched his cool, tear-stained face in my hands and wished I could tear out my heart and give it to him so he’d know how I’d always been his. We’d both been lied to, been used and tortured by the real puppet master. “How long have you been here?”

“Forever, I think. It never ends.”

I’d been wrong about so much, but I’d make up for it. “Adair is coming. How do we stop him? How do we make it end?”

“If I knew that, I would not be here.”

“Iron, you said? Iron kills the fae.”

Sadness softened his gaze, then determination crept in, hardening it again. “Yes, if you can find it. This is his world. The house is rich with silver and gold, but not iron.”

“The fireplace pokers?”

He shook his head. “There are none.”

There had to be a way to lure Adair somewhere he was weaker, where we’d have the advantage. “Then… we go home? To my world, the real world.”

Devere shuddered and pulled from my arms. “What if there is no room for my magic in your reality?”

There had to be. Devere couldn’t just exist in dreams. He was real to me, in my heart. Fae magic had to exist outside their fantasy worlds. I dug my hand into my pocket and showed him the toy bird. “I found this in my world. I think Adair left it—”

Devere’s face lit up. “No, I sent it to find you.”

“It did find me, and it was as real and solid there as it is here, now.”

He took the bird and smiled. “You saw this in reality, outside of the toy shop?” I nodded, and his smile grew. “Perhaps there is hope.”

“He came to me there. Adair did. I was about to be…” Ah, the marriage. It seemed another terrible thing to have done, to have almost married someone else. “It’s complicated.”

“I know about the wedding, Val. It’s all right.”

It was far from all right, not least because Adair had murdered Elisabeth. But there was no time to discuss it. “If you and I go to my world, the real world, Adair will follow, and he’s vulnerable there. That’s where we must kill him.”

Dev handed the bird back. “If you believe it, so do I.”

Ididbelieve it. Adair was too strong in dreams. He controlled all we saw and touched and tasted. But in my world, reality cagedhim. I took Devere’s hand and raised him to his feet. He was as real to me as the bird he’d sent, as real as my every heartbeat. This would work.

“All right, so how do we get back?” I asked.

He blinked, glanced around us at the motionless dancers, and frowned. “That is a pertinent question. If we can get to the toy store, there is a clock there, the anchor—”

“We won’t make it. Adair has wolves in the woods.” I showed him my bloody sleeve.

“Curse him.” Devere’s softness quickly solidified into determination. “Then we find the dream’s anchor here. He will have one. Something substantial, something different that does not fit this world. There will be one. We find that, and there’s a chance I can manipulate it and shatter this dream.”

I nodded, and we quietly maneuvered our way through the silent mannequins, out into the foyer and to the grand staircase. His hand slipped from mine. “We should split up, cover more ground—”

I grabbed his hand again. “No, we don’t separate. I’ve just found you again. I’m not leaving you.” I hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but we were stronger together.

He threw me a quick, knowing smile. “Dare I admit I missed you?”

“I believe you just did.”

He pulled me into his arms and sighed against my neck. “I’m sorry he brought you back.”

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