Court of Dreams (Institute of the Shadow Fae Book 4)

by C. N. Crawford

  She cocked her head, frowning as if unwilling to believe I was real. Then, light beamed from her features, and her eyes glistened. She touched my cheek. “Liora?”

  I didn’t know what to say. How did we recap everything that had happened? So, I killed you, then ran away to become enslaved, and then a Knight of the Shadow Fae arrived and we had to find a satyr’s penis and…. Instead, I just said, “Yeah.”

  She grabbed onto me so tight I thought my ribs would crack, and I thought, for a moment, her claws had come out. Her loud sobs echoed off the walls, and her tears wet my shoulder. Around me, I heard the sound of chains breaking as Ruadan freed the other fae.

  I wrapped my arms around her. She was smaller than me now. How had that happened? The last time I saw her, I could still fit in her lap and rest my head on her shoulder when I was upset. Now, I felt like I could break her. Her hug was ferocious. Mine was gentle.

  Through her sniffles, she let out a long breath. “When did you get so big?”

  I pressed my face into her neck. “Some time in the past dozen years, I guess.”

  Her fingertips brushed over my upper arm. “How did you get this scar?”

  Oh, Mum. That was one of dozens. “Long story.”

  She pulled away, narrowing her eyes at me. “Did anyone try to hurt you after you left Eden?” The fierceness in her voice actually made me jolt.

  I just shrugged. “I’m fine.”

  She nodded. “Right. I want you to tell me everything that happened since I last saw you. Everything. Every day and every hour.”

  “I will. I promise. In a bit. Are you okay, though? You were just … dead.”

  “You killed me again, didn’t you?”

  I wiped a tear off my cheek. “Oh, I see. Just coming right out with the murder accusations thirty seconds into our reunion?”

  “It’s the second time you’ve hit me with your death magic. Your father’s going to have to teach you to control it.”

  That sharp fissure of grief started to open in my chest again as I realized she didn’t know about Adonis, and I was going to have to tell her.

  “It wasn’t me,” I said. “This time, I mean. It was Dad. Or, rather, the Horseman of Death. I brought you all back, just like he did when I killed you.”

  She went still, her body rigid. “What?”

  “His seal has been opened. He turned into the Horseman of Death. I had to kill him. His body is in Smithfield, outside.”

  She arched an eyebrow at me, the look a mum gave when she thought you were full of shit but didn’t want to say so. A long sigh. “Oh, Liora.” The disappointment in her voice made me feel terrible. She gripped my shoulders so hard I was certain she’d leave bruises. “None of what you’re saying makes sense.”

  “I know what I’m talking about,” I said defensively, feeling suddenly like a child who’d just reported a monster under my bed. “I just did a whole death angel thing and brought everyone back from the dead.”

  Gripping my hand hard, she pulled me toward the churchyard. I shot a helpless look at Ruadan, following her lead.

  “First of all,” my mum said, “I pulled the curse off him long ago. He can’t be cursed.”

  We’d only just become reunited, and I already wanted to argue with my mum. “He killed everyone, Mum. I saw him in the church, and he said some creepy stuff about killing with swords and beasts. He barely looked at me, then he flew out into the skies. The air smelled of sulfur and blood, and then he unleashed his death magic. That’s how you died.”

  “Second of all,” she went on, ignoring my airtight arguments, “you can’t kill him. Only I can.”

  Granted, I was less certain of this one. The blood thing had been a guess. “I thought maybe my blood would kill him, because you can kill him, and I came from you.”

  She shook her head, practically dragging me into Smithfield. “It’s not my blood that could kill him. It’s the magic in these.” She pointed at the tiny gemstones in her forehead. “I’m sure you did some damage, Liora, but you didn’t kill him. He’ll be fine.”

  I frowned. “Okay, fine. But he had definitely turned evil.”

  “Evil, yes. Cursed, no.” She beamed at me. “Liora, what have you been doing all this time? I can’t believe how big you are.”

  My throat was tight. “We can go over that later. How did you end up in the cloisters?”

  “Nyxobas found his way through the glamour. He knocked out our entire village with his sleep magic a few weeks ago. I woke up chained and soaking wet in the cloisters, and your father was gone. That’s all I know. I’ve hardly eaten anything in weeks.”

  We drew closer to my father, who lay flat on his back in the square. The arrow I’d shot him with protruded from his chest. Blood streamed from it. He’d gone completely still.

  My mum looked back at me with pride. “Did you shoot him down from the air? Well done, Liora. You weren’t that good with a bow and arrow last time I saw you. You’d hardly used one.”

  I blinked at her. What was even real right now? “Um, I feel you might not be taking this situation as seriously as you should be.”

  She fixed her green eyes on mine. “Your father can’t die unless I kill him. And even if that happened, you could bring him back, just like he brought you back weeks ago. You have that power over each other.” She took another step closer, inspecting me carefully. “That’s why I always knew you were okay. At least until a few weeks ago, when someone killed you. Your father had to bring you back. What happened then, exactly?”

  I swallowed hard. “His name was Baleros, and he was a monster.” I gestured at around me. “He’s responsible for all this. For Nyxobas taking you out of Eden. For whatever happened to Dad. A whole bunch of shit. But he’s dead now.”

  “You killed him?”

  I nodded. “For good this time.”

  That pride shone from her face again, along with the gleaming of the gemstones in her forehead. Despite everything I’d been through, I felt as proud as she looked.

  My mum knelt next to my father’s body. His wings spread out beneath him—the darkest blue, feathers shot through with strands of silver.

  “But like I said,” my mum added, “you didn’t kill him.”

  Something I hadn’t noticed before now caught my eye—the faintest hint of shadow magic glowed around the necklace he wore, the one with a flower encased in amber. I knelt by his side, staring at the necklace. It was so faint I could hardly see it, but it was there—a vague midnight glimmer of shadow magic. Just like Baleros had used on Barry. Baleros had used his magic to control the both of them.

  “I think I found the problem.” I reached around his throat and unclasped the necklace. I lifted it into the air, the crimson flower glinting in the sunlight.

  Soft footsteps sounded behind me, and I smelled Ruadan’s piney approach, felt his magic curling around me. He leaned down and plucked the necklace from my hand, then rolled it over between his fingertips. “Nyxobas charmed this.”

  My mum stared at Ruadan, eyes hard as flint. “Who’s this ancient fae, exactly?”

  I cleared my throat. “That’s a long story, really…. There are a lot of … really just a lot of misunderstandings over the years—”

  My mum looked like she was about to go feral. “He’s too old for you.”

  My mouth opened and closed, and I considered pointing out that the Horseman of Death lying before us was several thousand years older than she was.

  Ruadan looked her directly in the eye. “I’m Ruadan, Prince of Emain, Grand Master of the Shadow Fae Institute. I saw you years ago when I—”

  “I have an idea,” I said, interrupting this reminiscence before he got to the tried to kill your husband part. Ruadan had many beautiful qualities, but tact wasn’t his strong suit. “How about we get the arrow out of my dad’s chest, and then we can chat about all the fun memories later.”

  Ruadan cocked his head, then nodded. “Yes.”

  I looked down at my dad’s perfect face, the
dark sweep of lashes and straight black eyebrows. Already, I could tell my mother was right. The arrow had stopped his heart, but there was still life in him. His skin still had a healthy glow.

  I gripped the iron shaft, then yanked it from his chest. With his eyes still closed, he took a deep breath. Then, his eyes opened, and I leaned over him to look into them—the sapphire and gold of my memory.

  A little crease formed between his dark eyebrows.

  “Dad. I’m sorry I….” I swallowed hard. “Shot you out of the sky.” I bit my lip. “Although you were killing everyone, so….”

  He beamed at me, drawing me close into his arms. “Bug.”

  I breathed in the scent of myrrh. He wasn’t a monster—and neither was I.

  Chapter 34

  On top of one of the Institute’s towers, I sat on a blanket between my mum and my dad. We were drinking wine out of silver goblets, and we stared up at the spray of stars across the sky. Their bodies warmed mine, and I plucked another strawberry from the bowl before us.

  “And that’s how I became the amazing sword fighter I am today.” The pride in my voice was evident.

  After several hours, I’d finally finished telling them about what I’d been doing since I’d last seen them.

  “A gladiator?” The rage in my father’s voice ruined the serenity of the moment. “A slave?”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” I lied. “I made a good friend. Ciara. And then I got out.” I left out the iron box and the sweets. I was done with that part of my life, now, and there was no need to keep reliving it.

  A few clouds began gathering on the horizon, covering the moon.

  “I want to raise Baleros from the dead and kill him again,” said my dad.

  “Can you do that?” I asked.

  “No,” he admitted.

  “Tell me again why we’re not supposed to kill Ruadan,” said my mum. “He came into Eden to kill us. He took you away from us.”

  I heaved a sigh. “I already told you. He didn’t take me away. I ran through the portal because I thought Dad had killed everyone, since you’d never before told me he was an angel. And Ruadan didn’t know what he was getting into, either, when he came to Eden. He thought he was coming for an angel, and that was it. Not the Horseman. And moreover, I love him, and he loves me.”

  Silence fell, broken only by the sound of the wind rushing over the parapet.

  “I feel safe with him,” I added.

  We could have argued, I supposed, about whose fault it was that the worlds closed at all—was it the Institute’s? Was it my father’s? Instead, they let my last words hang in the air for another minute.

  My mum watched me pull another strawberry from the bowl. “Since when did you start easting strawberries?”

  I took a bite. “What?”

  “You don’t eat strawberries,” my father added. “You hardly eat any fruit.”

  “Or meat,” my mum added.

  “Just bread and butter,” said my dad. “If you weren’t immortal, I’d worry about your health.”

  “And milk,” my mum added. “You always need milk at night at three in the morning.”

  It was quickly becoming clear that their image of me would be stuck in the distant past, at least for a while. I might look completely different, but in their minds, I was still a child. I was still young enough to wake them up at night with nightmares.

  And for just a few minutes, I liked it that way.

  There was still time for them to get used to me—the adult me, the one who could take care of herself. We were immortals, and we’d get around to it. But for this night, I was just their daughter again.

  They’d have to return to their own world at some point, but with Ruadan at my side, I’d be able to see them whenever I wanted. I’d have my family back.

  I lay alone in the bed I shared with Ruadan, wrapped in our silky sheets. Three months had passed since I’d found my parents again, since I’d pulled the death magic off Ruadan and the Knights.

  Three months of pure bliss.

  Through his magic, Ruadan had lured me into sleeping in an actual bed, like a civilized person.

  Outside, the setting sun cast ginger rays over periwinkle clouds. Night would fall over the Institute’s ancient riverside towers soon.

  I closed my eyes, thinking of the moment I’d brought him back from the dead.

  The truth was, caring for other people could make you vulnerable, but it could make you strong, too—like the mums who suddenly develop the strength of a superhero to lift a car off their toddlers. My love for Ruadan had turned me into someone who could heal, not just kill.

  A knock sounded on the door, and I wrapped a bed sheet around myself. Then, I crossed to the door.

  I pulled it open to find Ruadan there, his silver crown gleaming on his head. He was dressed in his finest black clothes, and they fitted beautifully over his powerful body. Light from the setting sun washed him in hues of gold.

  He held out a flowered wreath to me. “As promised. Moonflowers for the night realm, columbines for faithfulness, myrtle for love, and yew leaves for death. I couldn’t ignore the monstrous side that I love.”

  I took it from him, smiling. Something ivory flashed in the wreath. My nose wrinkled. “Did you put bones in this?”

  “Bits of tusk from an Emain boar.”

  “Right. And what is that about?”

  He frowned. “They’re just large feral pigs, basically.”

  I blinked at him, and it took me a moment to remember that Ruadan had an extremely dry and extremely strange sense of humor sometimes.

  Then, a smile danced over his lips. “They represent your ferocity and mine.”

  So he thought of me a bit like a feral pig. Ruadan was not the best with tact, but I loved him anyway. “Well, it’s strange and perfect.”

  His gaze swept over me. “You’re not dressed.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m not. It’s bad luck to see a bride in her dress before the wedding. How much time do we have?”

  “The sun will set in about twenty minutes.”

  “Best leave me to get dressed, then. I’ll meet you outside, when I’m making you my husband.”

  Of course, only a moonlight wedding would do for the Shadow Fae.

  I glanced at the dress hanging on the wall. My mum had made it, of course. Dresses were more her thing than mine. It was the thinnest of materials, ephemeral and gorgeous, with tiny flecks of glittering, pale blue gems, just like the ones in her forehead.

  I pulled it on and inched it down over my hips. The silky material fitted me perfectly—tight around the hips, but with enough room that I could move my legs—and the lace sleeves showed off my strong arms. My mum had done well. Even the high-heeled shoes matched the dress perfectly, though I could hardly walk in them.

  I lifted the crown of flowers to my head, then turned to look at myself in the mirror. I smiled. No one did glamour like my mum, and I looked perfect. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Ruadan’s face, although I knew he liked me well enough in tattered, bloodied clothes anyway.

  A last ray of amber light caught my eyes before the sun slipped behind the horizon completely.

  “I … a darkness. Dick.” A deep voice turned my head. Demented Mike stood in the door holding a flower out to me—a red anemone, just like the ones that grew on the riverbank in Eden. “For you.” He smiled. “Happy.”

  I crossed to him and plucked it from his hand, smiling. “Thanks, Mike. We need to get you some more of that magic tea.”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned, sauntering down the hallway, whistling. It was weirdly good to see him again, even if we still needed to work on his language skills.

  I turned back to the mirror and threaded the red flower into my crown. It was only another moment before more footsteps sounded down the hall and Melusine poked her head in the door.

  Then, just beside her, Ciara’s freckled face, grinning.

  “You guys can come in,” I said. “Fo
r a minute.” I peered out the window at the chairs arranged on the Tower Green in two rows of semicircles. Guests were already starting to arrive and fill them, their jewels gleaming in the twilight.

  Ciara lay on my bed. She wore a pink dress with puffy sleeves and sequins, and I had no idea where she had found it, but it looked several decades old and distinctly human. She propped herself up on her elbows, staring at me dreamily. “You look beauuuuutiful. I could just light you on fire. Grrrrrrr, why does beauty make me feel aggressive?”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Please don’t light me on fire.” Ruadan was letting her live here at the Institute with us—and so far, a little fire magic had come in handy among the Shadow Fae.

  Melusine held a long bit of gossamer fabric in her hands. “I see a wedding dress, I think the wedding is about to start. I put two and two together. But you need your veil.”

  “I’m glad I have you here, then,” I said.

  I faced the window while Melusine pinned the veil to my floral crown. “What’s this made out of?” I asked.

  “Spider silk, woven by the dungeon spiders.”

  “I did not know we had dungeon spiders.” I still had so much to learn about this ancient fortress….

  I stared through the aged glass panes at Ruadan, who drank from a silver cup. For once, he was the one who seemed to be fortifying himself with alcohol instead of me.

  My parents were out there—standing as far as they could from Ruadan’s mother, Queen Macha. Gods, she still scared the shite out of me. My mother-in-law for the rest of eternity, a woman who fed off the violent subjugation of her enemies.

  Well, maybe we could just avoid her.

  It was at this point I realized that I had no idea how this wedding ceremony was going to work. I assumed I’d just walk down an aisle with flowers or something, but the chairs in semicircles were throwing me off. “What exactly is going to happen at this wedding, Melusine?” If anyone would know the details, it would be Melusine.