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“But Arthur...”

He laughed. “A coincidence. Oh, it chimed very nicely with the prophecy, I’ll give you that.”

“But he did die the day she was born,” I insisted. “Just as the prophecy said.”

“That’s one interpretation. Doesn’t the prophecy also say she’ll bring about the end of the world?”

“‘In the child’s hands, lies the end of the world,’” I quoted. “Not my favorite line.”

“Well, we just need to keep her far away from her grandfather.”

I nodded. “Just as I promised her mother I’d do.” I’d sworn to Orcades I would kill our father myself.

“You may not believe this, Morgan,” Draven said, pulling me against him. “But you’re stronger than he is.”

He was right. I didn’t believe that. It seemed impossible.

“If I am, it’s only because I have Excalibur. And what happens when I destroy the sword?”

“Perhaps your father’s power will break,” Draven suggested. “Don’t forget we have the grail, too.”

“It can’t be that easy.” I yawned.

“All of this talk of world doom making you sleepy, my silver one?” He stroked my hair, then kissed the top of my head. “Rest now. I’ll guard you.”

It went unspoken between us that he could guard my body. But could he guard my mind?

“The true dreamings... Those I might be able to teach you to block eventually if they become a burden. But the world you brought us both to? Our cottage?” I felt Draven sigh. “That’s something else entirely. Try to stay away from that place, Morgan. Can you do that?”

I hoped I could. “I’ll try.”

“Good. And I’ll be here. I mean it. I’ll keep watch. Just sleep now. Relax your body and rest.” He ran his hand over my back again and again, rubbing my tired muscles. It was bliss.

My eyes closed. I thought of Medra. Little Medra. My niece.

Did even babies dream?

It was the last thing I wondered as I fell asleep.

CHAPTER 14 - MORGAN

All of the wise ones were gone.

Merlin. Caspar. Yes, even bloody Tyre.

There was no one to teach me how to shield my mind completely or to explain the dream world I visited when I closed my eyes—to explain just where it was, what it was.

I knew only one other true dreamer. My mate. And I knew even he had struggled to fully block his dreams when his father had tried to use them to his own advantage.

So when I wound up in the exact place I didn’t want to be, it should really have been no surprise.

I was an ignorant girl, just as Daegen had said, in many ways.

The cottage was ash and ruins now.

I walked down the little path towards the pile of rubble. Blackened pieces of wood and charred stone were all that remained.

I thought of the pretty cookware in the kitchen. The colorful rugs strewn over the cottage floors. Then I thought of the paintings. Draven’s paintings. They had covered an entire wall, copies of sketches and paintings that he had made in the waking world.