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“You will never find a queen as powerful as I am. The one to bring me the Stormshade bitch’s head will be granted a seat on my council.”

Another roar.

It seemed she wasn’t keen on stealing my magic anymore. She wanted my head. Perhaps she was as anxious to end this war as I was… though I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“When she comes, we will be ready!”

Her voice was louder now, the soldiers below beating their closed fists against their breastplates, a chorus erupting among them.

“Nightshade Queen! Nightshade Queen! Long live Queen Donika!”

Did they know she had usurped the throne from Osiris? Pretended to be on his side, then slain him in cold blood, taking his throne? Osiris left an heir behind, and my blood was the rightful blood of the throne. I wanted a better future for Istmere, and all Donika wanted was more blood.

More destruction. More hate.

A flash of white caught my eye, and I turned to see a number of Noctani walking out onto the field, Corian among them. I quicklybacked up, unsure if he had seen me standing beside Donika at the rail. I clasped my hand against my chest, taking a deep, stabilizing breath. His head turned towards the balcony, but I pressed myself against the stone wall where I had left the token, splaying my hands against it.

Trying my hardest to become invisible.

From this point of view, he shouldn’t be able to see me. I was hidden by the wall and the alcove within.

I could no longer see how many Noctani were marching out onto the field from this point of view. Despite that fact I was confident the numbers were forty or less based on the information we had gleaned from my dream walking and those we killed in Akra. Nothing we couldn’t handle with the right soldiers. Donika released her shadows, and they dispersed among the crowd. They dropped to their knees in awe before her.

I had seen what I had come to see, and I needed to wake up before I got caught here by Corian. To our knowledge, he was the only dream walker we had encountered in The Stone Palace, but he might not be the only one she kept close.

It was time to go.

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

I focused on the sensation of Nik’s hand in mine, bringing myself back into the present.

“The Shade who brings me the head of my mother… now…thatShade will get a special reward, indeed.”

Donika’s words had bile rising up the back of my throat once more. How could she relish killing our own mother? She relished killingmebecause she was jealous. Jealous of my power. Jealousthat Annelise left her and Zion to start a life and a family with Osiris.

She thought she had been slighted at every turn, when in reality her situation was one of her own making. She let her hate and dark magic consume her, taking her over and driving her to be devoured by it. I still found it difficult to believe she could feelnothingtowards our mother. That she wanted her head as much as she wanted my own.

I shook my head, backing towards the French doors of the terrace.

Wake up.

Wake up.

I could sense my hand clasped firmly in someone’s grip, and I focused on that. The sensation of skin on mine. A sweaty palm pressed against me.

The next time I blinked I was no longer in Akra, I was propped against Nik’s shoulder in his bedroom in Siraleth. My eyes met his as relief washed over me. I leaned forward to capture his mouth with mine.

I had woken up much easier than I ever had in the past with Nik as my anchor. I imagined the bond pulling me back to him, and I could sense his presence on the other end of it.

“What did you see?” His voice held a note of desperation in it. “I hated seeing you like that. Unreachable. I pray you saw what you needed to and we don’t need to do this again.”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to do this again. I should try to spy as much as possible in the next week. Nik… she knows we are coming,” I replied.

“How could she know?” His eyes narrowed in confusion. “We have been so careful about who we’ve told our plans to.”

I nodded, biting my lip. “We have, but we must still have a spy in the resistance somewhere. Someone reporting back to her. But we can’t worry about that now. She is assembling her army and her numbers are… vast.”

“And the Araneoch?” he asked.