Page 64 of Cursed Dreams (Shadow and Dreams #1)

B y the time they reached the village, night had long fallen.

The road had been quiet for hours, just the soft rhythm of hooves and the rustling of trees in the biting wind.

Thalia rode at the front now, guiding them through the winding lanes and familiar shadows of her childhood home.

The air smelled of damp earth and the faint trace of wood smoke, stirring every fond memory she had ever kept close.

Her village was unchanged. Small cottages nestled in clusters, stone walls winding around vegetable gardens and low fences, lanterns flickering warmly behind windows.

Somewhere, a dog barked lazily. The streets were empty, most people already asleep.

Except for one small cottage at the far edge of the main path, the one Thalia had once called home.

Her heart clenched as they approached. There it was.

Just as she'd left it. Ivy climbing the porch posts. The old swing creaking slightly in the breeze. The soft golden glow of light through the windows. Her mother’s herb garden looked recently tended.

Her father’s boots were just outside the door. The ache in her chest was too much.

She slid clumsily from her horse before it had even stopped moving. Her boots crunched on gravel as the door swung open.

“Thalia?” Goldora's voice trembled as she ran down the path, apron fluttering behind her. “Thalia!”

Thalia didn’t speak. Couldn’t speak. She stumbled forward and fell into her mother’s arms. Goldora wrapped her tightly, cradling her daughter’s head against her shoulder as Thalia sobbed into the crook of her neck. All the weeks of strength, of pushing forward, broke in a single heartbeat.

“Stars above,” Goldora whispered, brushing back Thalia’s hair, “What’s happened, my girl? What’s wrong?”

Rodric emerged from the doorway, eyes wide as he took in the sight of her and the unfamiliar faces behind filled with grief and exhaustion.

“Come inside,” Goldora said, taking Thalia’s face in her hands before ushering everyone in.

The cottage smelled of baking bread and dried herbs, of warmth and safety. Tansy the cat meowed once, startled by the sudden flurry of movement, and darted from her perch on the windowsill to weave around Thalia’s ankles with a chirp of welcome.

Cellen looked around awkwardly as he removed his boots by the hearth. “Nice place,” he muttered, trying for levity that didn’t quite land. Nyla sat quietly beside the fire, hands folded tightly in her lap, eyes rimmed red. The shadows under her eyes mirrored Thalia’s own.

Goldora poured tea and passed warm rolls into their hands as Thalia sat down between her parents. Rodric’s hand rested on his daughter’s shoulder, steady and strong. The room felt close, hushed.

“We received a letter from the temple an hour ago, telling us to expect you” Goldora told them concern etched into her face. “What’s going on Thalia?” “Are you in trouble?”

Heaving a large sigh, she steeled herself as she began to explain what had been going on these last few months.

Omitting parts, she felt they wouldn’t benefit from knowing like the glowing light that pulsed from her chest, and her relationship with Caelum —but enough.

She told them about her dream walking abilities, how she had met Caelum and discovered the truth of the High Fae.

She hesitated to explain who and what Vaelith was anger and fury still burning like a wildfire within her.

When it came to telling them of the loss of Marand.

She sobbed again. She looked up to see silent tears rolling down Cellen’s face and he stared mindlessly into the flames of the fire.

Goldora's hand tightened over hers. “Oh, my love…”

Thalia's breath hitched. “It’s my fault. I brought her into this.”

Rodric gently laid his callused fingers atop her other hand. “No, lass. Don’t carry that weight. She chose to stand beside you.”

Thalia noticed the subtle silent exchange going on between her parents. Goldora and Rodric exchanged glances, the kind that only long term married people shared that spoke more than words ever could.

“There are things we’ve never told you,” Rodric said slowly, his voice unusually grim.

Goldora stood, pacing for a moment before turning back to her daughter. Her expression was full of worry? reluctance, maybe even fear?

“Things we thought were best left in the past,” she said. “But it seems the past is not content to stay buried.”

Tansy leapt into Thalia’s lap, curling against her stomach with a low purr. Thalia absently stroked her fur, heart pounding.

“What things?” she asked, voice hoarse. “What don’t I know?”

Rodric and Goldora shared another look. The fire crackled softly in the hearth, the room so silent they could hear the wind rustling against the eaves of the cottage, waited for one of them to speak.

Goldora broke the silence first, her voice barely above a whisper. “We knew… pieces of it. Old stories, half-believed legends passed down in whispers. But some of them stayed with us, Thalia. Enough to know not everything in the temples is truth.”

Thalia blinked at her mother, stunned. “You knew?”

Rodric leaned forward, his voice grave. “We knew of the high fae. That they were not dead, as the histories claim, but cursed. Banished in the last days of the war. Their sacrifice was not meaningless. It weakened the dragons enough to force their retreat from the mortal lands. But the dragons… they didn’t just leave.

They cursed the high fae to be forgotten. Their names, their deeds, erased.”

Cellen let out a low whistle. “And the Forest?” “Did you know about that?”

Rodric nodded slowly. “It’s been spoken of for as long as anyone can remember, all across the lands. Dismissed as a legend, a myth told around fires. No one knows where it truly lies, or even how to begin finding it.”

Thalia stared at them, mouth parted, “You knew all of this. All these years. I spent months in the temple searching for this knowledge” “All this time, and you knew?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They had kept this from her!

Rodric’s expression darkened with sorrow. “We didn’t know it would become your path. And the older you grew, you were so focused on being a healer in the temple Thalia, we didn’t want to fill your head with nonsense”

“Nonsense, “Thalia could feel the anger rising in her at his words, it wasn’t nonsense!

Nyla reached over and gently took Thalia’s hand. “Thalia…” she said quietly.

But Thalia could barely hear her. Her thoughts were spinning, heart pounding with everything she’d just learned. If she had known this sooner… if she had known, Marand might still be... She couldn’t allow herself to finish that thought.

She clenched her hands, her heart twisting painfully.

Cellen’s voice, rougher than usual, broke the silence. “So, what now? “

Rodric stood and placed a hand on Thalia’s shoulder. “You get some sleep, all of you. Tomorrow morning, I’ll come with you to the forest.”

Goldora set down her teacup and moved to Thalia, brushing her hand through her daughter’s hair. “You’ve come so far, my girl. Whatever lies ahead, know we are proud of you.”

Emotion surged in Thalia’s throat. She nodded, unable to speak.

As they rose and moved toward the bedrooms Goldora had prepared for their guests, Thalia cast one last glance at her parents. They had known. All this time, they had known. The thought hollowed something in her.

She climbed into the small bed Nyla would share with her, curling toward the wall with a silent tear sliding down her cheek.