Page 41 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)

Now

I n the late hours of the night, I decided it was time to slip out of the empty infirmary and seek out my shared rooms with Callista.

My shoulder and leg no longer hurt, and when I sat up to pull up one leg of the fresh pair of leggings the healer had brought me earlier, I found that my calf was perfectly healed.

A similar inspection of my shoulder, when I pulled down the sleeve of my new, untorn tunic, showed nothing but smooth unscarred skin.

I didn’t want to wait for the healer to release me before I could go to my sister. For all I knew, the next test was about to begin, with or without me, and I couldn’t let my sister endure it alone if there was any chance I could help her.

Or—worse still—Kaede could conjure another vampire from his nightmares to attack the manor’s occupants.

But, as usual, Willow Manor proved tricky to navigate.

Familiar halls suddenly turned in the wrong direction, and the staircase I climbed to reach the upper levels of the manor shifted while I ascended.

Catching myself on the handrail to avoid tumbling down the steps, I ventured upward to find that, instead of leading to the hall that held the entrance to my room, the staircase ended in a single narrow door.

Uneasily, I tried the knob to find that the door was unlocked.

I considered trying to turn around and seek my room, but, deep down, I knew the manor would lead me where it wanted me to go, however it had to.

The steps could just as easily move again, or the floor could tumble out from beneath me and drop me into a new room.

As much as I dreaded seeing where it was taking me, I didn’t see any sense in prolonging my wandering by resisting it.

Resigned, I opened the door and stepped into darkness. I was atop a tower under the night sky, starlight bathing the inky darkness in its shimmering beauty. Bats darted overhead, swooping and diving after unseen insects. Frogs chittered somewhere in the gardens below.

And then I saw the form slipping from the shadows, pulling away from the half-wall surrounding the tower.

Kaede’s chiseled features and deep eyes were as handsome as ever, wisps of his hair moving in the breeze he conjured around him.

It swept over me, carrying hints of cherry blossom and spring rain, lifting the hair off the back of my neck and caressing my cheeks and throat.

Warmth flooded me, for the touch was surprisingly intimate, as if the air that did Kaede’s bidding also let him feel my skin.

Like it was his hands and lips on me rather than the breeze.

The sensation was gone almost immediately, though, for a warning pricked at the back of my mind.

As familiar as the prince looked, there was something in his expression that was foreign.

A bat fluttered around him, briefly hovering by his ear as if sharing its secrets before it darted back into the night.

Kaede approached me slowly, his eyes reminding me of the darkness that had haunted them in my dream.

He’d hinted at death not only corrupting his magic, but also changing him.

I hadn’t wanted to believe it. I’d felt safe with him despite Bentley’s declaration that Kaede craved revenge, despite Kaede himself telling me he didn’t know if he wanted to kill me.

I’d trusted in the tender, merciful man I’d known a year ago.

But that man was dead.

The one before me was a prince of wind and nightmares. He wasn’t my heroic captain coming to my rescue, but a vengeful villain eyeing his prey.

I stepped backward, only for the stones beneath me to tilt, knocking me over. My back struck the tower floor, cool and unforgiving.

Slowly, Kaede knelt before me, tilting his head to take in the sight of me sprawled before him.

Like an offering.

Licking my lips, I scanned the tower, searching for a way out. The door that had brought me here now felt like a world away, impossible to access when Kaede blocked my path and could stop me in an instant. I would be better off throwing myself off this tower than trying to run from him.

“Aurelia.” When Kaede grasped my throat, his thumb against my fluttering pulse, his hold was surprisingly gentle.

He’s still in there. My tender prince. But there was no telling if the darkness would overpower whatever was left of Kaede.

He leaned closer, his breath brushing my ear.

“Is this a dream?” It was a hopeful question, but I didn’t believe it. Not this time. The world was too sharp, every sensation too vivid. The cool stone beneath my palms, the heat of Kaede’s presence, the scents of spring on the night breeze...they were too real.

“Not this time, princess.” There was no gentleness in his tone, only taunting.

I choked on a gasp when I felt cold steel against my neck. Inwardly, I cursed myself. I’d been trained better than that, to notice when a potential attacker was drawing a weapon. But this dark version of Kaede had been so unexpected.

Raw terror gripped me as I stared into his eyes, black and emotionless.

The iciness in them chilled me to the core even more than the threat to my life did.

It was terrible seeing him this way—the man that had urged me to dance in the rain, who’d comforted me after a nightmare, who’d held me to keep me warm, who’d laughed with his men and women and charmed everyone around him.

“Should I stab you as you stabbed me?” he whispered, lowering the blade toward my chest. “Plunge it through your heart, but in a way that won’t kill you instantly. Let the poison on the blade make you suffer instead.”

Tears stung my eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I choked out.

For the past year, I’d been haunted by what he must have endured.

The agony. The searing pain shutting down his organs.

The utter despair and grief and anger at being deceived by someone he’d grown to care for, someone whose life he’d saved more than once.

“Of course you say that now, when your life is threatened.” His tone was guttural.

“No, I’ve carried the guilt and regret and sorrow with me this whole time,” I whispered. “You felt my pain in my dream.”

“That was for your sister.” Kaede dipped closer to me, his nose brushing along my neck. My heart pounded, and I was sure he could hear it. His teeth scraped against skin, a silent threat.

Frozen, I didn’t dare move.

“Let me tell you what happened when you left me,” he said.

“The poison burned through my veins, smothering me in such agony I was delirious. In and out of consciousness, lost in my tangled emotions and thoughts, wondering why the woman who’d seemed so sincere, so honest and pure, could have betrayed me so viciously. ”

I closed my eyes against the burn of tears. Regret. Fear. Grief. “Kaede.”

“Don’t say my name,” he snarled, his teeth nipping against my skin.

A gasp caught in my lungs. “I’m giving you a reason—more than what you gave me.

When I died, I wasn’t at peace. I wasn’t able to cross into the afterlife—but I wasn’t able to find the glade of souls either, the in-between place where ghosts can rest until they’re able to move on.

I wandered, lost, alone, angry. The only thing that fed me was a need to find you. To know why .”

My stomach clenched as I imagined his soul, lost and hurt and confused, wandering this world. Unable to find peace.

“It was as if my magic turned against me,” Kaede went on.

“Instead of peace and healing and life, I knew only torment and anger and death. The nightmares began in death. I watched creatures, ravenous for the blood and strength of the living, materialize from my dreams and attack the innocent. And then, when my faithful guards sought the help of Ashwood to bring me back after my wrongful death...the darkness followed. The contamination continues to plague me, awake and asleep. It makes me crave blood the way those creatures do, makes me want to see them tear out throats. But yours...yours most of all.” His teeth pressed against my neck, and a tear slipped down my cheek.

“This isn’t you,” I whispered. “You can fight it. The guilt will haunt you even more. It already does. Those deaths—”

“Those deaths happened because of you.” His voice rumbled his accusation. “If you die, maybe I’ll finally be free of this darkness. Maybe this corruption of my magic will be healed.”

“And maybe not. Maybe it will make the darkness consume you even more, take away every last bit of the person you truly are.” I kept talking as I moved, twisting the wrist that held his dagger and forcing him to drop it while, at the same moment, I leaned into Kaede, slamming my head into his.

Pain pulsed through my forehead, but the movement had been unexpected enough that I achieved my intended result. Kaede pulled back, rubbing at his face as he groped along the tower rooftop for his dagger.

And then, I ran. Not for the door, which I knew would result in a fruitless chase through the manor until Kaede caught me, but toward the edge of the tower. Blood throbbed in my ears and my heart lodged itself somewhere in my throat as I climbed the half-wall.

“Aurelia!” There was anger in his voice, but also a hint of fear.

I prayed I’d assessed the situation correctly, that this calculated move wasn’t merely a stroke of madness.

And then I leapt.