Chapter 9
Once Upon a Dream
T he kiss was sudden but sweet. Short but lingering. And even when it was over, it seemed that she was still overcome by its spell. But they had to stay focused on their objective.
What was their objective? “Did . . . did it help?”
Tom held his cat-like smirk, but his hazel eyes seemed more focused. Eager. He shook his head with mocking disapproval. “Well, I have to say, I’m a little disappointed. I mean, it was nice—inspired, even—but I can definitely see some room for improvement.” He pulled her hand to his waist. “Your hand should be there. Mine should be here,” his hand moved to the small of her back, “and it should go on longer and a bit more like this.”
He kissed her again. Deeper. Longer. Something out of a literal dream. But he still hadn’t answered her question. She pushed him away like the naughty and incorrigible beast he was under his princely facade. “Tom, did it work?”
“Tabitha, I love you,” he said with a sudden certainty and confidence that seemed so unmistakably Tom . “I know I was only a cat to you, and it might take you a bit longer to feel the same way, but I tried to visit other dreams when I first came to this place—my sister, my father, even that useless miller boy—and you were the only one who seemed to see me. You were the one I wanted to come home to. What else do I need to know?”
Tabitha couldn’t answer him. Music had started flowing from the nearby ballroom. In the background, fae dancers moved in a kaleidoscope of moving colors Tabitha couldn’t track. There had been something else she had wanted to tell Tom, something important, but perhaps he was right. Perhaps it wasn’t important right now. Did he really love her? Could he?
His smile became smug in her silence as if sensing her acceptance. He examined her face again with a deliberate slowness, letting the heat rise again in her cheeks, before stopping with her lips. He pulled her closer when a new voice came from behind.
“I’m sorry, but am I interrupting something?”
Tom instantly sobered and stepped around her, putting himself between her and the newcomer—a fae man equal to him in height. The fae had white hair as long as a maiden’s and worn in a queue under an impressive pair of stag antlers. Tom bowed his head. “Of course not, my prince. I was just showing this new human to her room.”
“Oh? And was that all you were showing her?” the elegant fae man said skeptically. For a moment, his emerald eyes flashed, and both his front canines and his ears narrowed into sharper points. “I’ve heard others talking of this new human. They say she comes from the Summer Princess, which I find very interesting. I’m sure there are others who would find it interesting as well.”
Tom shook his head, his expression decidedly blank. “She isn’t interesting at all.”
“No?” His eyebrows rose, his voice a challenge. Understated but deadly. “Well, then it should be no hardship to you to forget her and do the task you were assigned to do.” The fae man turned and left, and for a moment, it seemed all they could do was stare after him in silence.
“Who . . . Who was that?” Tabitha asked.
“The Prince of Beasts,” Tom answered without looking at her.
A prince? Tom had mentioned a prince. “Was he the one who . . . Did you—”
“You can’t go near him,” Tom said with a sudden sharpness, “and we must make certain he has no reason to come after you. Which means . . .” Sudden sorrow crossed his face. Then determination. “I have to go.” Tom jerked into motion, shepherding her away from the great hall. “There is another task I need to complete. And you can find our rooms at the top of these stairs.”
“Our rooms?” Tabitha frowned, still looking back at the fae prince.
“The rooms for all the Queen’s elevated servants and thralls, though it’s just me, you, and a couple of children right now,” Tom said, still pushing her toward the stairs.
“Children? The Queen keeps human children?” Tabitha could barely keep up with this.
Tom gestured impatiently to another staircase on the opposite side of the hall, where two children were sliding down the banister without restraint. The adult fae did nothing to stop them and even seemed to be encouraging them to go faster. Climb higher. What if they fell? “The Queen calls them Han’sel and Gret’sel,” Tom said. “They were lost in the woods.”
Of course. “Then we must save them too.”
“Yes. We should save them, but you must go upstairs now.” He gestured again more fervently. “You can have any room you want, even if you have to take out some of my stuff. Just . . . wait for me there, all right? Please?”
He seemed so earnest that Tabitha couldn’t argue. “All right.” She took a few steps up the stairs, but her eyes never left Tom. She couldn’t take another step. She didn’t know how to solve all the evils of the Fae Realm, but she couldn’t pretend not to notice how much he had changed when the fae prince appeared.
She couldn’t just leave him, not when she had come all this way to bring him home.
As soon as he turned back to the crowd, she came down after him, watching him through the mass of fae and faerie beasts the best she could. But he didn’t go toward the fae prince, and before Tabitha could determine what his intended destination was, another familiar voice found her instead.
“Oh, good. I found you,” said the faerie cat. She stood next to Tabitha’s cat, Bandit, with her tail fidgeting with agitation. “We were mingling, and I got some more answers if you still have questions. I’ll even give them to you for free as it seems we might have walked into some trouble that I’m sure you’ll see is only partially my fault.”
“What kind of trouble?” Tabitha said, still tracking Tom’s progress through the crowd. But the fae dancers in the ballroom had become unwelcome distractions as they moved in a chaotic swarm, constantly switching partners, striking out on their own, or even floating in the air when the mood struck them.
It was just as she imagined a fae ball would be, of all the dratted luck.
“The Summer Princess is in the Borderlands,” the faerie cat said, almost shouting to be heard. “She took over the whole desert kingdom in the southeast, making them all her subjects.”
Tabitha blinked, finally giving the cats her full attention. She didn’t know anything about the southeastern kingdom. Could it be possible? “But Tom said that the fae only take humans who are stray.”
“Yes, that is the Queen’s rule—to take only strays and do subtle magic in the human kingdoms to keep peace between the two realms—but her daughter has decided to do this on her own. And the Queen hasn’t stopped her. The Queen believes her daughter will find the folly of her actions on her own, that such a public display of magic amongst the humans will only cause one of their legendary heroes to rise in vengeance as the old tales go. In fact, many believe that has already taken place. They say that a band of heroes has recently subjugated the Summer Princess, strengthening the Fae Queen’s claim that using more magic in the Mortal Realm will bring trouble.”
Tabitha had a sudden sinking feeling, and she reached down to pick up Bandit, needing the distraction. “But you told them I was a gift of the Summer Princess.”
“And this will make some of the fae believe the opposite, that the Summer Princess is doing well—well enough to flaunt her power by gifting you to the Queen—and so there is no reason that more of them shouldn’t follow in her footsteps, doing more magic and taking more thralls from the Mortal Realm.”
Tabitha couldn’t even imagine how awful that could be. Her whole kingdom could be in danger, just when the cursed plague had come to an end.
And the cat wasn’t done. “I’m afraid this has been a source of conflict in the Fae Courts for some time. The Queen is powerful and still has plenty of her own supporters, but her laws have limited the magic of her subjects, and there are many who resent her for it. A dip in any direction could bring us to the brink of war.”
Tabitha shook herself and looked again for Tom. This was far too much for her to manage on her own. They had to leave as soon as possible. She finally spied him at the front of the ballroom and froze, causing the faerie cat to prompt her again.
“So what do you want to do? Trust me, nothing is more tiresome than a magical fae war.”
Tabitha was still staring. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. She had just shared her first kiss with Tom, he told her he loved her, but now he was with the most beautiful fair-haired woman Tabitha had ever seen.
And he was kissing her. Passionately.
The music still played. The fae dancers still spun in heedless abandon, but Tabitha’s head shook of its own accord. This was all too much, and she only had one wish.
One more dream for her words to bring to life.
“I want to go home,” she said, and the palace around her faded into an endless white.