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CHAPTER TEN

A va laid in the bed in her room at the Din’Glai and stared up at the woven tree branches that made up her ceiling.

And found herself debating a very important, and deeply existential concept. It had been added to the list of all of mankind’s greatest questions in her head.

Was there an afterlife or a soul?

Was there any purpose to life at all?

Was there really such a thing as good or evil?

Was God, the one God or any of them, real?

Was dream sex real sex?

The thought had never occurred to her before that moment in time. And suddenly, it was very, very crucial that she settle on one side of the line or the other. Because her life had just become far more complicated, which was a trick. A day ago, she didn’t think that was possible. But here she was.

Staring at the ceiling.

Debating whether she actually had sex with Serrik or not.

Last night's dream had been… well… Different, to say the least. After the emotional devastation of seeing Nos and Ibin at the gala and the revelation of their betrayal, she'd collapsed into bed, know ing exactly what was going to be waiting for her when she did.

And Serrik hadn’t disappointed.

And that was the goddamn problem.

She’d expected a fight. What she hadn’t expected was how the fight had ended.

Her cheeks burned at the memory. It had felt almost real — every touch, every sensation, every growled word. Even now, she could feel the ghost of his lips against hers, and the sting of where his teeth had sunk into her throat.

She could recall with perfect clarity the way his golden eyes had gone dark as he had asked for permission to fill her blood with his poison.

But after that, things became…muddy. She remembered the flickering fire.

The sensation of him moving inside of her.

The sound of her name on his lips when he’d?—

“Fuck,” she muttered, pressing her hands over her eyes.

It’d been amazing. Better than amazing. The kind of mind-blowing experience that made it hard to remember why she was supposed to be mad at him. Why she was supposed to be wary of him.

And that was the goddamn problem!

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she hung her head and sighed.

Sweeping her hair back from her face, she plodded across the space to the bathroom.

She had to see. She had to know how much explaining she was going to have to do to everyone that day, or if she was suddenly going to have to sport a scarf like she was starring in a shitty vampire movie.

Turning her head to the side, she eyed her reflection in the elegant, antique silvered mirror. Leaning in close, she hummed. There wasn’t a mark. Small favors. Rubbing the spot on her skin, she didn’t feel any bruise or anything. There was no proof that he’d bitten her at all.

Because he hadn’t bitten her physical body.

Just her mental one ?

But something on her had changed. Her tattoo. It had spread farther down her arm, curling around her bicep in elegant, spiderweb lines. Dream or not, real or not, that was still growing, filling in a little bit more, every time she slept.

And with it, that connection to Serrik that she was so desperately trying to avoid by coming here was going to continue to grow, wasn’t it?

I made it worse last night anyway.

I fucked him. We had sex. I can claim it wasn’t real all I want, we had sex. And that matters, whether I want to admit it or not. But she wondered—had it been part of his plan all along? To seduce her to strengthen their connection? Was it just a ploy to use physical intimacy to bind them together?

Or…was it genuine? An unexpected moment of connection?

She wanted to believe the latter.

But she was also an idiot.

And wanting something didn’t make it true.

“I need some fucking coffee,” she muttered to the empty room. Well, she still hadn’t decided if Book counted as a person or not. Changing into the clothes she found on a dresser—which were her clothes, cleaned and dried—she put on a pair of her boots and headed out of the room.

Part of her felt bad for being mad at Bitty. But part of her was really, really damn over being told half-truths by everyone around her.

She needed to know how to put the brakes on the tattoo. On the entity trying to take over her body. It wasn’t invading her mind—yet—but also, who’s to say it wasn’t? Was that why she had sex with Serrik? Had it inspired her to go that far with him?

Everything after the bite was a blur. Just a sea of sensations. Pleasurable ones—beyond pleasurable ones. She had chosen to let him poison her, chosen to let him take all choice away from her. Chosen to let him do things to her she couldn’t even remember, now. Was that her making that decision ?

Or the entity that was crawling inside of her now? An entity that people wouldn’t tell her the terrible truth about?

She needed answers, and there was really only one person who might have them. And who might be willing to tell her.

Valroy.

After quickly pulling her unruly hair up into a ponytail and splashing water on her face, Ava headed out into the twisting corridors of the Din'Glai. The palace seemed different in the daylight that filtered through the branches—less menacing, more bewilderingly beautiful.

Without Bitty to guide her, she wasn't entirely sure how to find Valroy. Did kings have offices? Throne rooms? Did she need an appointment?

After several fruitless attempts to navigate the bizarro mix of trees-turned-into-architecture, Ava found herself in what appeared to be some kind of garden.

Which was ironic, seeing as the whole thing was really just outdoors that was doing its best to pretend to be indoors.

Massive trees grew directly from a floor made of arranged slabs of slate.

The tree branches intertwined to form a natural cathedral overhead, much like her bedroom and the other more “formal” looking rooms.

Flowers in colors no earthly plant should be able to produce bloomed in carefully arranged beds. A small stream wound through the space, its water so clear it was almost invisible except for the occasional flash of silvery fish beneath the surface.

Walking up to it, she couldn’t help but watch them. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She had the sudden urge to go swimming, though the stream itself was far too small to do so.

“Lost?”

Turning, Ava found Lysander watching her from a bench that looked like it had grown from one of the trees.

He looked different in the muted daylight—still extremely handsome, still otherworldly, but less…

intimidating, somehow. His auburn hair caught the filtered sunlight, bringing out strands of copper and gold .

“Looking for Valroy, actually.” She smirked. “And yeah. I have no clue where I’m going.”

“Our king is in council this morning. Something about locating fae being hurled through dimensional space?” He chuckled and patted the space beside him on the bench. “He’s likely not to be available until this evening.”

Ava hesitated. On one hand, Lysander had been unexpectedly kind during the gala, offering her an escape from the emotionally charged confrontation with Nos and Ibin.

On the other hand, he was still Unseelie, still a courtier in Valroy's inner circle, and still someone with his own agenda regarding her.

But she needed allies, and beggars couldn't be choosers.

She sat beside him, careful to leave a respectable distance between them.

“What did you want to see him about? Perhaps I can be of assistance.” Lysander leaned back against the tree, stretching out like, well, a cat.

“I had some questions for him. About... this.” She gestured to the expanding tattoo on her arm.

Lysander's amber eyes tracked over the design, his expression thoughtful. “It's growing quickly.”

“You don’t seem all that surprised.” She watched his face carefully. “And you know more than you’re letting on.”

He considered his words carefully. “I know what everyone at court knows—that you carry the essence of the Web within you. That it's changing you. That both Valroy and the exile seek to control what you're becoming.”

“So, nothing you’re going to share.” At least, not that he was willing to tell her.

A smile tugged at his lips. “I didn't say that.” He stood, offering her his hand. “Walk with me. The palace can be... indiscreet. Too many ears in the walls.”

Ava eyed his extended hand warily. “Where are we going?”

“The forest. Away from court politics, at least for a little while.” His expression softened slightly. “You look like you could use the break. And I would like to introduce you to some friends of ours.”

Ours? Interesting.

But it was true, she needed some space. Between the emotional whiplash of the party, the dream encounter with Serrik, and the accelerating transformation marked by her tattoo, Ava felt like she was barely keeping her head above water.

“Fine,” she said, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet. “But if this is some kind of trap?—”

“You'll drop a train on me?” he suggested, eyes crinkling with amusement.

Ava stared at him. “How do you know about that?”

“Word travels fast amongst our kind.” He guided her toward a path she hadn't noticed before, hidden between two massive flowering bushes. “Especially word of a human who managed such a feat in the Web.”

The path led them through a series of increasingly wild gardens, the cultivated beds giving way to something more natural, more primeval.

The air grew warmer, heavy with the scent of growing things and rich earth.

But the path they walked was still shrouded in darkness, the trees overhead acting like umbrellas.

She knew the sun was out. It just seemingly wasn’t allowed to shine where they were walking.

“Are we not allowed in the sunlight?”

“No, that is the territory of the Seelie.” Lysander shrugged. “Where it shines, we are not allowed to go. And where it is darkness, they cannot tread. Those are our kingdoms.”