Page 49 of WitchCurse

Get some rest,I told him.

I’m trying to keep his nightmares at bay,Nick admitted. It was the only reason he was still awake. I sensed him really lagging.

They happen every time he sleeps?

Yes.

Another curse? Didn’t the fae have those who could control dreams? Kiran sort of could, which was how Nick could soothe the nightmares. But I wasn’t certain of how much he could project, or if there was a point to it. Did the fae drain him when he had nightmares? I really needed to be there and see. Nick had removed a bunch of curses, and the first handful hadn’t showed signs of returning, perhaps because we didn’t have Underhill here to fuel them, or because we’d cut them out at the root?

I had way too many questions, but slid down the bond, finding Nick lost in his own dreams, succumbing to sleep. Kiran seemed all right, the dreams I caught at surface level familiar, the previous lover that he often overlaid with Nick. Nothing bad there, but I sped up a little anyway. If Nick was asleep and the fae had been attacking Kiran’s dreams for a long time, that meant neither were safe.

I was still a good distance from the place our tiny realm began when I felt a ripple of something crawling down the bond between us that didn’t belong to Kiran or Nick. Panic erupted in my gut and I launched myself forward, racing toward them. We’d been warding things, erecting barriers, and posting patrols to guard from external attacks, but had completely overlooked an attack from within.

* * *

Kiran

Ihad to admit, resting curled up with my scion wrapped around me had benefits. Dozing only lightly myself, I basked in his warmth. He slept soundly, assuring me that Toby would be returning soon.

The heat of Nick beside me, and the firm wrap of our sanctuary around us, lulled me into a calm sense of security I couldn’t recall feeling in a long time. Our days in Underhill had been spent on edge, fearing monster attacks, constant hunger, and anxiety over the return of the fae. This new world seemed to have only a handful of monsters, which the wolf had subdued already. The fae, that was more complicated, but I let myself bask in comfort for a time, floating on the edge of sleep.

I dreamt of Landon again, his face unclear, had it been so long that I’d forgotten it? The curls ever the same, strong width of his shoulders, broad, making me want him to wrap himself around me. His kisses filled with passion; I sank into his touch. One big hand settled on my throat. He’d done it before, and I’d never once felt threatened, but this time his grip tightened. Fingers digging into my flesh, bruising rather than caressing.

Was he angry with me? I tried to recall the details of our time together. Finding memories of honeyed kisses and sweet strokes. His dominance assured mostly through gentle strength and a willingness to please.

His hand tightened further, cutting off my air. I floundered for a moment, thinking it couldn’t kill me. I was fae, high court fae, even if it was only half. But the loss began to darken my vision and strain my lungs, not a familiar sensation. Did this new world require that I breathe?

New world? Wait.

Reality washed over me like ice water. Landon long gone, dead at my hands, and yet someone touched me, held me down, and cut off my air.

I suddenly began to struggle against his grip, a dream but not a dream, I realized, feeling the familiar tingling sensation of fae magic over my skin. A brutal icy burning of curses being etched into my skin broke through the darkness, and I opened my eyes to the sanctuary space, realizing it was dark, the fire out, and the magic being siphoned away.

While I couldn’t see him, his hold was all too familiar. The sweet dreams turning to nightmares a memory I wish hadn’t been burned deep. I lashed out, swiping kitsune claws at him through the inky blackness of the room. The heat of blood and gasp of pain from him made me fight harder, ripping and tearing at him to free myself.

Zephyr had always been exceptional at dreamwalking, a monster of nightmares, despite his proclamations of being a high court prince. Another gift from my mother who had been a goddess of nightmares and cold. He’d always been the preferred one, more sidhe even if it was dark sidhe than my part mortal blood.

His hold slammed me into the bed, the burning etch of ice increasing like he was carving a dozen symbols to replace each one that had been torn away. The siphon of his power sucking strength from me until even the room around me began to flicker.

I couldn’t breathe, the walls and world fading as he pulled continually, drawing out the magic I’d stolen like it was taffy. Long strings of energy stretching longer and longer until they snapped away.

I wondered briefly where Nick had gone, so lost in the dark I couldn’t tell if he was still beside me, possibly already dead, or if he’d left to seek out the wolf’s attention. Everything narrowed down to the glowing gaze of the monster above me. If he drank deeply enough, would it keep the beast from rising? Deprive it and kill it? Hadn’t they tried that before locking me in ice for centuries? The memories were long faded, and it was hard to parse which had been a dream and which had been reality.

A snarl burst into the room and something smashed into me, breaking Zephyr’s hold and letting me suck in air. A weight landing on top of me, unfamiliar and heavy, but darkness cloaked my sight. I could still feel blood, hot against my skin. My own?

Fire. Brutal and burning heat ripped through me. The new etched symbols stripped away, and a sudden white supernova of intense magic sank into my bones. Someone held me down while I gasped for air, but the touch sent waves of magic into me, through me, reaching for…

“Nick?” I whispered.

“Help me direct the magic to heal him,” Toby snarled from somewhere above me. His hold kept me from flailing. He fed me power, pulling from the lassoedHuntbeasts I could feel lingering outside.

Wild magic was a simple thing. Always easy to spin and carve to fit a need. I sent the massive waves of it back toward Toby in a healing tide, fearing he was injured. But he turned it away, pouring it into the bond that had gone dark. My heart flipped over.

Nick. His body, still tethered to us, had gone completely black, the bond stretched between us like a rotted and decaying thing. I gasped, reaching for him, shoving every last bit of magic into Nick. The room stuttered back to life. Windows reflecting that faint glow, and the fireplace bursting to living flames.

I blinked away the darkness, sucking in air as though my lungs couldn’t hold enough. Toby gripped my arms, holding them at my sides, the claws on my fingers that of the kitsune not human. I focused on pulling back the change and they slid away.

Blood warmed my skin, a wet heat that cooled too fast. Mine or Nick’s?