Onyx Eclipse (The Raven Queen's Harem Book 5)(16)

Her eye tics, a flash, and I wonder for a quick moment if I’ve stepped over a line. I don’t care, though. Her life is worth more than ten of mine. She’s the key to all of this. Always has been and always will be—until her final breath.

“I’m fine,” she says, instead of a million other words that threaten to cross her lips. I watch her swallow them back. “I beat him, without magic, just using the skills you all have taught me. I thank you for that.”

“Good.”

I have ten other questions. Where had she gone? Who did she meet? How did the attacker find her? Where is he now? What secret is she keeping, because she has one. I see the shadow of it in her eye.

I don’t ask any of them.

She yawns. “It’s late. I really do need to go to bed now.”

I nod and watch her go up the stairs. Once she’s in her room with the door shut, I grab a chair from the dining room and carry it up three flights of stairs. There, I return to my duty. Watching over the Queen. She won’t get past me again.





Chapter 16


Morgan


I do make time to shower and change, but otherwise my body gives out on me and I crash into bed. Tomorrow I’ll go through the gate and find my Guardians. Beyond that I have no plan other than to kill the Morrigan and return home.

I have no delusions it will be that easy, and those are my final thoughts before I drift into an exhausted, anxious sleep.

The castle ripples with the angry chill emanating from the Queen’s quarters. She’s not who I’m here to see—not this time. I walk away from the throne room and turn down a side hall. I have an inkling of what I’m looking for. The castle tower with the bedroom window, like the one I’d seen in the pictures. Someone lurks behind the glass.

The halls seem endless, a continuous, twisting maze. Tapestries hang on the walls. Voices echo off the stone. I pause more than once in an alcove, ducking from the soldiers wearing all black. Their feet move in unison, stomping off the hard stone. Blades hang from their belts, polished to a gleaming shine. There’s no doubt this is another dream, but everything about it--from the sound of feet on the ground to the chill in my bones--makes me hide. When they pass, I keep on my journey, finally making it to a stairway that goes up.

I take the chance, running up the steps. It feels warmer as I go higher—a slight break in the chill. I stop when I hear an angry voice, my heart pounding in my chest, both from adrenaline and exertion.

“Is it ready?” The man asks, his voice impatient and booming.

The response is said quietly—too soft for me to hear. I risk moving closer to the arched door that’s not completely closed. “Her Majesty has grown impatient. Her needs are growing—surely you noticed that yourself when you were in her chambers. She requires you to fulfill your duties, which at the moment are only half complete.”

The sound of the voice that replies rocks me to my core. “Surely having the Guardians here have kept the decline at bay. With Morgan not feeding, at least not at her typical levels, shouldn’t that slow the regression?”

Bunny said that. Bunny is just on the other side of the door. I know it’s just a dream but I want to lunge into the room and gut him with a sword. Watch him bleed out. Shake the truth from him. From the snap in the other man’s reply, I think he feels the same. “You do not get to presume what the Queen needs or not, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Bunny replies, his voice soft again.

“How long?”

“Tomorrow—maybe tonight. The paint is nearly dry. That’s why I built the fire. Otherwise it’s too damp and cold for the oil to set.”

The response to that is a growl, low and menacing, and I truly fear for Bunny’s life. I wish for the man to lose his composure and break him with a snap. He’d deserve it, but I need that gate open as much as anyone. I glance around for something—anything, and land on the tapestry hanging at the base of the stairs. Quietly I tip-toe down and yank on the cloth, bringing it and the iron bar holding it to the ground. I’ve started running before metal hits stone.

“Who’s out there?” the man’s voice shouts, but I’m gone.

This time I head down. Down, down, down. The warmth of Bunny’s fire vanishes and I’m plunged into freezing temperatures. The scrape of metal catches my attention. My feet stick to the floor and I glance down, looking at the dark, congealed fluid. A groan—low and painful—ricochets down the hall. A sick feeling lodges in my throat and I know, I know what is behind the bars at the far end of the wall.

Footsteps echo down the stairwell, angry commands. I can’t go down the hall—can’t see what’s waiting down there. I also can’t go back up. I press against the wall and close my eyes, wake up, wake up, wake up….

My eyes pop open. It’s daylight and my bed is a soft cushion beneath me. My hands tremble—fingertips cold. The dream was so real. More so than any I’d had before. I sit, feeling a presence in the room. Not human. Not Dylan. No, magic. Magic filled that dream. It was sent to me. By the Shaman? By the Queen? I don’t know, but I now have a timeline. Tonight or tomorrow the gate will be open and Bunny will try to pass through.

I slip from the bed, figuring out how I’m going to get everything in motion. It’s going to take a lot more than magic to make this happen.