Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland #1)(159)

“Do you think…” Lavinia of Lunwyn started, my eyes moved to her and I swallowed the ham with effort before she finished, “that you can hear what is happening?”

To this, I replied, “Considering my husband is dead and that hits the one to ten scale of bad news you could give me at around five hundred and seventy-two, how bad is the rest of the news?”

“It is bad, not as bad as that,” Lavinia replied.

Nope. Not as bad as that. Outside of the world coming to an end, there was no news worse than that or even close.

I sucked in breath through my nose and nodded, saying, “Well then, hit me with it.”

She nodded back then she and Valentine exchanged a glance and both settled on the pallet on either side of me.

“You have been under a sleeping spell for four days,” Lavinia stated, I nodded, she took in breath and continued. “I was captured and imprisoned here a week ago. You and Valentine arrived yesterday and when you did, Valentine was bound but awake.”

I finished the last piece of ham, set the plate aside, took another drink of water and said, “Okay.”

“We are…” she hesitated, looked to Valentine then back at me, “we are both bound still, though we bear no straps. Wherever we are has a powerful spell over it. Neither of us have command of our magic. It is not gone, we both still feel it, we just cannot command it.”

My eyes slid away and I whispered, “Great.”

“This is why, I am certain, they have brought me here for I would not stand for what is happening to my Lunwyn,” Lavinia told me and I nodded.

Valentine took it from there. “We both can, however, sense things. This is how we know…” she trailed off and I jerked my chin up so she wouldn’t continue.

I didn’t want to hear the words again. I got her. This was how they knew Frey was gone.

Lavinia spoke next. “We also know more, or I do. Valentine senses things but as she is not of this world most of what she senses, she doesn’t understand.”

“And what more do you know?” I asked but I didn’t really care. I wanted to know about my girls and Frey’s men. I wanted to know about Aurora and Atticus. I wanted to know about Skylar. And I wanted to have some time to lick my wounds and then figure out how to get the f**k out of there, out of this world and home, home, home.

“The adela trees burn,” Lavinia whispered, all these thoughts flew from my head and I felt my mouth drop open as I felt my heart squeeze.

Then I whispered back, horrified, “No.”

She nodded, her eyes growing bright. “They do. The trees burn, our glorious, glowing adelas which is bad enough but this means the elves cannot rise.”

I closed my eyes and turned my head away.

The elves could not rise.

And they had no Frey.

I had no Frey.

If I lived to deliver him or her, my son or daughter would have no Frey.

I looked back at Lavinia and said with feeling, “That sucks.”

Her head tipped to the side. “Sucks?”

“Sucks, stinks… it’s awful,” I lifted a hand and rudely, I had to admit, circled it at her to get on with it but I didn’t have it in me to be polite. “What else?”

“Aurora is taken,” Lavinia said gently and I sucked in breath.

Then I let it out on a hissed, “Shit.”

“She lives and she is held captive, like us. Not here but far away, I cannot sense where. But… I am sorry, my princess, I do not sense your father.”

I closed my eyes tight and turned my head again as the hitch in my throat tore out in a wrenching sob. Then, I forced out on a stammer, not looking at her, “He’s… he’s… is he dead?”

“I am sorry,” she whispered.

I lifted a hand to my mouth and curled my fingers around.

I’d lost him again. Again.

Fucking hell once was bad enough.

Tears forced themselves out of my eyes and slid down my face as I fought for control but my chest heaved with the effort and my throat burned so much I thought it would disintegrate. It took awhile and a lot out of me but I pulled my shit together, wiped my face with my hand and looked back at Lavinia.

“What else? My girls? Frey’s men?”

She shook her head but when she saw my face and understood I misread her, she said quickly, “I do not know. I have not met them and therefore I cannot sense them. I can only sense those I’ve met or people of prominence, like your husband. I’m sorry; I have no news of them.”

I looked to Valentine. “You?”

“I was in their presence, my Seoafin, but I’m sorry, not long enough to know their auras and be able to feel them,” she answered.

“All righty,” I whispered, sucked in another breath then looked between them both. “Do you know anything else? Who’s doing this?”

I asked this as a key scraped the lock, all three of us looked to the door then it was thrown open and I couldn’t believe my eyes or stop my mouth from dropping open when I saw Broderick saunter in followed by his lover Phobin.

No.

It couldn’t be.

But it was. He was right there and he wasn’t entering to be imprisoned.

Broderick took one look at me, his face grew hard, my heart started pumping and he turned on his lover.