A Thief of Nightshade(6)

Aubrey tried to smile, but still reeled with disbelief. “Yes, it all seems to fit fine.”

“Oh dear,” the fox said, “where are our manners? We’ve not told you our names. I am Lilly and this woesome creature is Aislinn.”

The bear bowed his upper body in a strangely human gesture.

A little voice piped up to her left, “Lipsey, don’t forget me! My name is Lipsey.”

“Or you could just call him Lips, ’cause he never shuts up,” Aislinn grumbled.

Lilly frowned at him and offered the cup of soup to Aubrey. “What shall we call you, dear?”

“Aubrielle. Aubrey for short.” She’d only heard the name Aislinn once, it had come up in a late-night conversation with Jullian about what they would name their children. He’d wanted to name his firstborn son Aislinn—Ash for short.

“What a beautiful name,” Lilly said.

Aubrey, despite everything, was starving and lifted a spoonful of the soup to her lips then paused, the absurdity of it all sweeping over her. She gently dropped the spoon back into the cup.

“Problem, dear?” Lilly handed a smaller cup to Lipsey, her eyes trained on Aubrey.

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,”

she said carefully. “But I have a mortgage.

I pay taxes. I have responsibilities. I am a grown-up and grown-ups don’t hallucinate that they are talking to animals. This can’t be real.”

Harry, where are you?

Aislinn came closer. “Aubrey, you said a name—Jullian. Do you remember that?”

She nodded. “Jullian is ... was ... my husband. I just left his funeral. He went missing and they found his clothes in the woods. I’m still talking to a bear!”

“You asked if you were in Avalar.

Why?”

“Jullian’s books. He made this place up. He made all of you up. I did something really stupid, I jumped into the water at the lake and I’m dreaming about everything I read.” She looked up at the ceiling and added, “But I have to wake up now.”

“He wasn’t making it up, Aubrielle.

He was writing about his life before your world, about his life here. And I hate to break this to you, darlin’, but you aren’t dreaming.”

Aubrey laughed. That was, as Sam would say, beyond ridiculous.

“Did he ever mention me or Lipsey?”

“That’s the sedative I was apparently slipped. I’m kind of proud of myself for the additions really. I’m generally not the creative type. He did, however, mention the name Aislinn. It’s what he wanted to name our first child. That conversation must have made a bigger impression than I thought.”

Aislinn’s

features

remained

unreadable as he asked, “Have you ever met his family?”

The smile faded from her lips.

“And? You aren’t telling me anything that wouldn’t already be in my head.”

“Did he ever take you to where he was born or where he grew up?” Aislinn asked sternly. When Aubrey didn’t respond, he continued, “He only talks about his life from about the time he was twenty-five on? The Fae, the curse, all of it is real.”

“Okay ... I’ll be sure to make a mental note of all this so that when I meet with the shrink he can prescribe the right meds, because clearly I’m having issues.”

Aislinn growled and snatched a knife from the cutting board, then thrust it into Aubrey’s hands.

“Here,

if

you’re

dreaming, then cut yourself and you’ll wake up. Go on, dig in deep ... see what happens.”

Irritated at his tone, she gripped the blade and had the tip a fraction of an inch from her skin when the bear snatched it away.

“Humans! Pinch yourself first. I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to actually use the knife.”

She clenched her jaw and did as he’d suggested–to her surprise, it really hurt.

“I wish I could tell you otherwise, Aubrey, sincerely I do, but you aren’t in your world anymore.”

“Then the prince in his books, Rowan ...” she trailed off.

“Prince Jullian Sellars of the Royal House of Rowan, the eldest son, fated to become the Faerie King.”

A very tiny hand petted Aubrey’s hair as Lipsey whispered, “Oh my, that prince.”

“Jullian was taken to Tabor, the King of the Beasts,” Aislinn began, “on the very day he was supposed to be brought to the Queen’s Winter

Court.

Tabor

and

Jullian’s younger brother sent him where he would be safe, to your world. It was their hope and belief for the last decade that they had been successful.”

“Jullian is—”

Aislinn bitterly finished her sentence, “Here in Avalar, brought back by his own kind to be turned over to the Queen. How desperate the court of Man is to end its own petty suffering that it would risk the only chance Avalar has ever had to be reclaimed.”

“What happened to his brother, the one who helped him? I need to find him.”

“He can’t help you. He’s dead— killed by the Sidhe for his transgressions.”

Aislinn rose and walked to a small window beside the bed. He looked out, his eyes focused on some place in the distance.