Page 78 of Wake the Dream

Kieran maintained anarm across her chest as though the flesh and bone would keep her in place. Keep her safe from the fangs and claws determined to gut them both.

Not likely on either account. Not when she had eons in front of her and he did not.

A sliver of fear speared through her heart and stuck there, refusing to dislodge.

Not another vampire. Not again.

The healed bites across her body burned in unison, as though her limbs remembered the feeling of those teeth slipping through her skin. If her body didn’t, then her mind certainly did, conjuring memories of total helplessness. Of trying to call her power and finding the well empty. If she reached for it today, would it respond?

“Mom,please.” Her heart rose into her throat and bled a little more with each beat. The betrayal ripped through her more surely than any of those vampires would.

Her own family. People she should have been able to trust with her life...now had control over the monsters who’d tried to drain her dry?

Illaria shook her head until loose hair fell over her eyes. All the better to hide the way they suddenly teared up. She couldn’t look anymore. Couldn’t see the twisted grin on her mother’s face, a face she hadn’t thought to see again for the rest of her days. And here she stood no more than three feet away from her. Illaria didn’t recognize the eyes. The absolute apathy within those cold blue and silver depths was anathema.

She’d tried hard to find a way back home. Had Yelena really found a back door? And was this the price she’d paid?

“Why are you doing this?” she pressed.

“Doing what?” Oona replied, the wind taking her voice through the clearing and amplifying the sound. “Doing whatever it takes to free ourselves? You weren’t strong enough to do it, Illaria. You weren’t strong enough, so don’t judge me. Don’t judge Yelena for doing everything in her power to find a way.”

“A way to open the gate for good? Not likely, as you were one of the ones to help close it!”

“Yes, to open the gate. To free us. The story is not what you’ve been told.”

“Youneed to wake up,” Illaria lashed back, her eyes wet and stinging. She clung to Kieran when the wind turned in their direction. Hair pulled free of the braid and slashed at her face. “You left us here to die. That was your choice, not mine. Don’t tell me I didn’t try, because you don’t know shit about what I’ve done since you agreed to the separation. It was your choice, not mine.”

Oona tilted her head back on a chuckle. When she took a step forward, the earth shook. “That isn’t how the story goes,acushla.”

“Do you know what those vampire lackeys are doing to people?” Illaria thought of the grape. The way she’d almost let it slip past her lips and the damage it might have caused.

“The Bual? Yes, I know exactly what it does. Thanks to a little ingenuity, we managed to get enough power to burst through the walls to Fairy.”

Power? “You’re stealing their souls. Killing them.”

Don’t look at them. Don’t make eye contact.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Illaria.”

It made sense now, Illaria thought, unable to move away. Why she hadn’t been able to find Yelena. Why nothing about this strange situation had seemed right.

Illaria was suddenly glad for Kieran’s strong hands keeping her upright. It made facing her double-crossing mother the tiniest bit easier to bear.

Oona flicked her nails. “What do I care for a few lost human lives, anyway?”

“They’re stealing life energy to crack open a back door for you. Maybe if you’d fought a little harder to begin with, you wouldn’t have been content to let the gate slam shut. Maybe if you’d fought, then you would have been here with me instead of abandoning your children!” Illaria finished on a yell.

A lash of cold air fortified by Fae power knocked across her cheek and forced her to strengthen her legs to keep from toppling over. A slap, although her mother hadn’t moved.

“Do you think you can stand against me? Truly?”

“I think if you keep looking at me with that smug expression, I’m going to enjoy ripping your head off of your body.”

“Your mouth has gone to total shit while I’ve been gone.” Oona clucked her tongue. “Last chance.”

“Take your chance and shove it up your ass,” Illaria finished.

It was the wrong thing to say and she knew it the moment the words left her lips. Then again, nothing would have worked.

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