Page 76 of Lady of the Lake

Talan shifts into warrior mode, a blur of speed and violent force. Whirling and pivoting, he arcs his sword through his attackers. He’s so perfectly, overwhelminglyFeyin the way he moves, equal parts vicious and graceful.

Behind the Arnestas, shadowy creatures writhe, their shapes constantly changing—snakes, monsters, and large birds of prey.

“Can you give me a sword?” I call out to Talan.

I can help him, but I can’t materialize my own weapons.

Talan turns, a dark smile on his lips. “My lethal wife.”

He tosses his sword to me. I catch it by the hilt and pivot to take on an oncoming Arnesta. I thrust it into her heart, then pullit out again. Dark blood drips from my blade. I spin to see Talan, now fighting two more Arnestas. Shadows loom behind them.

The room is morphing, the walls turning dark and inky, lit by torches.

Frantically, I scan the hall until I see a new wooden door. I run for it. When I try the doorknob, I find it unlocked. “Talan, through here!”

Talan swings at one of the shadows, cleaving it in half, then runs to join me. He slams the door behind us, leaving Kahedin and the monsters on the other side.

We stand in a long hallway. Through the wood, Arnestas scream about needing Kahedin, and the shadows moan.

Talan grips me by the hand and walks with me down the torchlit hall. “I really preferred the orgy part of his dream, even if it was a bit grim,” he mutters. Then he pivots, and I turn to see the shadows coming after us. Somehow, Talan still looks unimpressed. Bored, almost. “I thought perhaps they would have learned by now.”

His sword is a blur of steel, and he hacks through them.

“Go!” he says. “I’ll hold them off. If you run far enough, you might find the way out.”

“You want me to leave you in this place? What if you get trapped?”

A dark chuckle. “I’ll be fine. This is my domain, Nia. I’m just not sure about you.” He cuts a shadowy creature’s head, and the monster grows two more. “Go, Nia!” His voice rings out with a command.

“No.” I plant my feet on the ground. “I’m staying with you.”

His copper-flecked eyes cut to me. “Fine, but you’re about to become terrified, because I will become a nightmare.” His voice becomes deeper, darker, dredged from the ancient forests, the voice of a man who’s watched centuries turn like the seasons, and the years fall away at his feet like hawthorn petals. “The onlyway out of here is for me to be more terrifying than Kahedin’s own dreams.”

“Fine with me,” I whisper.

Shadows writhe and coil around him, wild as a raging tempest.

When he glances at me, his eyes have turned to blazing copper, and primal terror sweeps through my skull. Right now, looking at Talan is like looking at death itself. An image of Viviane’s broken body blooms deep in my thoughts. She crumbles to ash, and cowslips grow where she lay, their petals already withering. Dread unfurls in my chest.

The vision of Viviane slips away, and I’m staring at Talan again, shaking.

I take a step back. And another.

Talan’s clothes shift, turning into a knight’s armor stained with blood. He looks like something from a Fey painting, the forgotten god of death. His sword is larger now, flashing in the dim light of the hallway.

Flames burst from the blade.

“I am Prince Talan, the Dream Stalker.” Beneath Talan’s booming voice is a low, resonant sound like a carnyx that sends dread coiling through my gut. “I am the Butcher of Brittany, a spirit of vengeance, and I leave only death in my wake.”

The shadows shriek as they catch fire, and smoke coils through the hallway.

“Kahedin!” Talan coos. “The Dream Stalker comes for you!”

He strides back to the door, and I hurry after him. The rest of the nightmares are now racing from him, trying to get away.

We cross back into the hall, which has become a dark dungeon. A naked Arnesta wields a whip.

As she sprints for Talan, he runs his sword through her chest. Blood drips from his sword, and she disappears into thin air.

---