Page 77 of This Vicious Dream

Shrugging him off, I stalk toward the horses. “I’m guessing this isn’t the only regiment Vicana sent into this swamp. We need to move.”

Up until now, the insects have mostly been an annoyance. But as we travel deeper into the swamp, they become worse and worse. I grit my teeth, slapping at mosquitoes and flies, waving them away from Hope the best I can.

They avoid Calysian as if his blood is poisonous. When I glower at him, he gives me the slow, smug grin he knows irritates me the most.

“God blood, sweetheart. Some of us are simply built differently.” I curl my lip at him and his eyes darken. “Now you’re just giving me an invitation.”

A few hours later, the ground is solid enough for us to mount our horses and trot—hopefully making up some lost time. Bright red flowers catch my eye, their waxy petals as wide as one of Calysian’s arms. They line this part of the swamp, bold and unnatural against the tangled undergrowth. The air is thick with their sickly-sweet perfume, the cloying scent laced with something sharp that burns at the edges of my lungs. With each breath I’m desperate for fresh air, but there’s none to be found.

A strange, loud buzzing fills my ears, and I angle my head slapping out with my palm.

That insect was unnaturally large. Larger than anything I’ve ever seen, with bright blue wings.

Calysian waves his hand. “Hate this place,” he grumbles, and I have to hide a smile at his sulky tone.

More buzzing fills my ears and I slam my hand into another insect, shuddering at the feel of it against my skin.

Eamonn circles above our heads. “I know what they are!” His voice is filled with panic, and I freeze. “They’re Sorrowflies.”

“Sorrowflies?” Calysian turns Fox to face me.

Eamonn lands on his shoulder. “They—”

I slap a hand to my neck with a hiss. Calysian’s eyebrows lower, just as a huge fly wings toward him, biting his hand.

He stares at it incredulously.

The fly that bit him drops out of the air. Dead.

God blood indeed.

The fly that bitmecomes back for more.

I lash out at it, and almost topple from the saddle, swaying dizzily.

My entire face turns oddly numb, and my hands fall from the reins, my body listing to the side.

“Madinia!”

Calysian nudges Fox, aiming for me, but his huge body is wavering in the saddle.

He falls to the ground with a thump.

Calysian

“You dare take from me?”

Her face…it’s breathtakingly beautiful, each feature seemingly designed to draw attention to the next. Her lips are a blood red, curved in the mockery of a smile, her eyes a light green, fringed by dark lashes.

I despise her with everything in me.

The woman chokes, as I tighten the smoke wrapped round her neck like a noose. She gasps a breath.

“You stole my future from me. So I took yours from you.” Her words are a low taunt. “You didn’t think I’d allow you to live in happiness, did you, lover?”

The temple begins to collapse. Columns near the altar crash to the ground, and fear flashes across her face.

The pain threatens to engulf me. Threatens to make me tear the very fabric of this world apart. My power begins to build, and a hint of fear enters her eyes.

---