Page 113 of The Forsaken Heir
“Kas!” Achakos exclaimed. “It’s all fine and good to enter into a business partnership. Though, many of us weren’t happy aboutthateither. The dragons and wolves use magic for financial gain. It goes against our culture, our very principles, but I was swayed by Prince Aurelius’s words. Being swayed to allow theuseof a wellspring is much different than being asked to fight.
“Do you really think we could hold off the Laurents? Word will spread, and Bastien Laurent willnotbe happy. We have magic, yes, but not the numbers. It’s the same problem the dragons have. The wolves will—quite literally—be at the gate.”
“And if King Decimus and his entire line are gone?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the arguments that were breaking out. “What then? If the dragons are defeated, then there will be nothing stopping Bastien from coming here andtakingwhat he wants. The same thing will happen, but you’ll have no dragon shifters as your allies.”
Achakos pressed her lips into a thin line. “There are others. The moose shifters? The bears?”
“Oh please,” Kaskawan muttered. “Those shifters have fewer numbers than the dragons do. Even if we allied with every other shifter race in all of North America, the wolves would still outnumber us, andnoneof those races are as strong fighters as the dragons.”
Sahalie rose from her chair. “I know how to settle this.” She smiled at me in a pleasant but courteous way. It was the kind of smile you’d give a clerk at a store. “Would anyone like to hear it?”
Most of the fae gave her a strange look, and I recalled what Cassius had said about her when we’d danced at the gala. That she was a bit of an outlier among her people. It surprised me that she had been given such a high place of honor on this council, especially since she looked younger than anyone else by at least two decades.
“I’d like to hear,” I said at last.
“Yes,” Vincent spoke up, startling me. I turned and saw him eyeing the woman with a strange intensity.
“We let the wellspring decide,” Sahalie said.
“What?” Achakos, Kaskawan, and several others said in unison.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Sahalie turned to her people, addressing them rather than me. “Do we honor the wellsprings? In all things, are they what we hold most sacred?”
Several people nodded along, though they still looked curious and confused.
“If that is the case,” Sahalie said, “then Brielle should be given the chance to plead her case directly to the source.”
Achakos’s eyes widened in understanding. “You want her to… Sahalie, are you serious?”
“Yes,” Sahalie replied. “Brielle will walk into the wellspring. She will do a dream walk.”
Kaskawan stood up from his chair. “Sahalie. none but a fae has ever done that. You have no clue what it might do to a shifter.”
“Technically, she’s notreallya shifter,” Rasp said. “She doesn’t have an inner wolf. Maybe that would be a good thing?”
Every eye in the room turned to glare at him.
“We are aware, my friend,” Kaskawan said patiently. “That doesn’t change the fact that she still is a shifter by blood.”
Rasp’s face went red, and he stepped back, muttering under his breath. “Got it. I’ll just go fuck myself then.”
“What does a dream walk entail?” I asked, my nerves rattling inside my skull and chest. “Is it similar to what, uh, Jolon did with me?”
Sahalie nodded. “Somewhat. You will walk into the wellspring, and it will cleanse you. It will peel away the insecurities, the fears, hatred, trauma, all of it. When that is complete, it will judge you worthy or unworthy.”
“That sounds easy enough,” I said.
“It’s not,” Sahalie said with a grin. “It’s incredibly dangerous. You can become lost within the depths and never venture out. Some fail in the cleansing and return gibbering and insane. Very rarely some evendie.”
I swallowed hard and did my best to ignore the strange, gleeful smile on Sahalie’s face.
“Like I said, these things are rare,” Sahalie said, “But safety can’t be guaranteed. If the wellspring returns you to us, it will mean you are worthy. It will mean you have been blessed with its acceptance. If that is the case, we will follow your lead. TheHikshil fae will align with the royal house of Decimus. Do you accept?”
I glanced at Delphine. Her face was almost paper white. Rasp looked worried as well, and Vincent’s face was twisted in a grimace of worry and anxiety. Steadying myself, I turned back to Sahalie and the other fae.
“I accept.”
