Page 76 of Realm of Nightmares
“I have been for quite some time.”
The separation from Maeve was slowly killing Tiernan. With each passing day, another part of his heart cracked, chiseled off by a blade, one piece at a time. The constant ache never eased, the burning of their Strand a reminder that she was still alive, still in the Ether, yet worlds away.
Aran had been away from Prava for months, except for his most recent venture there to collect the crystal siphoning tools.
Compassion for the High Prince left him staring into the fiery glow of the fire. Together, they sat in companionable silence, and while Tiernan was envisioning the other half of his soul, he imagined Aran was doing the same thing.
ChapterTwenty-Two
The god of death had left Maeve alone to her thoughts some time ago, and on the balcony, the Ether unraveled before her.
Nightfall brought stretches of silvery clouds and mist that settled through the city’s streets, crawling over the estate of the House of Death, all the way to that damned, unnerving forest.
Goosebumps pebbled across her flesh, and she shivered, forcing herself to turn away from the strangely terrifying woods. The image of their ruthless shadows clawing across the horizon left her unsettled and caused her mind to drift. She imagined the dark fae lurked within, creatures of the night with gaping mouths full of razor-sharp teeth. Spiders poured from their eyes and claws poisoned their victims with one strike. Flashes of dark fae attacking a world of beauty tore through her mind. Thunder exploded, rattling the mountains, so even the ground quaked beneath such wrath.
The recollection left her gasping.
“Is there a reason you’re out here all by yourself instead of enjoying the celebration?” Rowan’s low baritone drifted to her from the glass doors, pulling her back to the safety of reality.
“I was just thinking.” The words tumbled from her mouth too quickly. She turned to find him leaning against the stone wall, watching her.
“About?” he prompted.
“That I need to find a way out of here.” She didn’t want to tell him about the horrors filling her mind, about the demons she thought she’d vanquished long ago.
A line creased across his brow, and his lavender eyes darkened. “So soon?”
“I’ve been here long enough.” Maeve didn’t even know how much time had passed since her arrival in the Ether. But she knew enough days had gone by for the remnants of summer to bleed into the end of autumn. A full season and she was no closer to returning home. “I need to go back.”
Rowan rocked onto his heels, considering her. “Is Diamarvh no longer on your list of things to do?”
Diamarvh. The home of the eternal warriors.
Of course.
That must’ve been what she’d forgotten, the one thing she could never seem to remember.
“No, I have to go there first. Before I leave the Ether. It’s just…” She glanced back to the ballroom, where Aed stood surrounded by guests, elegant and charming. Through the mass of dancers and crowd of onlookers, he turned, his gaze instantly locking onto hers. “Slipping away might prove to be more difficult than I anticipated. He sees everything,knowseverything.”
Distressingly so. Especially when it came to her.
Rowan moved closer, his slow smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. “I’m fairly sure I can help you with that.”
“How so?”
“Simple.” His shadows moved like liquid smoke, curling around them, concealing them in the night. “I am the Nightweaver, after all.”
He ran his thumb along his chin, eyeing her. “Though I’d hate to dim that pretty glow of yours.”
“If it will help me evade Aed’s notice and make it so that I can leave the House of Death undetected, then it will be worth it.” Ribbons of midnight roped around her, entwining her.
His smile grew wider. “I can do all those things and more, Princess.”
The shadows nudged her, drawing her closer to him.
“Stop.” Command left her voice hard. Cold. “I am not yours.”
The shadows instantly vanished, evaporating as though they never existed. They stole into the darkness of the night, snatching away the glint in Rowan’s eyes.
