Page 73 of Curse of Thorns

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“He’s been setting a trap foryou.”

I stop and cross my arms. “I realize he also wants me here. I don’t know why, nor do I care.”

“Oh my.” His voice is quiet, less amused than his words would imply. “I expected more from the child who outwitted the Night Bringer.”

I stop and roll my eyes, the wraith once again blocking my path.

“Your Night Bringer cannot even enter these lands without becoming trapped. He is not here.”

I narrow my eyes. How had I not considered that? His shifts oddly, waving his hands as if trying to keep my attention.

“Don’t worry, your conclusions are not far off. It’s simply the dismissal of your own life that is wrong. For the Night Bringer is not the only ancient being you should fear, Caelynn of the Shadow Court.”

My eyes flick beyond the wraith to someone standing in the path before us. The wraith’s smoke body shifts to block the view. “There is someone inside these walls just as evil as the monster that haunts your dreams.”

“You’re distracting me,” I say.

His nose wrinkles.

I sidestep him to see a lovely black haired fae with a crown of swirling black magic on her head. My eyebrows pull down. The queen of the Whisperwood is here?

The wraith leaps back in front of me. “All for your own good, child.”

“What is this place?” I ask finally. We’ve walked half a mile without me noticing much of anything. Now that I’ve stopped to pay attention, the leaves above rustle with movement. They shift and pull, crunching beneath the feet of creatures unseen.

My breath comes quicker.

“The forest of desires,” he says, and I do recall him using that name once already. “Distraction is the best form of defense against this place.”

“It shows you the things you desire?” I ask, eyes casting around me.

“It deceives you. The creatures create illusions of your deepest desires to lure you in. Creatures who will devour you, body, and soul. They’ll hypnotize you into believing them.”

“And if you give in,” I start, and the queen in the trees just off the path takes off her crown and holds it out to me. That wouldn’t be such a bad way to die, would it? “If you get too close...”

“They will eat you alive. And you’ll thank them for it.”

I blink, remembering something important. “Where’s Rev?”

“Why should I know? Oh! Better question—why should Icare?”

I groan and turn back.

“Rev!” I call. I sprint down the path of this simple forest of white trees, scanning the shadows for any sign of Rev. I stop when I see a couple dancing. She wears a masquerade mask and a black dress adorned with glistening crystals. He wears a clean black suit with a white tie and smile that makes my heart melt.

That was the day I met Rev.

That was the day I was ordered to kill him.

I step closer to the spinning couple, eyes pinned to them. The girl disappears and the boy—Rev of ten years ago, Rev whose brother is still alive, Rev who doesn’t know who I am, what I am—turns to me. His eyes are bright silver, innocent, happy. He holds his hand out to me.

Me. Real me.

Rev wants me.

I blink, heart aching.

“Caelynn!” the wraith calls to me. “It isn’t real.”