Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely 4)

And Rae slipped into the mortal’s mind, hoping that the girl wasn’t harboring secrets the queen would want to know. Inside the dream, the mortal was waiting expectantly. She sat upright in what looked to be the exact room they’d left.

“Return,” a disembodied voice said. In the waking world, Sorcha was speaking to the dreamer.

“What?” Rae asked the girl.

“The queen is summoning you. Remove yourself from my dream.” The mortal was motionless, but then she glanced left and right as if someone else could come into her dream. With a look of alarm in her eyes, the mortal added, “Hurry now. She is not to be ignored of late. The Queen of Reason has become something other than rational.”

Rae nodded and stepped back into the room where Sorcha was. “You summoned me?”

The High Queen’s entire posture shifted. Her arrogance faded under unmistakable excitement. Her silvered eyes glimmered as if full moons hid there. She smiled at Rae, not affectionately, but with pleasure.

And Rae had rarely felt as frightened as she did in that instant.

“It works.” Sorcha looked at the mortals and said, “Make ready.”

The two girls sat up. One came to take the High Queen’s outer garment. The other arranged the pillows on an ornate bed that was suddenly there in front of them. The frame was cut of stone, and on it thick quilts were piled in lieu of a mattress.

Sorcha leaned close to Rae and whispered, “I will see my son. You will make it so.”

Rae couldn’t move for fear.

“You will depart from my dream once I can see him.” Sorcha ascended the half-dozen stone stairs to the bed. After she reclined on it, clear glass walls raised up on either side of her. “Only Devlin or Seth will have the ability to wake me. Tell him—when he returns—that I am safe in my bed.”

Both mortals curtsied. Neither spoke.

“You will do as ordered, and each day, you, Rae, will visit me to tell me what my ears and eyes”—she looked at the two mortals—“report.”

“Your Highness—”

“My Queen,” Sorcha corrected. “I am the queen of all in Faerie. Do you wish to live in Faerie?”

“I do.”

Sorcha raised one delicate eyebrow.

Rae curtsied. “I do, my queen, but what if there is danger? Shouldn’t we be able to awaken you?”

“No.” The High Queen closed her eyes, and the glass expanded over her, encasing her. “I have spoken. You will obey.”

CHAPTER 19

As Ani worked through her anger, Devlin stayed as silent as he could be—which after centuries in Faerie was akin to the stillness of the earth. However, unlike his experience in Faerie, staying still with Ani beside him was challenging. The more the car raced forward, slipping in and out of small spaces between vehicles, the more Ani radiated calm.

Unlike me.

Devlin found the steed’s resemblance to a mortal car unnerving. Being trapped in a steel cage wouldn’t make him physically ill as it would many faeries, but it was disquieting nonetheless. Moreover, the steed’s choice of a smaller vehicle meant he was physically uncomfortable. Gone was the spacious Barracuda, and in its place was a ridiculously tiny Austin Mini. It was cherry-red, convertible, and, according to Ani, “a 1969 classic.” Nothing about it was subtle or designed to blend in—or fit anyone above average height. Added to that was Ani’s need to play music at a volume that undoubtedly would cause permanent damage to mortal ears. It was the final aspect in a trifecta of discomfort.

“Ani?” He raised his voice over the din of someone singing about being “tired of cheap and cheerful.?

??

She ignored him, so he turned down the volume.

“Ani, I’d like to discuss our plan.” His voice revealed none of his frustration or worry.

“Our plan?”

“Yes. Our plan. Do you think you could stand against my sister alone?” Devlin tightened his grip on the door as she sped up again.