“It’s okay,” Casteel assured me, but the look he exchanged with Kieran said the exact opposite. “Let’s head back to camp.”
“You didn’t see her?”
“No, Princess.” He kissed my forehead. “I only saw you about to—” He cut himself off. “It was only you.”
As Casteel helped me stand, I knew the dream had been peeling back the layers of time, revealing pieces long-buried under trauma. And I knew I hadn’t been alone. Someone…or something had stopped me from walking off the side of the mountain.
We started to—
The rumble I heard earlier returned, this time louder. Kieran cursed as Casteel whipped toward me. Before I could say a word, he lifted me in his arms and ran—ran as far as we could make it before he seemed to lose his balance. My heart seized as the mist scattered. Thrown to the side, Casteel’s arm tightened around me as we fell into Kieran. He grabbed me—grabbed us—as we pressed into a tree that vibrated and rattled like a child’s toy. Golden leaves shaken free drifted down to us, down to the earth that shook and groaned.
“What is happening?” I gasped, a hand clutching both Casteel’s and Kieran’s cloaks.
Casteel turned to me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the rumbling. At any moment, it felt like the entire mountain would rip open and swallow us whole. My wide eyes met his as my heart thundered.
And then it stopped.
The leaves stopped falling as the trees calmed, and the ground stilled.
“Is it over?” I whispered after several moments of silence.
“I think so.” Casteel swallowed as his gaze lifted to where Kieran was slowly climbing to his feet behind me. Then his eyes met mine again. “Who did you say you saw? Who stopped you?”
“I don’t know who it was, but it was a woman,” I told him. “Why?”
“Because that was a god,” Kieran said hoarsely. “Returning to their place of rest.”
Within the first hour of our journey out of the Skotos Mountains, the magic of the mist lifted. The trees of Aios formed a glittering, golden ceiling as we descended the mountain, and I was able to remove my gloves. By the second hour, I considered shrugging off my cloak. The steadily rising temperatures should’ve lifted my spirits, but my mind was still on that mist-drenched cliff.
I had no idea if the cloaked man from my dream or his words were real or a hallucination. The latter seemed the likeliest explanation the longer I was awake. I’d never sleepwalked before, and I had no recollection of rising. That lent credence to the magic of the mountains preying upon me, but something or someone had stopped me. And Kieran had suggested that it had been Aios herself.
I glanced up at the golden trees. Could it truly have been the goddess? That seemed too fantastical to believe.
“Would you like something to eat?” Kieran asked, drawing me from my thoughts.
Casteel had asked the same question no more than thirty minutes ago, but my stomach was full of too many knots to eat more than a few slices of bacon Casteel had offered me that morning.
“If you would like something to drink, just let me know,” Casteel said, and I nodded.
Throughout the morning, both had attempted to engage me in conversation or drown me in food and drink. I just…my mind was in too many places, in the past and in the future.
“I’ve been thinking about when we get to Atlantia,” Casteel announced not too long after. “We need to resume those horseback riding lessons. You’re going to need more than one if you plan to run into the capital of Solis on your own horse.”
Excitement trickled through me. “I would like that.”
“I’m sure Setti would enjoy it.” Casteel guided the horse around a narrow bend. “He will probably expect daily visits from you. Though, I probably won’t be happy,” he went on. “I like you right here.”
“I really hope you two don’t turn into one of those couples who are constantly whispering sweet nothings at one another,” muttered Kieran.
My brows lifted.
“Since we’ve been married, she’s already told me to shut up—how many times? I’m pretty sure she’s threatened to stab or punch me since then, too.”
I did not recall either of those things.
“Well,” Kieran said. “That’s good news.”
“But you’re still going to hear me whisper things.” Casteel’s lips brushed the healing bite mark. “Just extremely dirty things.”
“Shut up,” I said.
Casteel laughed as his arm tightened around me, but I saw Kieran’s gaze flick over me to Casteel, and I felt the Prince nod behind me. Kieran rode ahead, going far enough that I could barely make out the shape of him and his horse. I tensed, knowing there was no other reason for Kieran’s actions than to give us space.
We rode in silence for a couple of minutes, and then Casteel said, “Last night wasn’t your fault. It was the mist. Somehow, it was triggered, and it went after you. I shouldn’t have yelled at you afterward. I’m sorry.”
The sincerity in his tone startled me enough that I turned my head toward his. “I didn’t think you yelled at me. You were just…”
“What?”
“You were just scared.”
“I wasn’t scared. I was fucking terrified,” he admitted. “When we realized you were gone, we knew it wouldn’t be easy to track you in the mist. I don’t know how we found you so quickly, but thank the gods we did. Hell.” He coughed out a dry laugh. “Maybe the gods actually have something to do with us finding you.”
“Do you really think that was who I saw? Aios?”
“Honestly?” His breath touched my cheek. “We all felt the earth shake, and Nyktos did show us his approval. They seem to like you, Princess.”
I worried my lower lip. “I know you don’t think my dream was real—”
“I didn’t say that. I think the mist got in your head, but that doesn’t mean that what you saw or heard wasn’t a real memory. It could’ve been real, and it could’ve been the mist. Both of those things. Either way, what happened last night wasn’t your fault.”
“But neither you nor Kieran almost walked off a cliff,” I pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean we weren’t affected.”
“You were?”
He was quiet and then said, “I had strange dreams last night.”
“Like what?”
This time, he was silent for even longer. “I dreamt that you were…you were in the cage I was held in.”
“Oh.” My stomach dipped.
“And I…I couldn’t free you.” He shifted behind me as if he weren’t comfortable, and I suddenly wished we were face-to-face.
My heart twisted in my chest. “That’s not going to happen.”
“I know, but the mist still preyed on my fear.” His hand squeezed my hip. “And convinced me otherwise. That was how I woke to find you gone, gasping for air in disbelief.”
Why the mist would lead him to dream of such a thing unsettled me greatly.
“Kieran woke like he was being chased by his own ghosts, roughly at the same time. I think the mist got to both of us in our sleep and that was why we had no idea you’d awakened and left.”
Was that why neither of them seemed to have known we’d all been curled up together earlier in the night?
“What the mist did wasn’t personal, and your susceptibility wasn’t your fault. I should’ve been more aware. I should’ve expected something like that could happen.”
“It sounds like you had your hands full.”
“That’s no excuse. I should’ve controlled the situation better.”
I looked at him again over my shoulder, catching a glimpse of his hard jaw. “Compulsions aside, you can’t control everything.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
A smirk appeared. “Well, you have me there. I can’t control you. If I could, I suspect life would be easier, but I don’t even want to try, to be honest. You keep things…intriguing.”
Him and that damn word. Lips curving, I turned back around.
“Princess?”
“What?”
“I saw that. That little grin.” He leaned in, dipping his chin against the side of my neck. “Why are there times you still hide your smiles from me?” His chest rose with a heavy breath as he sat back. “You have a beautiful smile. That and your laugh. And you…you never laughed enough as it was, but when you did…”
I closed my eyes.
“When you did, it was like the moment the damn mist finally cleared. Like when the first rays of sun break through the clouds after a heavy storm,” he said without an ounce of embarrassment. “Your laugh is as beautiful as your smile, and when I told you it was like hearing something familiar? It wasn’t a lie.”
Letting out a shaky breath, I opened my eyes. The gold leaves glistened even more brightly now. “I…I didn’t know that I was still doing that, and it makes me wonder if I did that before you. Smiling and laughter wasn’t becoming of a Maiden, according to the Duke.”
“I want to kill him again.”
“As do I,” I murmured.