Chapter Five

 

 

“One more to go, Elenora. We just need to find Nishi, and your trial is over.”

Elly swayed on his back and held onto her ocarina. She had used it twice to lure out the mares. Turning the trial from working through her mind to hunting nightmares was definitely a shift in her mental processes. Her body was tingling from the shock of the dozens of cuts and bruises that had been inflicted on her during her performance at the king’s bi-century party. The broken wine glasses had flown at her before Eric had found her again. It showed her that when he cornered, she needed to hang on or they would separate in the next dream. She didn’t want that to happen again.

The final dream formed around her, and they were alone. The landscape was empty. Barren and cracked soil was under Eric’s hooves.

“Where are we, Elly?”

She frowned. “How are you talking to me? Your lips aren’t moving.”

He chuckled. “I am physically speaking in your room while projecting myself into your dream.”

“I had better have a coffee waiting when I get out of here. I think I want to keep sleep away for a while.”

“I will make that happen. Drak will be at your side with a tray the moment we are done.”

She smiled. “Great. I can’t wait. I hope he gets some of those muffins from the building next door.”

“Is that the shifter bed and breakfast?”

“It is. Don’t you know what it’s called?”

“No. I simply followed you to the Axion.” He shook his horse’s head and slowly moved in a circle. “Now, where are we?”

She looked around her, and her soul recognized the dreamscape. “We are where I am terrified to be.”

“What?”

“Completely alone. I can’t play, I can’t find an audience, and I can’t escape.”

“But you are not alone.”

She looked at his flicking ears and smiled. “No, I am not alone.”

“Then, let us find the end of your solitude, and we will find Nishi there.”

“Are you sure?”

“If not, we run the other way.” He chuckled, and it filled her head.

He took off, running at an easy gallop. Elly was praying that her thighs on the dreamscape weren’t connected to her physical body. She had splayed her thighs for so long that she was going to be walking like a gunslinger when she dismounted.

The empty bronze crackle of soil whirred past for what felt like hours.

Elly was shaken in every joint of her body. When he picked up speed, she eased upright again and watched as they overtook the nightmare. She ran, and he pursued until he was even with her, and Elly reached over and slapped the black mare.

She was so tired that she was unable to regain her position on Eric’s back, so while she fell forward, her dreamscape shattered.

 

Elly sat up screaming. Her hands were out to catch her from the fall, but there was nothing but her bed, the light of the moon, and the man next to her with glowing ice blue eyes.

Eric reached out and caught her hand. “You are back.”

Her head was pounding, the light behind Eric was beginning to look like sunrise, and she was exhausted. “Is it over?”

He nodded. “It is. Now, I need to go and attend to the ladies in question. We will get to the bottom of this.”

She blinked and nodded. “Right.”

A short knock on the door and Drak entered, looking a little rumpled at this time of night, or morning. “Miss Elenora, Eric requested a carafe of coffee for you.”

She smiled and nodded. “That is exactly what I want. Thank you. Please set the tray on the bed.”

“Right. I heard screaming. Are you all right?”

“I am fine. Pretty sure. Almost positive.” She reached for the carafe, and the ocarina was still in her hand. It was scored by the clawing of her nails in the dream, but the rest of her body appeared fine.

Eric leaned forward and poured her a cup of coffee. “How do you take it?”

“Cream and two sugars, please.” She worked on prying her hand open. When she got the ocarina loose, she put it carefully on the bedside table. Massaging her hand, she paused and picked up the coffee cup that Eric held out to her.

Drak paused, “Do you need anything else?”

She sighed. “Do you have a medic on staff? I would like it if someone could do a scan.”

“I could check your health if you would not mind.”

She stared at him. “You know the spell?”

“Of course. The Vorathian tomes are very detailed.”

Elly nodded, “Right. Please. I want to know why I feel like hell.”

Eric got to his feet. “I will leave you. I am sorry for the pain caused by my people.”

She inclined her head. “Thanks for letting me wrap my legs around you for a few hours.”

He was startled into grinning. “It was my pleasure.”

Drak looked at them and then focused on Elly. “All right. Lay back and relax. I will try and get the spell set.”

Elly settled back against the pillows with her coffee cup empty, waiting for the familiar tingle of magic.

Part of her wanted to run out and find Eric, but her body was letting her know that her mind wasn’t the only thing under stress. She had to attend to one before she could worry about the other.

As the magic prickled across her skin, she wondered what her chances were of meeting Eric again. Her night stallion had disappeared with the sunrise.

 

* * * *

 

There were too many to fit in the office, so he gathered his fifty sisters in the ballroom. “I want an explanation.”

The ladies looked at each other, and one raised her hand.

“Nishi.”

“I was contracted by one of her siblings. She has disregarded their family lines and has whored herself in the king’s court.”

Eric pinched his nasal bridge. “She is inexperienced, and she has no siblings.”

That set off seven more of his sisters. They shifted with uneasy looks.

“Here is her biography. I found it in less than twenty minutes. She is a half-breed, her mother died in childbirth, raised by a human orphanage, sprouted her elven characteristics between eleven and twelve, and after a traumatic first day, was raised at one of the half-elf schools at the expense of the elven court.”

He paced back and forth. “When she graduated, she was sent to the court with her master musician credentials already in place. After an audition, she was assigned the position of the king’s musician, and she has spent every day for the last five years playing for him, until now.”

He raised his voice. “Does any of this information conflict with any of the information you were given? Raise your hand if it was.”

All but two of his sisters raised their hands.

“She has also not pursued any physical relationships in the court or out of it.”

The last two grimaced and raised their hands.

“Right. I have a ledger here. I want you to enter your name and the person who summoned you to enact punishment upon the musician.”

He stood next to the ledger on the podium and watched the same three names crop up over and over again.

Nishi paused and asked, “What are you doing with this information?”

“I am going to take it to the fey king and ask his forgiveness for the idiot mares who could not even ask the ether a simple question.”

He looked at the rest of the gathered siblings. “A question that we have been designed to ask since we were born. Are they worthy of punishment? We are descended from the furies, and you have betrayed the family credo of pursuing justice. By our own rules, you should all sink into madness, but the times have changed, and the old gods are dead. We serve truth now, and it is up to all of you to find that truth.”

His sisters looked anywhere but at him.

“Have I made myself clear?” He raised his voice and enforced it with his beast’s strength.

The ladies lifted their heads, nodded and milled around trying to avoid his gaze.

Eric sighed. “Right. Get to bed. I will figure out what you should do for atonement later.”

Nishi raised her hand. “How did you know?”

“Bad paperwork. No one’s name shows up that often unless they are sleeping their way through their family, and killing every morning.”

“I meant her activities? How did you know she wasn’t guilty?”

He gave her and the others a bland look as he panned the room. “I have seen every inch of her mind, and there isn’t a hostile bone in her body. She is solitary by the situation, not by choice.”

“Oh.”

Eric looked at Nishi with a raised brow. “I am not just in charge by virtue of gender. I can see souls, Nishi. So can you if you bother to.”

 

* * * *

 

Eric stood and waited to be announced. He had pulled his energy around him, and it made a definite impression on the chamberlain.

“His Majesty will see you now.” The page smiled and bowed.

Eric followed and was led through the audience chamber and into a private office.

Inside the room, he found himself facing Larion, king of the fey. “Your Majesty.”

“Herd master. What can I do for you?”

“It has come to my attention that a few of your courtiers have engaged nightmares to torment your musician.”

He nodded. “I am aware of it. Elenora insisted on going to the Crossroads even when we knew.”

“Are you aware of the three of your fey that have sent the nightmares to drive her mad?”

“Do you have the names?”

“I do.”

The king got to his feet. “What will you take in exchange for the names of the traitors?”

“Traitors?”

“They are against my musician and my friend and, therefore, me. A crime against one of the king’s inner court is treason.”

“Very well. These are the three names that were identified by those they contracted for the assault.”

The king nodded, and his lips tightened. “I knew about two, but her grandmother is a bit of a surprise. I will deal with it.”

“What will happen to them?”

“They will be banned from court and have their lands and assets seized.”

“Will Elenora be blamed?”

“No, they have assaulted me. I will make that clear in the punishment.”

He smiled. “Tell them that she is in a coma.”

The king raised his brows. “Is she?”

“No, but if I had not arrived when I did, she would be.”

The king nodded and leaned back on his desk. “So, what do you want from me?”

“I want to court Elenora.”

Lorian’s mouth curved into a slow smile. “Have a seat. We are going to engage in some heavy negotiations for my favourite member of my court.”

Eric sat. He didn’t know what had urged him to ask for permission to court Elenora, but it felt so right once it was said. His beast was delighted. It wanted her silky thighs against his back again and again.