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  When he started to kiss her back, she knew she’d wrenched him out of the living nightmare he’d been in. “I need you, Malachi! If you don’t return to me, you won’t have anyone to love.” She knew the warlocks would drag her back and take her to King Roland’s armies. She knew it. For some reason they wanted her badly, and yet something was making them hesitate. The wind rustled behind her. She looked behind her, only to see several glowing spirits lighting the night.

  “We came down as soon as we knew you were in peril.” Lady Melody looked up at the warlocks who were using dark magic. “Our magic will only be able to stall them for so long, eventually, they will be able to break past it. I appreciate the way that you are supporting Malachi. He is in dire need of someone that will put their faith in him. His heart has been broken, and I didn’t know if he’d ever recover, but now with you, I see that can become a reality. We are in your debt.” The murmured assents of the other spirits made a thrill go up and down her spine. “You helped him to fight Katrina’s spell. I am very disappointed in her choices. During her childhood, she always had her own visions of grandeur. I just thought she’d turn out like her grandfather, I never dreamt she would ally herself with Blackburn.”

  “How do you know so much about Malachi and his family?”

  Melody smiled sadly at her. “I will leave that to Malachi to explain. He is awake, and I must go, or else he will be very angered.” She raised her hand and the rest of the spirits disappeared with her.

  “What happened?” Malachi gripped her hand in his. She picked the shield back up, and it once again transformed back into a sword.

  “No time to explain. There’s two warlocks left…I’d be grateful if you could make short work of them. I’m so tired.” She closed her eyes against the exhaustion seeping through her body. Not only was she physically drained, but also her emotions and her mind had been through several battles today, she was lucky she was emerging so uninjured.

  A look of great concentration enveloped his features and then, the warlocks in the sky exploded.

  “You can blow things up with your mind?”

  “If I exert enough control and just the right amount of power. If I don’t, I can wipe out a whole lot more than just those two warlocks that my sister sent.”

  She nodded her head. “Well, I’m glad you’re as skilled as you are with your talents.”

  “How did you figure out that my sister was affecting me?”

  “She was the one responsible for what you look like, she’s put you in a prison of your making—it only made sense that she would continue to attempt to destroy you no matter the cost.”

  “My sister will not win. I’ll have to fight her. I don’t want to…”

  “I can understand why you hesitate. But she’s with the enemy … willingly.”

  “Is she? I don’t know. I still don’t understand why she betrayed me. I keep thinking—maybe they are exerting some sort of mind control over her. There are wizards that can get into your head without you even knowing it.”

  “That’s so good to know. Especially since my head is ripe for the taking.”

  “You’re under my protection now.”

  “And I almost lost that protection a few moments ago.”

  “I wouldn’t have succumbed to my sister’s manipulations. I would have figured out a way to conquer her control.”

  “You might have. Personally, I think I helped a lot. I gave you something worth fighting for.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Me.” She smiled, releasing his hand. “I won’t try to run from you again, just take me back up to the castle. I feel like I’m going to collapse from sheer exhaustion.”

  Reaching for his hand, she felt the rushing wind as he magically transported them back up to the castle. She didn’t need to take in her surroundings to know that he had taken them back up to ‘their’ bedchamber. Sighing, she let go of his hand.

  “I’m really too tired for more games, Malachi.”

  “I know.” His simple response took her off guard.

  “You know?” She tilted her head.

  “Do you honestly think I would try to seduce you after the night we’ve had? You need your rest. I know that. You are in a delicate condition. Actually, I’m feeling quite worn out as well. So, I’m going to go and refresh myself, and then I’m off to sleep.”

  “Can she reach you in your dreams?”

  He frowned. “I never thought of that before. She’s never tried to contact me through the dreamscape.”

  “Well, maybe you should start thinking about this. Your sister doesn’t play by the rules. If she’s determined she will try to make your life miserable in the waking world, or in the sleeping world.”

  “Thank you, for pointing that out to me.” With that, he closed the distance between them. She should have shied away, but for some reason the look on his face captivated her.

  He reached for her, and brought her close. “I might not have snapped out of it, had it not been for your kiss. I must return the favour.” He leaned down to brush his lips softly against hers, pulling away after a few seconds. Silently, he turned, and left her alone.

  She looked around at the bedroom, through her enchanted spectacles. She couldn’t bear taking them off, ever.

  “I’ve drawn the bath for you.” Melody’s voice didn’t even startle her.

  “How could I have come so far in only a few short hours? I woke up this morning in my small isolated world. Fearing that I would continue to lose my sight until I had none at all. Now, I’ve found out that not only will I lose my sight I will most likely lose my life. And yet, I have hope. I have Malachi.”

  “You do. And, if you continue to put your trust in him, you won’t lose everything.”

  “But what if I do? Will I continue to linger after I die like you did?”

  Melody sighed. “The events surrounding your death will be much different from mine. I can’t say what will happen to you when you die, but I have confidence in Malachi. I feel that he will move mountains to save your life.”

  “If he can’t save me, I want to know that Thaliana won’t fall victim to King Roland’s tyranny. I remember what life was like before Malachi and the other magic kind of Thaliana gained the upper hand against Roland.”

  “I know. You can’t obsess about the past—we must live in the moment.”

  “Says the ghost,” Annabelle laughed. “I’m going to take you up on that bath that you drew for me, and then, I need to sleep.”

  “Just take care to not fall asleep in the bathtub.”

  She smiled. “Thank you for your concern, Lady Melody. You and I still need to have a discussion concerning your relationship to Malachi.”

  “Just know that I’m deeply devoted to him, and I will support anyone that wants to support him.”

  “Malachi told me, I’d be meeting his parents.” Her head started to throb. “I asked him how. I’d heard that his parents had been…”

  “Killed. Yes. We were.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Oh.” She didn’t know how to respond to Melody’s latest revelation.

  “You don’t need to worry about hurting my feelings, Annabelle. I know I’m dead, there’s very little that can hurt me anymore.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say. I am sorry.”

  “I do appreciate your concern, my dear. But there’s a reason why Malachi’s father and I have lingered. We must see our children find happiness.”

  “Katrina isn’t doing a great job in assisting that along.”

  Melody laughed. “Yes. You are quite right. But Katrina isn’t my daughter by blood. She’s really Malachi’s cousin. Yet, they were raised as siblings.”

  “Does Malachi have other siblings?”

  “Yes.” Melody’s eyes grew soft with sadness. “They are fighting in the war, for the queen’s cause. My children were raised to be loyal to their monarch. Alas, I have no idea how Katrina strayed so far from the path.”

  “
I am sorry that so much anguish has befallen your family. Why doesn’t Malachi’s other siblings come home to help him?”

  “They couldn’t. They would try, but they wouldn’t be able to shake any sort of sense into him. They will return when the queen can spare their services and not a moment before.”

  “They should at least return to see you.”

  Melody sighed. “They are there fighting to avenge our deaths. As you can well imagine they are not happy about Blackburn ordering our deaths. As part of the queen’s personal guard, we always knew we were straight in the line of fire. We were the ones that finally freed her from the tower. For years, my husband and I bided our time, recruiting other Thales that were sympathetic to the queen’s plight. For a long time, no one would believe that she was being unjustly kept as a prisoner in her own palace.

  Zara and I were childhood friends. I knew that she was in grave peril as soon as she cut me out of her life. She would never have shunned me the way she had to when Roland had control.”

  “Dark times.”

  “Indeed.” Melody’s eyes sparkled at her. Tonight Melody seemed more corporeal than she had earlier. Her eyes mirrored Malachi’s. She should have noticed that before. She really had been too involved with herself when she first arrived. “I will leave you to your bath. Tomorrow will be time enough to talk of these matters again, if you still want to have your many questions answered. For now, I will leave you to have some privacy. I frequently take trips away from the castle, so if you call for me, and I don’t answer just assume I am not in residence. Sometimes, Malachi is best left to his own devices.”

  She shivered. She didn’t like the way she’d said, ‘devices.’

  “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” Annabelle watched Melody pass through the walls. Suddenly, she felt alone. More alone than she’d ever been. Even when she’d been back in the cottage there was always someone coming and going—bringing her news, bringing her food, bringing her father home in a drunken state. She frowned. She’d left her life behind her, and it could, as far as she was concerned, stay there.

  Malachi would never let her go back to living the way she had been living. He had changed her life, and from this moment on, he would always be there. Once she’d cleaned all of the dirt away, and soaked for a bit in fresh water, she got up and toweled herself dry. She washed the enchanted spectacles, brought them right up to her eyes, and stared at them. They were the worst form of temptation. She knew that they veiled her vision from the harder realities of life, but they also gave her what she craved the most. They returned her sight to her.

  Heaving in a great breath, she perched them on her nose and wrapped the arms around her ears. Then, she reached for the nightdress and dressing gown that Melody had hung on the back of the door for her. Compared to her cottage, the castle was heaven. It had all of the conveniences she’d always dreamt of. Never again, would she have to haul in her bath water and heat it up on the hearth.

  She stopped when she got to the washing room door. She heard movement. Her heart leapt in her chest. Had another servant come into her quarters unannounced or had her husband returned?

  She wouldn’t put it past him at all. It seemed like a trick he would try to pull. No wonder Melody had made a hasty and abrupt exit. She’d also told her not to expect her interrupting anytime soon.

  Malachi.

  She couldn’t understand what he was trying to accomplish. She’d already told him she was too strained and too tired to play any sort of love games with him. Shouldering a sigh, she walked out into the dark room. She’d left the lights on when she’d gone into have her bath.

  “Malachi?” Her voice echoed through the dark and stillroom.

  “Come to bed. I’m already on my way to the dreamscape.”

  “I don’t think so. I’ll go and reside in one of the many other bedrooms.”

  “I don’t think so.” He sounded like an echo she didn’t need. “You told me that Katrina might try to sabotage my dreams. This way, if I start muttering weird things in my sleep, you can snap me out of it.”

  “I…” she stammered. “I’ve never had anyone sleeping in my bed before.”

  “I should hope not!”

  “What I meant to say, is that I’ve never had to share my bed with anyone. I was an only child, remember? I never had anyone to share anything with, except my mother, but she’s been dead for quite a few years now.”

  “I understand. Don’t worry, if you kick me, I’ll ignore it. This bed is gigantic by most Thales standards. I’m not going to bite, and I assure you, I need my sleep just as much as you. I’ll save the love games for tomorrow.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. Walking slowly toward the bed, she tried to see her way in the dark. “You could have left a bloody light on or lit a candle for me.”

  She saw him wave his hand, and then the candle by the side of the bed lit up.

  “Were you always this stubborn?”

  “Only if you admit to being as stubborn as a Thaliana unicorn, all of your life.”

  “I’m going to sleep.” She slipped under the soft luxurious covers and rested her head on the pillows and drifted off to sleep.

  *****

  “Blackburn’s troops are coming! They’ve already burnt down the neighbouring villages, we must find a way to save Collingwood Village from falling to them!”

  Annabelle looked around her at her fellow determined villagers. Smoke billowed in the sky from their neighbouring villages. Fear crept into her heart. What would they do if their village fell? She’d heard frightening tales of Blackburn’s men. He was King Roland’s top and most trusted master wizard. He led the troops in their invasion of Thaliana. The queen had taken to the mountains hoping to mount a counterattack when they came up with a plan.

  Glynnis ran toward her. She held a child in her arms, and the child’s mother was struggling to keep up with them.

  “They are coming. If our forces don’t arrive soon—I fear the worst. They have no mercy. The tales from the refugees fleeing from their villages to our village is most grave. They say we should continue to move north toward the mountains. Only then will we be safe.”

  “You will never be safe!” A shrill female voice entered her dreams. She railed against it.

  “Who are you?”

  “Oh, I think you know who I am. Our oracles say you are the chosen one. So, I’m going to make sure you’re only chosen for one thing—extermination,” she sighed. “However, I would be acting against my orders—you are under his protection—to my disgust, I can’t kill you. He wants you so he can use you against those that love you the most.”

  “Get out of my dreams, Katrina!”

  “My, my. It didn’t take you long to figure out who was talking to you. You are brighter than I had originally given you credit for. They say you will be treated like a princess here when we finally capture you.”

  “You won’t be able to capture me. I am as you say, under his protection.”

  “Our opinions differ greatly as to who he is. You’ll find out in time that Malachi is not the most powerful male force in your life. Just wait, my dear beautiful Annabelle. Life has a lot more in store for you than what you think it does.”

  “I am dying.”

  Katrina gasped. “You lie.”

  “Why would I lie in the dreamscape? This is the one place according to magic kind lore where people must speak the truth.”

  “No. He will not be happy to hear this. You will not die. A solution will be found. The magic kind have many ways of cheating death.”

  “You are referring to the dark magic kind.”

  “Am I? I must diminish. Malachi is stirring from his slumber. Do not tell him I was here, or I will make sure I target him the next time he enters the dreamscape. As long as you allow me to visit you without telling him, then I will let him live.”

  “You’ll find that killing Malachi is a lot harder than you think.”

  “Oh, I know how to end his life. If you wan
t to see him live for a long time, then you should heed my warning.”

  “Go away. I shall keep my silence, if you keep your word.”

  “I’ve never broken my word to someone of your background. I will not start now. Besides, he would have my head if I did that. Farewell, Lady Annabelle.”

  Annabelle made a strangling noise as she woke out of her deep slumber. When she opened her eyes it was to meet Malachi’s penetrating gaze.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  She forced out a laugh. “In this castle that is an everyday occurrence.”

  He laughed. “You are right. That was certainly a bad choice of words. I will watch my words more closely from now on.”

  She nodded her head. “Forget about it. It’s okay. I just had a nightmare, and having you in my bed, is still rattling me.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “No. I know.” Katrina’s line of conversation still echoed in her brain. She closed her eyes against the pain. She wanted to tell Malachi about Katrina’s visit, but a niggling doubt at the back of her mind made her think that Katrina was speaking the truth when she told her that she would kill Malachi.

  No matter what happened, she knew she couldn’t betray Malachi’s trust. But who was he that Katrina kept referring to? She’d have to tell Melody in the morning to see if she could give her any insight on the troubling dream.

  “Still sleepy, eh? I’ll let you get back to your dreams. Just don’t have any more nightmares.”

  “The same goes for you.” She knew that Katrina wouldn’t dare visit Malachi, but still she worried. Why was she so worried about Malachi when she barely knew him? She was married to him—and that was something that bonded them together—no matter what her better judgment told her, she knew she could trust Malachi far above anyone else in her life.

  Closing her eyes, she fell back into a fretful slumber.

  Chapter Ten

  Annabelle awoke to the sound of birds chirping their morning song. Rolling over, she felt Malachi’s side of the bed. He was gone. Frowning, she sat up. The room was almost too quiet save for the sound of the birdsong outside. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and slipped her feet into her slippers. Reaching for the dressing gown, the magic of the castle had summoned for her, she put it on and tied it around her waist.