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Despite having his pocket watch on him, Pollux could only imagine what he looked like barreling through the woods and into what was essentially a nursery.
“You are unwell.” Pila sat up. “What has happened?”
“Castor has Meda and Kassandra.”
Pila’s calm evaporated. Voice dark as pitch, she said, “What?”
“I don’t know how it happened. Kassandra was able to summon me into her dream, but I could barely squeeze through a crack in whatever barrier Castor has her in.” If Pollux were honest, he was not sure he’d been able to materialize clothes in the final moment when he tried desperately to claim her in order to spare her mind from the collapse of its human pieces. She had asked him for help. Claiming her would help. It was an effective loophole to his promise, but he had not even managed it. Just like he had most likely not been able to manage clothes. But he would not think about that right now. “I need someone to tell Cael.”
“While you go after them by yourself?” she asked.
His heart tightened as emotion burned in his eyes. “Kassandra’s scared, Pila. She’s disintegrating all by herself, and she’s scared. All the things she’s kept locked away have crashed down on top of her, just like I’ve worried they might. I need to find her.”
Pila lifted a hand. “Elowen, tell Cael to prepare an army.” Dropping her arm, she stalked forward, toward the nearest trod that would lead them into the maze of the Desolate Caverns. “We will not need his help, but I do not know how Castor will respond when I have laid waste to his kingdom.”
“Pollux.” Alexios’s voice made Pollux pause before following Pila’s warpath. He turned to find the yamachichi standing beside a tree. “I felt something amiss. What’s going on?”
“Castor has the girls. We’re going after them.” Pollux filled his lungs and hardened his resolve. “Stay here, and stay safe. We don’t know what he’s planning.”
And…truly…they did not.
Chapter 42
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The cruelest thing one can leave a villain with is hope.
Standing on my toes, I pace on the edge of my dream island, feeling my sanity flood away like all the sand pouring off. Pollux tried and failed to kiss me, because kissing me would claim me, and claiming me would give me the ability to perceive Faerie and handle the magic now invading my flesh.
Prior to that attempt, however, he had wanted me to jump.
I glance off the island at the vast nothingness swallowing sand.
Right now, I can’t control anything. I already tried to mend the cracks and push the sand away, but it is too angry. It shoved back against me until I had to scramble to stop myself from falling. The solution can’t be to jump off. How do I even know that was really Pollux? How do I even know this is really one of my dreams?
If I can’t control what’s happening anymore, maybe I’m stuck in an enchantment of Castor’s devising.
Under that context, jumping off would mean giving him what he wants. And I won’t do that. I refuse.
I refuse all of this.
The moment I think so, my world turns black.
Then voices drift into my ears—Andromeda’s…Castor’s.
“Why are you doing this, Uncle Castor?” Andromeda demands. “You know it’s bad for her. She can’t be here right now. Daddy hasn’t claimed her yet.”
“Little lamb, if you do not stop calling me Uncle Castor, I may grow fond of you.”
Andromeda huffs, tiny and protesting. “That’s the intention, you ding dong.”
Castor laughs.
“Let us go home before Mrs. Role snaps.”
“Do you know how many humans I’ve seen snap, little lamb?”
“Hopefully zero, or else they’d turn to stone.”
