Page 32 of Keldori By Daybreak

“Proper?” I seethed, ignoring the pain in my side necessary to catch up with him.

“I’m sworn to you and—”

“And my family. Yes. I know. You remind me every chance you get.” I grabbed his arm and swung around to stand in front of him. “But you’re already in my head. We’re tethered, proper or not.”

The muscle in his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth, and he refused to look at me. “It’s dangerous.”

“If I die, I’ll wake up in my real body, so it’s only dangerous if Ferrin has a rotsbane up there, which he definitely didn’t a few weeks ago.”

“And if you turn into a rotsbane?”

“That was one time, and you stopped me.”

“What if I can’t stop you if it happens again?” he hissed.

“Then you won’t have to worry about dragging me all the way to Keldori.” I could force him to take me up the mountain, and he would have to obey, but I needed him to see that it was the right move. That I was right.

“What are you trying to prove, Blue?” His lips stayed stationary as he whispered directly into my head.

“It’s a good idea,” I projected back. “I’ve been up there before, and as a Nightmare, I’ll be stronger than any of you. Plus, Iseult knows me.”

And Orla needed me.

I omitted that part. Ciarán wouldn’t understand.

“Galahad didn’t keep bringing me back to Skalterra all summer because he liked my company,” I said out loud. “It’s because a lucid Nightmare is stronger than any Magician, and he knew I was stronger than you.”

Ciarán’s shoulders heaved with a sigh. “Fana.”

Fana caught up and stared up at Ciarán with wide eyes. “Yes?”

“You and Wren will shelter at the south side of the mountain as planned.

“But—” I started, but Ciarán cut me off with a raised hand.

“But I have a special task to ask of you.”

Fana nodded eagerly, and Ciarán handed her Jonquil again.

“You will be in charge of protecting Jonquil as well as Wren, who will be asleep and acting as my Nightmare to help us in the city. Do you understand?”

“Yes!” She clutched Jonquil close to her chest. “I can do that.”

“If anyone threatens you—”

“I’ll blind them!” She grinned.

Ciarán smiled back, then shouldered past me. He remained sullen as we walked, and his thoughts vibrated louder against my skull. He’d agreed to my plan but definitely wasn’t happy about it. I realized I should give him space and fall back to walk with Orla again, but I wanted to prove that even in this body, I could keep up.

He ignored me for a long stretch, and I let him stew in his buzzing thoughts. When we came to a passage where the ceiling dipped but still provided ample room to pass through, Ciarán looked up at the misshapen rock and sighed.

“This is your specialty, isn’t it?” he asked.

“What is? Pissing you off?”

“That, and all this.” He gestured vaguely at the tunnel walls. “Rocks. You made me sit through a very boring speech about them back in Keldori.”

“The talk was on paleomagnetism,” I corrected him. “Magnetic polarity and how it changes over time, and how that pertains to continental shift. That was the lecture. Not rocks.”