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Nic stared at me for a moment, raising an eyebrow.
Dio didn’t like me, but except at the beginning, he’d mostly avoided me. Though I supposed he’d been avoiding Ember, too. Shit.
“So what do we do?”
Nic shrugged. “Go after him, I suppose. I had hoped Ember had woken, so she could do it. I’ll have to go.”
“Why don’t you let me do it? Sure, he hates me and all, but having two of you at risk, especially since we don’t know what’s wrong with Baz, is not the best idea. Also, you can stay here and hopefully feed Ember some energy to help revive her.”
“Do you think you can track him?”
“I’m an aerialist,” I pointed out. “Not a forest ranger. The only reason I have fighting skills is because I was created with them. They neglected to add bloodhound into the mix.”
The prince actually smiled.
“I was hoping you could help with finding Dio,” I added.
Nic shut his eyes while he thought, swirling into shadow, before reforming. “I can see if one of the dire wolves is available, or another being with scenting capabilities. They could do the tracking for you.”
“That’s a good plan.”
“He won’t be happy to see you,” Nic said.
“No, but he’s still pretty weak, as much as he’s trying to hide it. I’m not worried about him hurting me. I’m worried about him getting hurt.”
“I am, too. Stay with her while I find assistance for you.”
Not that I had been intending to leave Ember alone, but I nodded, accepting the order, and taking her hand in mine. I gently caressed the smooth skin on the back of her hand while I waited for Nic to return.
***
I had always known I was from the dream realms, though I remembered little from my brief time here after I’d been created. A flash of memory of the young princes was all I had of them as children. That and some of Ember’s sketches. We were not introduced, but the ones who had created me had let me observe them from a distance for a time. I didn’t even clearly remember the ones who had made me. My first actual memories were of meeting Ember. Her confident smile. Her grace. Her acceptance of a seemingly foreign—because of my accent—student with no parents. I would have protected her, regardless, but her friendship had made it that much easier.
She’d had a few close calls that I had kept her safe from through the years, that she knew nothing about. I didn’t intend to tell her, either. She knew I protected her, and now she knew why, and so far, everything was working out. Unfortunately, protecting her, and Nightmare, meant going after one of her reluctant princes.
Ember had made it very clear that she wouldn’t give me up, and I appreciated that, deeply and with all my heart. Nightmare had to have her princess, though, and it had to have its princes. More than our hearts were at stake. More than the beings who dwelled in this imaginary land that was all that more real. Humans couldn’t survive without the dreams they created.
Whatever was erasing the realms was threatening more than the woman I loved and the place I came from. I needed to talk to Dio, somehow make him see some sort of reason without getting killed in the process. There was no way Ember would accept a prince that had destroyed someone she loved.
Those thoughts occupied me as I left Dream Palace. I must have been here before when I was first created because the layout was familiar to me. Even the randomly shifting parts of the palace, and the rooms that were larger on the inside than you might expect from looking at them, not to mention the secret passages. There were so many secret passages that the servants used the less hidden ones as ways to get around.
I’d always been curious about Dream and Nightmare, but I’d also always assumed I’d be back here one day when the princes came to get Ember, so I hadn’t thought too hard about it.
We were supposed to have an audience with the king and queen and the Dream princesses once Ember woke. I’d been curious to meet them, and I supposed I still would, but I’d likely miss seeing Ember’s first meeting with the rulers. I’d been with her for so many of her first experiences, and I hadn’t realized how important that was to me.
I left the palace out a side door and went into the gardens. Nic had talked one of the palace horses into carrying me. All the horses in Dream were highly intelligent—fueled by children’s dreams, no doubt—and some even had special powers like teleportation and telepathy.
The gardens, which I didn’t remember, gave me pause. Ember would want to spend hours here, sketching and taking in the unreal beauty of the place. If I’d had more time, I would have investigated the rows of colorful blooms and exotic plants. I spotted a couple of people napping in hammocks in what looked like a poppy field.
The stables rivaled the palace for opulent color and accommodations. I went inside and had to take a minute to stare and absorb it all. The horses who lived here lived better than royalty. The floors were soft under my feet, as if designed to cushion hooves. The air smelled of sweet hay and fresh shavings and the unmistakable aroma of equine. Even for someone as unused to being around horses as I was, I could tell this was a dream, possibly even molded by the horses themselves.
Fresh hay filled every feeder and none of the stalls had doors. Each stall had water flowing from the wall down rocks and into pools that smelled so fresh I was sure it tasted better than anything I’d ever had in the conscious realm. To top it off, most of the stalls had bowl couches sturdy enough for horses to sleep on. Each stall opened into the greenest pasture I’d ever seen.
There were stands in front of the stalls and some of them held saddles and bridles that looked especially fine, though occasionally a brightly colored saddle fit for a carousel horse replaced the more standard brown and black leather.
Most of the horses were out grazing, but a few slept on their couches. I was supposed to meet the horse that had agreed to take me here.
When I went into the center of the circular building, a red horse with a metallic sheen to his coat waited for me. I didn’t know a lot about horses, but this one had a big, bold head and a friendly expression.
