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“It’s not possible,” the queen insisted. “It has been tried many times.”
I hoped she was wrong, for Ash’s sake, but that was a problem for another day.
“As much as I wish otherwise, I suspect you will have to kill her,” the king said.
Not exactly objecting, but not happy with the proclamation, I kept my mouth shut. Maybe something would come to me later, but right now I still didn’t have any ideas on how to deal with the woman. I just knew we had to stop her.
“The Dream beings that have sided with her will have to be dealt with, but that is a matter for after the realm is saved,” the king continued.
“We need the mirror dwellers, and we need to repair the mirror realm,” Kyoka said. “We need our mate, and we must be whole so we can defend Dream.”
Nic took a breath. “Once we deal with not-Baz, as Ember calls him, we will investigate the mirror realm.”
I straightened. “Could the dreambound woman be hiding there?”
Only my years of being on stage kept me from shrinking back from the combined attention of everyone in the room.
“That would be a logical place for her to go, if she is trying to return to the Conscious Realm,” Esin mused.
“It shouldn’t be possible for her to even enter the mirror realm as a dreambound,” the queen said. “But if she has broken down the barriers, that is likely where she went, as no one has found her in Dream or Nightmare.”
“So, destroy not-Baz, retake Nightmare Castle, and find a way into the mirror realm?” I tightened my jaw. None of that sounded like anything I wanted to have anything to do with.
“Yes, luv,” Nic said. “And I have an idea of how we can look into the mirror realm.”
Dio’s hand tightened on my arm. “No.”
“No?” Nic raised an eyebrow.
“The shadow realm is bad enough that you won’t even talk about your time there. The brushes I’ve had with it traveling with Ember are wrenching. I don’t know if I can handle being a shadow long enough to spy on the mirror realm from shadow.”
“Dio, there will be many tasks involved in saving the mirror dwellers. Ember and I can handle shadow.”
Nic curled a tentacle of shadow around my leg, either possessively, or to soothe me, I wasn’t sure.
“So you’ll subject her to it?”
Nic smiled grimly. “I am no longer a child. I can protect her.”
“And what if shadow has sided with this dreambound? What then?” Dio glared at his brother.
Nic faded out into black mist before solidifying again. “Then we’ll certainly be in a bad spot, now, won’t we?” His voice hardened, ending the conversation, but I could tell from Dio’s expression we weren’t done with the discussion.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either. I still wasn’t comfortable enough with the shadow powers to want to spend any extended time there, but if that’s what we had to do, then I would. Maybe.
“Ash… Is she happy here?” Esin fortunately changed the subject.
I shook my head. “She was engaged and liked her life in the Conscious Realm.”
“It may not be possible for either of you to return,” Nic said after a moment. “At least not publicly. Her house was destroyed in a fire, and you’ve been missing for a time. They might think you are dead.”
“Fuck!” I hadn’t even thought of that. “I need to tell my parents I’m okay.” I surged to my feet, but Nic’s shadows held me back from charging from the room.
“Luv, we were lucky to get into Dream. How do you expect to get home?”
I stared at Nic, belatedly remembering I wasn’t actually sure how we’d gotten here in the first place.
“Your abilities with the essence worked to create a temporary arch, but unless you believe you can reliably recreate it, you must stay here or you may not be able to return to Dream, even if you do make it back to the Conscious Realm.”
