The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Nine

It was always such a long drive to Larsner, that I dozed off. All the worrying had exhausted me, plus I was feeling strange today. I wanted to chalk it all up to the pregnancy, but, something made me not so sure that was all there was to it. As I slept, I was having nightmare that I was going to be responsible for destroying both Earth and Aleria. There were the undead everywhere, crawling towards me with their arms stretched high, as if I were their Goddess.  So  when Adrian nudged me, I woke up with a shout.  

With my breath choking from me in sobbing gulps, I clung to his shirt, staring, but still seeing the last threads of my nightmare.

"Shh, Matt... what's the matter?" Adrian tugged me to him and cradled me in his arms. 

I couldn't speak, because I could feel an oiliness within me that I couldn't isolate. When I went searching deeper for it, it dissipated, and all I could find was the snowflake beauty of Noc's force. 

I frowned and cast around within me, but couldn't see it. Perhaps, just perhaps it was nothing. "A nightmare... Zombies and vampires...and I was the one responsible for them being there."

"That's just a dream, Madeline. You're here to save us, not destroy us." Luke reached past Adrian to stroke my arm. "Have faith in yourself and us."

As I allowed myself to be comforted, I decided that it must indeed be my condition, and nothing more. 

We had to meet with Yolis, the governor over the city, but Tylas's fate had been weighing on me for days. I needed to save the pixie, since I'd made a promise to take responsibility for him. 
So I made us first go to the temple to complete the paperwork that would make him mine, then after getting jeers for choosing an inferior race once more, we headed to the prison. The prison building was as uninviting as any on earth, perhaps even more so. It was made of gray and silver marble, with gates made of metal bars that glowed with the same purple magic that arced across the sky.

"Have a care not to touch the bars, Princess." Ciaran pulled me toward himself.

"They're glowing purple, Key. Would you please let me lick the scary, purple, glowy bars? Please?" Monotone was not an adequate description for the sound of my voice.

His eyes danced with delight that I'd called him by a nickname. "Key? Did you just call me Key?"

His reaction made me fidget. I wasn't sure what my feelings for him were at the moment, since I was addled by my dream and by the slam to my psyche I'd had this morning, but Ciaran acting shiny always seemed to tilt me in his favor. "Yes?"

"You called me Key? Rather fitting, I suppose, since I met you with a gift of a key." He leaned in to whisper. "And your eyes are keyholes. Are you saying I am the key that best fits you?" His resonating emotion was hopeful.

I pushed him away with a snort. He was close in his guess since I had been thinking of keys when I made up his nickname, but I hadn't considered the possible other meaning. I wasn't ready to either. "Your name is pronounced Kee-rawn. Key is easier unless you want me to call you Ronny."

He made a noise of displeasure, "Key is fine. I shall add it to my names..." He winked at me.

The zing to my heart his expression gave me wiped me of thought. Then I got annoyed with myself.  I had to stay focused and not fall in step with his dance again.

"Don't let him mess with your head, Matt!" Dom chided as though he could read my mind like Adrian. He reached forward and wiped the drool leftover from my nap.

Someone cleared their throat, and I realized we'd made it to the information desk beyond the gates. Six female guards stood on either side of an elderly Sidhe woman, who sat behind the desk, looking at us impatiently. She looked like a grumpy praying mantis with her oversized glasses and stick-thin frame.