Cold Dream Dawning by A. R. Kahler

Author:A. R. Kahler
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781503953567
Published: 2016-05-02T23:00:00+00:00

Ten

Oberon is not pleased to see us.

I mean, he’s never pleased to see me, obviously, but this time he seems even less so. He sits on his throne of curving branches and lichen and stares down at us, his dark eyes burning. He is the antithesis of Mab: he is dark to her pale skin, his clothes light to her black. He wears pale-tan robes, his rusty hair curling around the antlers stretching from his head. And he hasn’t spoken. Not once. He just sits there with his hands clenched on the arms of his throne and his jaw tight.

I can’t exactly be the one to make the first move, though. Ropes bind my arms and mouth. Tastes like straw and manure. I would not be surprised if the guards picked these up from the floor of the stables before shoving them between my lips.

Star treatment right there.

Finally, after staring daggers at us for another few moments, Oberon leans forward and speaks.

“Why have you brought this thing here?”

Instantly, someone rips the rope from my mouth. I lick my lips. It’s not exactly coy, but it’s not exactly not.

Oberon’s a hornball if I ever saw one. The austere, self-controlled ones usually are.

“He’s my partner,” I say, nodding to Eli. He kneels right beside me, looking for all the world as though he’s perfectly comfortable being roped up. I know for a fact that he is. Just as I know he could escape if he wanted to. “Now, my turn: Why are you after my mother?”

A small smile plays over Oberon’s lips.

“I was wondering when Mab would let that little cat out of the bag.”

“Answer the damn question.”

Faeries can’t lie, but they sure as hell can stretch the truth like taffy. When they aren’t just spinning circles around it.

“Because she is mine,” he says. “And I am taking her back.”

“She’s not yours. She’s not anyone’s. She’s a mortal.”

“That is where you are wrong,” he says. “On many counts. Your mother swore herself to me. Before you were even born. Just as she swore you to Mab in order to get her powers back.” He smiles. “And your current goal is to get her to remember her powers, is it not? The irony is not lost on me.”

I barely hear his final words. My gut is somewhere far beneath the floor, my skin cold. I feel heavy as death.

She gave me away. No, she bargained with my life.

I’d always thought that I was the bad end of a deal, that Mab had manipulated Viv into giving me up. But to hear that, to have it confirmed, to know that my mother willingly gave me up, for what? For power? She was willing to sacrifice her own child for magic.

And look at you. You’re willing to sacrifice your mother for that very same power. For that very same leader. Looks like you two have more in common than you thought. You’re both horrible people.

Oberon seems to read my inner thoughts.

“Ah, she never told you?” He stands and walks toward me, then crouches in front of me and puts one rough hand on my cheek.

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