Vale of Dreams by Alex Rivers & C.N. Crawford

Author:Alex Rivers & C.N. Crawford [Rivers, Alex & Crawford, C.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

As I run up the stairs of Lothian Tower, my lungs are screaming. My asthma is always much worse in the winter during physical exertion. I’ve grown complacent because it doesn’t seem to bother me in Brocéliande.

But tonight, after I rowed across the lake, then ran upward through the streets of Camelot and up several flights of steps, I’m wheezing, gasping. The anxiety isn’t helping, either. Please don’t let me be late. Please don’t let me be late.

There’s no Iron Legion cadet standing guard against the nefarious demi-Fey in the Astolat Atrium, and I take that as a bad sign. Someone called them off. Is that because there’s no more need to spy on these demi-Fey?

Please don’t let me be late.

I reach the door to our room and slam into it, tumbling inside. I half-expect to find my friends with their throats slit, but to my relief, the first sound that welcomes me to the room is Serana’s snores.

Tana sits up in her bed, her hair frazzled, eyes blinking in confusion. “Nia?” she mutters sleepily.

“Quick,” I blurt, breathing hard. My lungs are shrieking with every breath, sounding like a broken whistle. “The…key…we…must…lock…” I can’t keep talking, my head is spinning. I stumble to my nightstand and fling the drawer open, hoping to find my extra inhaler still in it. Instead, I find three combs, a book titled Vampires Stay Hard, and glitter eyeliner. I blink, gasping for breath.

Someone sits up in my bed. I draw my knife, ready to fight.

“Nia!” Darius says.

“Darius.” I exhale. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t want to stay in my own room. The atmosphere is getting very hostile, so I figured since you’re gone, I could bunk here a few days.”

“Where…my…stuff…”

He opens the second drawer in the nightstand, and I rummage in it, finding the inhaler. I put it to my mouth, taking two deep puffs and drawing them into my lungs.

“Lock the door,” I blurt, still half out of breath. “Assassins coming.”

“What’s going on?” Serana mumbles, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing here, Nia?”

Darius, to his credit, functions much better when awakened. He leaps out of bed and scrambles to find the room key underneath a bunch of Serana’s things. Within seconds, he’s at the door, turning it in the lock.

I clutch my inhaler to my chest. “I’ve come to warn you. The Iron Legion is attacking tonight. Targeting all demi-Fey in the tower. What other demi-Fey do we need to warn?”

“No one,” Tana says. “Apart from us, they’re all in Scotland. Viviane is in Ireland, preparing a backup base of operations.”

“Oh,” I say, feeling ill.

That’s why the Iron Legion chose to strike today. Just three demi-Fey to take down—easy to overcome, but a terrifying message to the rest.

“How did you get this information, Nia?” Serana asks. “I thought you were in Brocéliande.”

“I was.”

Darius frowns. “So how did you get a warning about the Iron Legion?”

Mordred’s Hemlock Oath has me limited in how much I can tell them. “It doesn’t matter.

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