“For several hours.” Phelan moved off the bed to stir the fire in the hearth and pour me a cup of water. He brought it to me, and I took long, greedy drafts. “It’s about noon now, although the snow is making it difficult to tell time.”

I glanced out the window, struck by the haunting beauty of the snow as it fell. I watched its dance for a moment longer, until I raised my hand to feel the back of my head. There was a tender lump, hidden in my snarled hair.

“Who hurt you, Clem?” Phelan asked.

“It wasn’t the nightmare,” I replied. “Someone struck me.”

I didn’t tell him that I had been ascending to take the throne. Or that I had stepped over his mother’s prone form to do it.

I remembered the blur of wood and steel, just before impact. I hadn’t been struck by a spell, but by a shield. Something of the physical world. Had it been the duke? Or had it been someone like Mr. Wolfe?

My suspicions stirred. Whoever had rendered me unconscious didn’t want the curse to end; if they had, they would have taken the throne, instead of leaving it empty until the sun rose and the chair vanished along with Emrys, waiting for evening to reappear.

Phelan was quiet. His silence drew my eyes to him, and he studied me with a frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re changing, Clem.”

“How do you mean?” My heart gave a nervous twitch, as if he sensed the shadows gathering within me. But he only sat on the edge of the bed and caressed my hair.

“There’s more auburn in your hair now. And your neck . . .” His fingers traced my throat. “The gill scars have returned.”

I swallowed and touched the sleek scars. “I saw my phantom strike you and my father down, and I thought you both were dead.”

Phelan’s hand drifted from me. “Not dead, but in a painful sleep. I don’t think I care to encounter your dream form again anytime soon.”

He was teasing me, but my face felt too stiff for a smile.

“Did you know that your mother wants to kill me, Phelan?”

“No, Clem. I swear that I didn’t know she wanted to see you dead. And even if I had known, if she had told me the full extent of her plans, I would have never revealed you to her.”

My thoughts hung on his words. Revealed you to her.

I looked at him, saw the crushed hope and anguish within his eyes. “But you told me to hold my act. You have held my secret as your own, playing this charade alongside me. So you must have come to realize that she planned me harm, or else it wouldn’t have mattered if I was Anna.”