“I’ve heard the guards talking about a raven in their dreams.” Taegis looked keenly at him. “Perhaps you brought something back from Rook Castle without knowing it.”

Damien stared back. It couldn’t be Selene. She was now with him every night, so she wasn’t visiting others and dreamwalking. But only Selene could dreamwalk. Was Taegis referring to events before the Festival of Light? Was it possible Selene had been dreamwalking in the minds of those who lived here without him knowing? “Tell me more.”

Taegis sat down with a sigh. “It’s more than just the guards. The servants have also experienced this dream.” He glanced at Damien. “And so have I.”

“Tell me all of it. Leave out no details.”

“At first, it started with dreams of a dark figure and a raven. Then, if you’ll recall, a handful of people were found unconscious around the castle before the Festival of Light.”

“Healer Sildaern found nothing wrong with them.”

“Nothing wrong, yes. Other than they’d all had the same dream. And Lady Selene was in it.”

Damien gripped the arm of his chair. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

“I didn’t want to alarm you. At first I thought the people here were simply adjusting to Lady Selene’s presence, hence why she was showing up in their dreams. I’ve had dreams about new people I’ve met. But when I overheard two of the guards talking about the exact same dream, and not on different nights but on the same night, I began to wonder. After investigating more thoroughly, I’ve come to believe that the same phenomenon that haunted your dreams back at Rook Castle has come to Northwind Castle.”

Damien shook his head. “I don’t understand.” Selene said she had to be touching a person to use her gift. But how could she be touching so many people at the same time and entering their dreams? It wasn’t possible.

Or was it?

What about her mark? And what her mother said about her power? Was it possible her gift had expanded?

A cold chill swept across his body. There were varying degrees of giftedness within each house. His gift was on par with his father’s. Quinn’s had not been as powerful. His ancestor who helped build the wall along the empire border had been very powerful.

Was Selene more powerful than she or even her own family knew? So much so that her power had broken the known confines of her gift?

“I’m assuming by your silence that this has something to do with Lady Selene, doesn’t it?” Taegis said quietly.

Damien pressed a fist to his lips. “Yes.”

“Can you talk about it?”

He shook his head. “No.” He paused, trying to find the right words, but they tumbled from his mouth. “It would be so much easier if I could just tell you that Selene is a dreamwalker.” No loss of voice, no stopping of the tongue.

Taegis stared at him, his face changing from disbelief to shock. His brows pressed together, and his lips went tight. “What did you say?”