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Contents ( 56)
  1. Cover
  2. Half Title Page
  3. Books by Morgan L. Busse
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. Contents
  8. The Dominia Empire (Map)
  9. Character List
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. About the Author
  55. Back Ads
  56. Back Cover

She burst into his dreams in a flurry of feathers and flight. Finally.

She gave out a caw as she hovered high above a sandy beach, a bright blue sky above and gentle waves below. Sunlight rained down across her back and light sparkled across the sea. She spread her wings and let an air current send her forward.

She looked around her in awe. This was Lord Damien’s dreamscape? It was so different than anything she had experienced before—

Focus.

She shook her head, then flexed her wings and dove down toward the sandy dunes. This was not the time for admiration. Now was the time to see what Lord Damien held in the darkest recesses of his mind.

Now was the time to complete her mission and finish off House Maris.

40

Images and feelings rushed past Selene as if she were flying from one dream to the next. Maybe she was. She hadn’t dreamwalked in so long that perhaps her gift had stored up momentum, pitching her across multiple dreamscapes.

First she was playing wooden blocks with a little girl in a light blue dress on the floor of a cabin, then she was sitting at a long wooden table, reading over what looked like a very old scroll. Next, she was staring into the eyes of a pretty young woman, declaring her love before she was swept aboard a ship at sea, her hands steadying the ship’s wheel.

Over and over again, moving from one mind to another, reliving the memories and feelings of so many people that her own mind was spinning. It took her a dozen dreams before she was able to pull up and hover in her raven form above what looked like Nor Esen, only it was summer and the sun was shining brightly over the rugged city and surrounding cliffs and beaches, with white-crested waves crashing against the rocks and blue water as far as the eye could see.

Home. The word reverberated within her.

Then everything went black.

When she next opened her eyes, she was standing inside the Dark Lady’s sanctuary in Rook Castle. It was exactly as she remembered it on that cold day over a year ago, the day she received the prophetic utterance from the priest about her gift. Pale, overcast light filtered in through the high windows above, and a chill hung in the air, so different compared to Nor Esen from moments ago. The dais ahead was empty, and the retable held unlit candles. The stone floor was bare between the columns, without even a speck of dust to be found.

She looked down and found herself draped in a long dark cloak, the hood pulled over her head, the way she always wore it when she visited the sanctuary the morning after a new moon. It was almost as if she were revisiting that morning, minus her mother, her sister, and the other disciples.

And the Dark Lady.

The Dark Lady never came that night, like the priest said she would. Never answered her when she prayed for help, never showed up until Selene chose to leave Rook Castle. Then the Dark Lady came, haunting her dreams.