“So nice to see you aggravating Ryne, my dear,” Tohon said with a soft chuckle. “The poor guy doesn’t quite know what to do with you. You have rendered all his diplomatic training useless. You’re unexpected and don’t follow Ryne’s notion of logic at all.” He tsked. “Not that I have any good advice for him. I completely underestimated you. A mistake I won’t make again.”

“Because you can’t. You’re out of commission, Tohon,” I said.

“Are you sure? I am having this lovely conversation with you, my dear.”

“You’re a result of my worries and nothing more than a nightmare.”

“And again I ask, are you certain? Did you not consider the possibility that one of the children I experimented on has developed healing powers?”

“They’re too young.”

“The ones you saw are. But I’ve been working with Death Lily toxin for a number of years. There could be other older survivors that you aren’t even aware of.”

Alarmed, I stepped closer to the dais. “Are there?”

He shrugged. “How should I know? I’m a nightmare born from your fears and desires.” Tohon leered and stood. His royal robes disappeared and all he wore were his black silk pajama pants. The hip-hugging material accented his flat muscular stomach and chest. “Still like what you see, my dear?”

“Go away. You shouldn’t be able to invade my dreams. And if you do have a healer, it’s too soon for you to reach your castle. So you’re still frozen.” I concentrated on banishing him.

He laughed. “Yet I remain. Perhaps there is another reason?”

“You didn’t claim me, Tohon. I fought you and won.”

“True. I couldn’t possess you. But I am a part of you, my dear. I’ve...branded you with my magic, and as long as you live, I do, too.”

“Ridiculous.”

“Is it? Remember the first time we met? When my dead retrieved you? I kissed your hand and since then we’ve been linked.”

I denied it. No way. If I was linked with anyone, it would be Kerrick.

“Yet Kerrick’s not here. I am.”

A hand gently shook my shoulder. “Avry, wake up.” Ryne knelt next to me, peering at my face in concern. “Bad dream?”

Straightening, I knocked the charcoal to the floor. I’d fallen asleep on the map I’d marked with the Lily and troop locations.

“Is there any other kind of dream?” I asked.

“Not for me.”

Then we shared something in common. “Does Tohon haunt your dreams, as well?”

“No. My father does.”

Surprised, I glanced at him. “But King Micah’s—”

“Dead. But that doesn’t seem to stop him from telling me what I’ve done wrong every night. He delights in pointing out my mistakes and telling me I’m incompetent.”

“Sorry to hear that.”