Chapter 151

“Then all I wanted was to get away from him, but he followed me so swiftly, moved the way I could. I tried to get away, but . . .,” Ilyin’s voice faltered, and she fell silent. She reached up to Aden’s hand on her shoulder, covered it with her own.

“Have the knights been busy while I’ve slept?” she asked finally. It was an indirect way to ask what she wanted – is there trouble here? Aden caught her meaning at once.

“There’s been no sign of intruders,” Aden said, shaking his head. “That’s what set us thinking of other possibilities.”

That, and your grandmother coming here, he thought with a glance at Bertha.

“Thank goodness,” she said, visibly sighing in relief. “I’d been afraid there might be a misunderstanding . . .”

She was speaking of the Lady Mille, they all knew. But the Rippo had accepted being locked in her rooms without complaint, and in any case without Setoze she could never make it to Ilyin’s room a second time undetected.

“There was some suspicion of Lady Mille, for only a moment,” Etra commented, “but she doesn’t have those sorts of claws.”

Ilyin chuckled in spite of herself.

“I’m sorry for worrying you all,” she said. She reached out to grab Etra’s hand. “I heard you rode to the warm region.”

“It wasn’t difficult,” Etra replied simply.

“Even in April?” Ilyin asked slyly.

“Darling, I have a great deal to say about that,” Bertha chimed in. Bundled up still, she looked as though she was about to ask Aden to use his divine power again. And as Aden seemed incapable of hardening his heart to Ilyin’s family, he likely would indulge her, but she only smiled and continued her thought.

“It was beautiful seeing the warmth in winter,” she said.

Ilyin blinked, not sure what she meant at first. Then she turned to Aden inquisitively. He gave a troubled look in response.

“Are you planning to keep dreaming?” he blurted out, changing the subject. He couldn’t bring himself to ask her not to, though he dearly wanted to. Ilyin squeezed his hand.

“The cursed dreaming bloodline,” Bertha interrupted. “Not everyone wants the foresight, but there are none who can avoid it.”

“I well know,” Ilyin said, nodding. If it were possible to avoid it, she would have chosen that path early on. She wouldn’t have had a foresight since Sid’s death.

Aden nodded as well. He knew that Ilyin had seen her mother’s death, just one of many dreams she’d likely have rather not had.

“But if there were a way to stop it,” he asked her, “would you?”

Ilyin stared at him. It had only been a few days ago she had said she was happy dreaming for him. That she was happy to be able to see future dangers to help guide him and Delrose into safety, rather than be left simply hoping for the best.

It wasn’t long ago at all that she had said this. But now, with the still-healing wounds on her stomach, with this new knowledge of the dangers that lurked in her gift . . . he knew he was asking her opinion because he would never force her. He respected her too much.

“Are you asking if I’m afraid?” she asked. That was his real question, and he said nothing else while she considered her answer. For a long moment, they sat in silence as though they were alone in the room.

“You said that you and mother were able to speak and touch each other, grandmother. Correct?” she asked. The question was clearly to Bertha, but she spoke it as though it were directed everywhere and nowhere. The violet-eyed being hadn’t spoken to her, but she still bore the scars of his touch. He had clearly shared her dream, just as they had shared theirs.

“I’m scared,” she said softly after a moment. Her voice trembled with the words. “I have no way to resist him, if I encounter him in the dream again.”

She had no way to attack him, no claws of her own. If he shared a dream with her again, she would be just as vulnerable.

Ilyin still didn’t know who he was, or what. Nothing human, certainly. But he could walk in dreams, and if he could do that . . .

“He can foresee the future as well,” she muttered.

From what Annie had said, he could be part of the Milton tribe that had supposedly disappeared 500 years ago. And judging by Biflten’s relationship with the monsters now, there was no chance the two had been allies.

She would be attacked again. There was no doubt.