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  Once that was done, she looked around for some clothes; there wasn’t much, but an old cook’s tunic replaced the shredded one. Food in hand, she went out the back and froze. She was in a castle, no idea how to get out, and they would be looking for her soon. She took a moment to examine her surroundings carefully. What she needed was a diversion, something to keep them busy until she could find a way out.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The stables were not far from the kitchen, and in the failing light no one paid attention to the serving girl carrying a bucket from the kitchen to the stables. After all, the horses needed to be fed.

  Reign wasn’t carrying apple cores or carrot peels, though, she had a bucket of hot coals. She used the few moments needed to walk along the walls to the stables to plan her escape. Once the commotion started, she would slip along the opposite wall, away from the well and the kitchen, to the main gate, across the drawbridge and out into the fields. Once there, she could find her way home, and to Richard.

  That thought stopped her cold. This wasn’t real. Richard was real, her love for him, her baby, those were real. This was a waking dream that was trying to convince her it was real. She didn’t need to find Richard, she needed to find the spell that was holding her hostage, that was keeping the baby from being born.

  How? I don’t even know what it looks like.

  In the meantime, she decided to continue with her plan as before, dump the hot coals into the hay, and get the hell out. The haystack went up far quicker than she could imagine; one second, nothing, the next it was seven feet of raging flames and heat. She dropped the bucket and ran. The alarm followed, the commotion was massive. Every door opened, every available person came to fight the fire. They had no organization, no hierarchy; everyone simply grabbed a bucket or threw dirt on it. She used the confusion to slip away.

  The main door was within sight; she could see the drawbridge was down, the portcullis was up, and no guards were present. She couldn’t see the whole of the bridge, though, but she decided to risk it. After all, the castle was on fire, no one would be standing by doing nothing while that happened.

  Terrified that someone was behind her, and near out of her mind with fear from being whipped again, Reign ran for it. Her bare feet dug into the dirt as she charged for the gate. Too late she saw the guard. She slammed into him at near full speed. He didn’t budge, she bounced off and onto her ass.

  “Sorry miss, I didn’t see you...hey,” his kind words turned to alarm.

  Fear ran through her veins like an icy claw. If she were caught, she would be held until she died. There would be no second escape. She had to silence him. No sooner had she thought of this, than she felt a rush of energy, her skin tingled and her skin flushed. The guard started to scream then clapped his own hands over his mouth. His eyes widened in fear as he looked at Reign. She didn’t stop to think too hard, she got up and ran. The bread had given her energy and she used it.

  She ran until the sky turned from pink to grey to black. A sliver of silver rose into the sky offering poor illumination. The countryside was hilly, with sparse copses of trees in between massive farms. Once the fire was under control, and the prisoner reported missing, the first place they would check would be the farms, and then the trees. She figured whoever ruled this land was

  pretty ruthless to whip a nineteen-year-old girl to near death, so the farmers probably weren’t the helping sort.

  Up ahead she spied a ravine, at least the lip of one, beyond it the soft glow of fire light. With the prospect of heat, she realized how cold she was. At some point after the sunset, and the immediate danger passed, Reign went from warm to freezing. She was shivering, her fingers ached, and her feet were numb. Perhaps she could trade some of her bread for a spell at the fire.

  Not without caution, she crept up on the ravine with all the stealth she could muster. After escaping the castle and running in the wild for an hour, she was near exhausted, but managed to stay quiet.

  The fire burned low, several men sat on stumps around it, mugs of ale in one hand, bows on the ground next to them. A wild animal turned slowly on the spit.

  As she was about to make her way down, a hand grabbed her from behind and dragged her to her feet. Unwillingly, the large man held her off the ground and marched back to the campsite.

  “Well, boys, looks like tonight’s entertainment has arrived.”

  Reign’s body jumped and writhed on the couch, Richard leaped to her side; he patted her head, whispering to her that it would be all right.

  “Is this normal Loptr?” He gestured to her. Sweat beaded on her forehead, small cries of pain slipped from her lips.

  “There is no normal with the Fade, she’s in a world that the spirits decide to make for her, they will do their best to convince her of its authenticity, and the moment she believes with her heart, she’s lost forever.”

  Richard turned back to his love. His heart sank, small welts formed on her shoulders, she was being hurt, and there was nothing he could do to help her. Her fate was in her hands. He stormed to the kitchen, found a bucket and filled it with ice water. Armed with a rag and water he returned to her side, and used the rag to mop the sweat from her brow, and keep her cool. The whole time whispering to her that he loved her.

  “You truly love this mortal, do you?”

  “With all the pieces of my heart.” He couldn’t say it without tears spilling on his cheeks. Never before in his thousand years of life had he loved anyone so deeply so madly, as he loved Reign.

  “You can do this darling,” Richard whispered to her. “You are strong, smart, clever, and you can beat this. Hang in there.”

  In the Fade, Reign could hear none of this, she could only hear the barbarians who had captured her quarrelling over ‘who got to go first’, and she could only assume that meant who got to rape her first. The thought sent a chill up her spine and icy claws down her skin. They’d bound her hands behind her, and staked her to the cold ground. The fire was too far away for her to feel, and her hands and arms were already going numb.

  Come on girl, think. There has got to be away out of this.

  She would give anything for her Taser, to teach these heathens what’s what.

  Wait, I keep doing this, I keep thinking this is real. Loptr said that it was a dream, a shadow of what was, then if this is a dream, it’s the worst one I’ve ever had.

  The largest fellow, the one who captured her, settled the argument by smashing his fist into the face of his rival. He turned and smiled a lecherous grin at the girl.

  “I’m gonna enjoy you,” he grunted as he moved toward her, discarding pieces of armor and clothing along the way. Reign cringed, she could smell him from here, and if he was going to defile her, she doubted it would stop with him. She panicked, started kicking her feet, pulling at the stake, anything to break free. She simply wasn’t strong enough.

  Wearing just his breeches, he dropped down to the ground next to her. He started pulling at her clothes, freeing her breasts; he pulled her hair with one hand and leaned down to force a kiss on her.

  This isn’t real, this isn’t real.

  The fear was, the panic was, the feeling of his hand pulling at her hair was real. For a heartbeat, Reign wavered on belief. What if this wasn’t a dream, but a real world, and she had been transported into it. Her resolve crumbled and as she was about to start screaming in panic she remembered something.

  The bridge, the guard at the bridge. If this is a dream, then I can control it.

  There was a massive snap of electricity, the barbarian screamed as he flew across the camp. The bonds on Reign hands disintegrated, she stood, rubbed her wrists and glared at the others.

  “Play time's over, leave.”

  They looked to their leader, smoldering unconscious against the rocks, and they left. It was a dream, and she could control it.

  In the real world, her body relaxed, the sweat stopped and her breathing slowed down.

  “Is she okay?”

  “S
he either accepted it as a dream or that it’s real, we won’t know unless she wakes up, prepare yourself, Richard, I told you, magic has a price, and it’s hers to pay.”

  The remaining bandits looked torn between charging her and running away. She held her hand out, electricity arced between her fingers. “Choose wisely,” she said.

  They ran.

  Reign smiled to herself, as a little girl she used to fly in her dreams, like Peter Pan. Now all she had to do was find the source of the magic inflicting her, destroy it, and she could go home. Reign focused her thoughts. She thought of Richard, the baby, of whoever or whatever was keeping her from giving birth. A trail of light appeared in front of her, it headed in the direction she came from, back to the castle.

  Well, aren’t they in for a surprise.

  Reign lifted off the ground and into the sky. A huge smile on her face and a sense of freedom in her heart. She’d loved this part of her dreams, the air rushing around her, the sky at her fingers.

  It only took her a moment and she was back in the castle, she landed in the courtyard, and the light trail lead to the main keep. Guards rushed at her, a bell rang alarm, and someone yelled “Witch!”

  She waved her hands and electricity arced out at the first guard, then leaped to the next, and then the next, downing each one in turn.

  She walked past their convulsing forms and followed the light trail to the keep. The door opened before her, the dream seeming to unravel now that she was on to it. She walked up the stairs, the light guiding her to the very top of the tower.

  It came to an end at a sturdy wooden door. A wave of her hand and the door vanished. Reign stepped through, enjoying herself, now that she could control things.

  She froze.

  The room was a nursery. Richard was there, sword in hand, pointed at her. He stood in front of someone, protecting them with his body.

  “Begone witch, trouble us no more,” he shouted to her.

  The world that had been fading coalesced to real once more. The cobblestones were cold, the air heavy with smoke from the fire she'd started. Richard swung his sword a few times in her direction. She ignored it; what was behind him is what drew her there. She walked to the side to see, and her heart jumped in her throat. In a simple green dress, was herself. The self that was, not the Viking she looked like now, but the dark haired waif of a girl who she was in the real world. She was behind him, holding a baby in her hands, tears streaming down her face. The trail of light ended at the baby.

  This isn’t real, none of this is.

  She drew a deep breath and held out her hand. She summoned the lightning, she had to, she had to destroy him, herself, and the baby. Her mind faltered, the reality of the place strengthened, the lightning did not come. She could hear guards charging up the stairs behind her. She closed her eyes for a moment. She gathered her will; in the real world she was dying. Dying in the arms of the man she loved most in life. Dying while carrying his child, all because of the spell someone else put on her.

  This. Was. A. Dream.

  The room exploded in light as she released all her stored up anger, all her guilt for not being able to protect her baby, all her rage at being targeted for no other reason than she was in love with a man others didn’t approve of. The lightning arced through the room, but it did not touch anything, it shattered the world and only darkness remained.

  *

  The spell was broken. The trip back to Washington was far less frightful than the trip here. While still uncomfortable, Reign had a sense that things were moving along as they should be. She could feel the baby kicking, she could sense that her time was near. Before they left, Loptr had assured her the spell was broken, that whatever she did in the Fade had worked. He also had pulled her aside just before she left.

  “Magic always comes with a price, you may not have paid it yet.”

  Despite his cryptic warning, and the residual pain from her journey, she was all smiles. Richard drove them home, weary but happy, the two of them finally able to talk about something other than impending doom.

  “What was it like in there?”

  “Have you never been?” she asked.

  “Once, long ago, it’s where we went to get our new form, but you only can go once like that. Once you’ve been, you can never go back.”

  That was surprising to Reign. Loptr had said nothing of that.

  “Well, I wouldn’t want a summer home there, but once you figure out how the universe inside works, it became a little fun. You know, if you can forget the whippings, starvation, cold, the constant threat of death; oh, and the orgies.”

  The SUV swerved violently. “The what?”

  She laughed, deep and delightful, full of the happiness she felt, something she hadn’t felt since... well, since the spell had been cast on her.

  “I’m so sorry, Richard, I feel so different, the spell they cast, to keep the baby from coming, it’s like it froze me in the moment that it happened, and it must have been a hormonal moment. All I’ve done is doubt you, and you’ve never given me any cause, I love you.”

  Richard found her eyes in the mirror. His smile lit up her insides, she could see the man she desperately loved.

  “You have nothing to apologize for, Reign. I love you, and that just doesn’t mean when your happy, or plucky, or when we're in bed, it means with the good and the bad... not that you’re ever bad, mind you.”

  Several pit stops later, and over a hundred dollars in cheap roadside coffee, Richard pulled the SUV into the long drive up the mountain. He was glad to be home. Reign blissfully slept in the back, her dreams were hopefully more peaceful than the ones she described happening. She hadn’t noticed the lash marks on her back yet, he wasn’t sure if they would stay, or fade like the

  dream. She could only remember the vaguest details now, but the whippings, they had to be horrific.

  The SUV made the last turn that brought the lodge into view, it also brought a smile to Richard’s face. He loved their home, loved his pack, and he was hopeful for the future for the first time in a long time.

  Whether it was his feelings for Reign, his stress over the future, or a mix, somehow he had blocked his connection to the pack, his proximity brought it back in full.

  Worry, concern, anger, fear.

  They all hit him like a jackhammer, his fists involuntarily squeezed the steering wheel, the leather under his hands creaked its disapproval. Richard pulled to a stop, he took a deep breath, gave one last glance at Reign, and got out. He used the remote to lock the doors, no need to take chances; he could smell who was here.

  Her perfume was unmistakable, in all the time he had known her, jasmine was her favorite scent.

  Heidi.

  Indigo was on the porch, Skye at his side, as always. His friend looked grim.

  “Jola, jefe, we got problems.” That was code, long established between friends; there was danger, people were listening, but it wasn’t immediate. If Richard replied in German, it would mean run, a Spanish reply would call for an immediate attack, English was wait and see.

  “Is she here?” he asked in English.

  “Yep, her and what she says are ‘representatives’ of the council.” He put air quotes around the last bit.

  Tired, a little sore from the driving, and in no mood, Richard marched up to the lodge. He passed Skye the keys without a look, but in his mind he impressed upon her Reign’s safety.

  If she were startled at the indirect communications, she hid it well. As he passed, she kissed Indigo full on the mouth, then sauntered down the stairs, with enough hip sway to distract any man within a mile.

  Richard entered his pack's home, and promptly ignored the half dozen or so men sitting in the commons. They were large and typical specimens of lone wolves. Indigo had wisely kept their people clear, especially the women. When Richard didn’t see her, Indigo indicated his office. There were so many new scents in the house it was hard to find out who was where. By now, she knew he was there, and knew he knew sh
e was there. So he ignored her.

  Including the trip to Dakota, his one day there, and the trip back, Richard had been awake for almost a week. He was tired, hungry, and in desperate need of a shower. Also, he was in no hurry to start a war. If she wanted to see him, she could wait.

  “Get TJ and Abbey in the kitchen, have them make breakfast for everyone, even our guests, tell them I want their very best,” Richard said to Indigo as he ascended the stairs to his room. To everyone’s surprise, TJ and Abbey had hit it off fabulously, the dark Goth girl had mellowed TJ out, and they both discovered a love of cooking. Since then the odd pair prepared almost every major meal the pack ate. And they got better with each passing Sunday dinner. Now it was almost a sacred event when the whole pack sat down to eat.

  Richard pondered the problem while the hot water from his shower massaged his aching shoulders. He needed to give Skye time to get Reign clear, and he needed the time to organize his thoughts. If the Alphas sent Heidi, and her Wolf Pack, to his house, they were sending a clear message-this would only end in violence.