“While I was unconscious, I had the most vivid dream.” I shook my head, trying to clear the unease taking hold of my thoughts. They were going to think I was delusional. “I dreamt of Hunter. Only it was as though he was really there. I could feel him with me. Not like I knew he was there—I could actually feel his presence. He’s imprisoned back at Mathenholm. He told me to give you all a message.”
The room remained silent as the Bruins waited with bated breath.
“He said, ‘You should leave Hiraeth now, before it’s too late. Take our girl back to Neverland and live out the lives you’ve been destined to have. Do it for us.’”
She looked like a lost fawn sitting there in my father’s oversized bed. Those beautiful brown eyes were wide with expectation, still haunted by her dream of Hunter. She was eager for answers—but all I could think about was how close we’d come to losing her.
At least the dark mark of death had vanished from beneath her eyes. A soft blush now colored her cheeks, and her scent had returned to normal—the warm shades of vanilla free of the sickly reek of death. I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the ache that pulsed deep in my bones. Life-binding was never meant to be used so close to the edge. Fuck Nico and his cautious approach. He should’ve had this handled. Now I was taking matters intomy own hands, and unlike my brothers, I wasn’t held to the same standard. Perks of being the family fuck-up.
She shifted slightly, and the gauzy linen nightgown slipped from her shoulder. Her brow furrowed as she fingered the fabric. “Who changed me?” she asked softly, cheeks darkening to a deep scarlet.
“Don’t worry, Mic. It was me,” Fallon said quickly, and Michaela’s shoulders sagged as the tension melted from her brow. “If you’ll excuse me—I need a moment to… I’ll be right back.” Fallon stood from the bed and made a hasty exit. Hunter’s message had shaken her, and I knew exactly where she was headed: straight for a brimshade fix.
Silence fell over the room. None of us knew where to begin. There was so much she didn’t know—and she looked far too fragile to carry all of it at once.
“Will you all stop staring at me and tell me what’s going on?” she snapped.
“It’s your dream,” Nico said gently. “I don’t believe it was a normal dream.”
“Try to rest, Mic. We can talk later,” I cut in before he could start down a rabbit hole of Hiraethian gifts. She didn’t need a damn history lesson right now—she needed sleep.
“No! Tell me now. I’m tired of being kept in the dark. I deserve to know what you’ve gotten me into.” Her voice was firm, and I winced. She wasn’t wrong. My brothers should’ve told her everything the moment they arrived in Hiraeth. But instead, they’d wasted time bowing to nobles once they realized our father was dead. May that bastard rot in the afterlife. He might’ve been a great king, but he was a shit father.
“You remember when I told you about my gift?” Luca said, sliding to the edge of the bed and taking her hand like a damn puppy dog vying for any opportunity to get in Mic’s good graces.I was still pissed at his whole naked routine—fucking show off. “How I can wield the energy around me?”
She nodded.
“Well, Hunter’s a dream walker. He can enter dreams—manipulate them.”
“Does that mean he’s alive?” Her eyes lit up with hope.
“I think it’s a good sign,” Nico said. “Usually, he can’t project that far. I’m sure Johan has him bound and dosed with wolfsbane, but maybe with you… there’s some kind of connection we don’t fully understand.”
“Wolfsbane?” she echoed.
“You’ve got a similar species of plant in your realm. Toxic to our kind. It weakens our gifts, blocks us from shifting. The crown uses it on prisoners to keep them in line. I’m sure Johan’s not taking any chances—not with how powerful those three are.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. I was thrilled that Hunter was alive—truly I was. But there was a darker part of me, something primal, that wanted Michaela for myself. The concern in her voice every time she said his name made my blood boil.
I’d seen the image in the Book of Astrium. There was no denying that Michaela was depicted in the prophecy with seven bears. But she was only astride one. Who would she choose? The ancient text was written in the lost language. The last scribe who could translate the ancient tongue had died years ago, with no successor. Everything now was speculation. And if it came down to brother against brother for her hand, I wasn’t above playing dirty.
“Do you think he’ll visit me again? Can I send a message to him? Let him know we’re coming for them,” she rattled off in quick succession.
“Hold on a minute, Mic,” Nico said, raising a hand. “I’m sure he’ll visit you again. But right now, there’s no feasible way to break them out of Mathenholm. We’d need an army to get themout. We have to be strategic—look at this from all angles before we move.”
“We can’t leave them there! What about Levi and the others? The Raven’s Hand—they seemed loyal to the crown. Maybe they could help.”
Nico’s expression softened. “They might claim loyalty to the Bruin name, but they answer to no one but themselves. They’re outlaws, Mic. Smugglers, thieves, blades-for-hire. The kind of people who rob a lord’s carriage one day and feed a starving village the next. You never know which version you’re going to get. We can’t trust them. Not yet.”
She raked her fingers through her thick, dark hair, a wild strand falling loose across her face. I barely managed to hide the smile tugging at my mouth. She was adorable when she was pissed.
“Mic,” I started, hoping I could reason with her, “you were at death’s door yesterday. We have to get you stable before we even think about storming the castle. There are thousands of soldiers within the crown’s army who want nothing more than to see us hanging from a short noose.”
“Really, Lu?” Nico chastised. The fucker had picked up her damn nickname for me.
“She wants honesty. There’s no way to get them out of there. No. Possible. Way. I’m not going to lie to her.”
The room fell into awkward silence, with all the animosity directed my way. The once comforting warmth of Whisperhold’s wooden timbers suddenly felt suffocating.
