No. That’s not—it can’t be. Who would do that? And how would I have missed it? It takes a fairly complex spell, and whoever did it would have had to store the memories for centuries. Not to mention the fact that Queen Lily isn’t dead, so she wouldn’t have released her memories yet. They’d still be inside of her, and she’s in the Pit.
What I just saw is . . . impossible. You can’t have memories from a spirit that’s still among the living—even if they are in hell. I’d believe Sage’s mind had made it all up if it wasn’t for the striking accuracy of details she could never know—of Lailoken, how and where he lived at that time. The knowledge of how to contact the goddess. How the King of Ravens would have fed.
None of that would have been in the annals, even if she’d read them all.
The repercussions of what I just witnessed are unfathomable—for Sage, and for the House of Brighid. Sage carries the memories inside her, the truth of what happened between Lily and the king. Marius needs to know. Right away.
Sage sighs, shifting in her sleep. Her hand moves to my thigh and her fingers twitch. The sting of her pull shoots through my leg.
I snatch up her wrist, returning her hand to her side.
“Aelia?” My voice comes out more like a croak. Like I’ve been asleep for years instead of minutes—or hours? How long have we been under? “Aelia, are you here?” I ask.
Only silence answers back. Of course.
Sage releases a sudden gasp, her back arching a little. And then her eyes flutter open, locking on me.
Pink fills her cheeks, and she goes still. “Faelan?”
“You okay?” I ask quietly.
She starts to prop herself on her elbows, nodding, but then she shakes her head. “I don’t know.” She licks her lips and coughs.
“Let me get you something to drink.” My stiff body moves slowly, but I climb down from the nest and fetch her a bottle of water from the fridge, then make my way back up beside her.
Her hand shakes as she reaches to take the offering. Her gaze stays trained on the grass between us.
She drinks a few sips, then asks, “How long have you been awake?”
“A few seconds before you.”
She lifts her thumb to her mouth and begins to chew on the nail.
The silence stretches out. I realize she’s not going to say anything, so I go first. “I saw everything,” I say. “And felt it. I was there with Queen Lily in the castle—it was a memory. And you were Lily.”
She nods and takes another sip of water.
“How long do you think you’ve been dreaming her memories?” I ask.
“Not sure,” she says. “But a bunch of moments flooded in just before I opened my eyes. I remember so much—it’s all mixed up, like it’s my own life. Burning the boy I loved—I mean who she loved. There was a ceremony with blood and chanting and . . . well, it was the Bonding, I think.” She shakes her head. “I remember this beautiful owl that I had—I mean . . . you know what I mean. His name was Fionn; he was white. But it doesn’t make any sense. Why? Why is all of this spilling into my head?” She finally looks at me, adding, “Why do you have that expression on your face?”
I shake my head. “We really need to talk to Marius.”
She searches my face like she’s trying to figure out what I’m not saying. But I’m fresh out of explanations. Marius will need to handle it from here, especially if Sage is confusing Lily’s experiences with her own. After everything that we just saw, everything that happened between Sage and me last night at the Introduction, the kiss, the moment with Kieran . . . I need a clear head to make sure I can see it all straight.
“Why don’t you get cleaned up, and I’ll call him to see if we can go to the office.” I’m not sure we should wait until dinner for this.
“Okay,” she says, not sounding too sure. Then she adds, “You seem worried. This is bad, isn’t it?”
I decide to be honest. “I have no idea. But I know we did the right thing, opening up the dreams. It could be the answer to everything.”
I leave her in my cottage and step outside to call Marius. His secretary, Dana, tells me he’s indisposed, which is code for feeding, so I let her know I’ll be coming by the office in an hour or so. I hang up, feeling unsure. I need to tell Marius everything. But I know he’ll be seriously pissed at what I’ve kept from him about Sage and her shortfalls. I’m not eager to experience his wrath.
I spot Aelia sitting by the pool, sunbathing. “Did we bore you with all our sleeping?” I ask. “Way to keep your eye on the ball, Lia.”
“Oh please, you should thank me.” She rolls over onto her stomach. “Once I felt all the steam, I was out. I wasn’t about to be the third wheel on that ride.”
“How much did you see?”
“Enough. It’s obviously some kind of memory implant.”
“Seems so.”
“But how’s that possible, with Queen Lily still alive?”
I shake my head.
“I called Daddy and left a message about twenty minutes ago telling him we had an update on the newblood. I thought he’d want to know. Are you going over to the office?”
“Yeah, Sage is getting cleaned up.”
“You know she’s even more of a walking treasure now, right?” she says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She rolls back over and sits up. “Once word gets out that she’s a vault of intel on King and Queen Tragedy, this Emergence will get even more nuts, Faelan—everyone will want her. And you still haven’t gotten this locked down. You should see what tributes came today: Lyr dropped off a race horse, which is still in the front yard; your brothers sent over a Tiffany lamp; and I peeked in an envelope the House of Morrígan left, and there were keys to his vineyard in Spain.” She laughs. “Oh, and Kieran sent an invite to his house in the hills tomorrow evening—some swanky party.” She waves at a black envelope on the glass table beside her. “He was nice enough to invite you. And me.” A sly grin tips her mouth.
“This isn’t a game, Lia.”
“Everything’s a game, Faelan.”
The drive to Marius’s office is slow, traffic on the 10 not cooperating. Sage has been silent the entire ride. I should talk to her about everything that happened during the dream and find out how she’s processing it all. We should at least be talking about her powers to see if she’s had any slips since her manifestation last night with Kieran. There’s a myriad of things we should be working through, but I have no idea where to start. She seems content to stare out the car window at the city passing by, so I leave it at that.
The big question right now is how these imprinted blood memories got spelled into her. And, almost as important, how will she deal with it? Because blood memories can become completely overwhelming over time, and we have no idea how long they’ve been bubbling up in her sleep. I’d heard that the visions feel strong, as if you’ve lived the moment yourself, and now I’ve felt firsthand how accurate that is. One druid from the fifteen hundreds was addicted to the process. He stole blood memories from the Cast’s collectors several times, absorbing them into his consciousness through the holy ritual, before he was caught and executed for it.