The reflection of the Queen: Exile

Chapter 34: The palace behind the ice

Sometimes it took me a while to realize that I was dreaming. Other times, I didn't until I saw the Dream Man in front of me.

On that occasion, I noticed it instantly.

It wasn't too difficult, as I suddenly found myself standing on the bow of a ship with a black, shiny surface like tar. I peered over the gunwale to discover that I was sailing on a completely frozen sea, breaking the ice in its wake with a roar, ice that reflected a dark sky covered with stars the color of flames.

I was on a ship in real life, I remembered. On a ship on the way to Ethryant.

I was alive.

"Father!" I cried out, hoping my voice could be heard above the cracking ice. I had to see him, I had to know he was still there. "Father! Are you there? Please!"

He didn't show up. I perched on the ship's mask, somehow keeping my balance. When I looked down, I saw that it was decorated with the figure of a crowned woman holding a sword with the tip down, as if preparing to plunge it into the icy waves.

On the horizon, a storm was approaching, I could see the snow swirling on the ashen clouds and, beyond, the shadow of the coast. I thought I saw towers rising out of that shadow, it looked like we were approaching a gloomy palace. The storm surrounded it, it was the epicenter of that white and threatening tempest.

I was no longer in Cavintosh. I was not on that island that suffocated and imprisoned me, I was far from Eneas, from Fyodor, from all those people who treated me like an animal. I was not yet free, the Inferna and the Princess had me, but I had no intention of staying at their mercy for much longer.

"If you are there, answer!"

I peered dangerously over the masquerade when I saw something sliding across the ice, dodging the cracks that the ship spread over its surface. It was smoke, a familiar silvery smoke that drifted up the bow to me.

"Persephone."

That voice echoed without any concrete origin, before the mist swirled to form the vague image of the face I knew. He was barely human in form anymore, his features blurring with every breath of breeze. I dared not embrace him as I always did, afraid to dissipate him.

"I thought you had disappeared," I sobbed in sheer relief.

"I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I'm about to."

I tried my best to resist the urge to cry, but the wetness that ran down the bridge of my nose told me otherwise.

"No..."

"I think I've managed to control the flow of memories, they come to me less and less often, but it's still not enough. I can't even manifest myself at all. I don't have much time left, my dear. I think... I think I'm dying... again."

That made it impossible for me to hold back my tears for another second.

"I'll work it out, I promise," I managed to stammer. "I'm on a boat, I'm on my way to Ethryant, I can find a solution there."

"You're not on a ship on the way to Ethryant: you're already there."

I blinked, stunned. How long had I been sleeping?

"How do you know?"

"Somehow, I can feel it. Wherever you are, it's obvious it's not Cavintosh. This place is... alive, I feel it vibrating through you. It must be magic, there must be a lot of it where you are."

"I don't know where I am, I've been sleeping and waking up for days. I've... I've almost died. Eneas almost killed me."

"I've felt that too, and believe me, if I could get out of here and pull myself together, I would have killed that bastard with my bare hands myself."