The Summer Solstice

Chapter 10: Kassia

🌿 Kassia 🌿

    We're not in a field this time.

    Instead, I am surrounded by the high walls of what appears to be a grandiose, medieval home. Old, crackling paintings of gorgeous landscapes hang on big chunks of the sandstone hallway: a nebulous wave crashing against the high peaks of cliffs, a meadow with a corn moon perched above, streams of steam rolling off jagged mountains.

    The last one catches my eye the most: a humanoid but be-winged creature, peeking out from a hole in a thick tree trunk, mischief coating its smoky eyes.

    "A Dryad," Renwood says, suddenly at my side. "The species of Faie who inhabit our woodlands."

    I look at him. He's no longer in armor and chain mail, but something terrible resides on his face. His lips are firm, his jaw is tense.

    "Faie, as in fairies?" I ask, turning back to examine the painting.

    Renwood clenches his dark eyebrows. "That is the mortal-given name for our kind, yes. Though humans have never been all that good at uncovering entire truths." He places a soft, long-fingered hand on my shoulder. "Kassia, I am pleased that you have reached out to me. I had to make our last meeting brief due to certain doings on the Isle."

    Head swimming, all I can think to ask is, "Where are we?"

    "My home. You caught me at a bad time, I'm afraid, but when your subconscious calls to me I cannot ignore it. You are more important."

    "More important than what, exactly?"

    "Certain issues on the Isle. Ones you will come to understand if you so please."

    "All I want to understand is why I'm even having these dreams, " I manage.

    The clench of Renwood's jaw decreases. He even smiles at me a little, making his serene face that much more beautiful. "These dreams are unlike your others. As a Wraith, I have the ability to enter a being's subconscious and make connection with it. For good or for harm, I may do what I please here. I can show you memories, even."

    A shiver tingles up my spine as he continues. "I've approached you, Princess Kassia, to share what was stripped from you before you could hardly take your first breath. It is that which sets you apart which doomed your fate as a Faie."

    My hand, unwillingly, creeps to touch my birthmark. It is warm and coarse beneath my fingertips. I think of my narcolepsy, of my long ears, of my imperfectness. "Are you trying to tell me I belong to the Faie?"

    Renwood's hand tightens on my shoulder. "My dear, you can rule the Faie. You are Sovereign born, the disgraced and disappeared daughter of East King and Queen Nardiello. You have a right to the throne on the Isle."

    In the back of my mind, a voice whispers, Nonsense. You're dreaming. You're brain is still fuzzy from alcohol and milk. None of what Renwood says is remotely familiar.

    But instead of sharing any of those things, I say, "Prove it." Surely someone who can sneak into my dreams can share other things with me too.

    Instead of angering, as I thought he might, Renwood looks happy. Like he'd been expecting such a request all along. He wavers his elegant fingers once.

    In a moment, the smoky hallway and the oil paintings dissolve around us. What rises up before me makes me lose my breath, makes me think I have never breathed at all.

    It's myself, unarguably recognizable by my bruise-like birthmark. Same red hair, but only a small wisp of it on my head. Curved, be-freckled ears, impossible to miss. I'm poorly wrapped in a blanket, my infant self screaming and thrashing in the beefy arms of a man.