Free When Magic Sleeps by Tera Lynn Childs Page B

over its shoulder and stared straight at her. It could see her. Then it transformed before her eyes into a
    fae man. Into the queen’s advisor. Still he stared at her. Until he started to run.
    Winnie didn’t realize she was actually screaming until Aunt Maureen’s voice woke her.
    “Winnie, sweetheart,” she said, her tone both soothing and firm, “wake up. You’re only dreaming.”
    Winnie bolted upright, gasping for breath. Her blood roared through her veins and she felt the tickle of sweat across her forehead. It took her almost a
    full minute to focus, to realize she was in her bedroom, safe in her bed. Safe from Ultan.
    “There you are.” Aunt Maureen’s hand smoothed up and down Winnie’s back. “You’re okay. It was just a dream.”
    Winnie struggled to breathe, struggled to think.
    She wished her aunt’s reassurances were true. Things were so much easier when she believed her dreams were nothing but fantasy. But now she knew that
    everything she had just seen was actually happening. Had already happened.
    Which meant—she forced her mind to put the pieces together—that the wolf had attacked Cathair outside her house. The queen’s advisor had tried to kill the
    prince. Ultan was a traitor.
    “I have to warn them.” Winnie jumped out of bed and dashed to her closet. She grabbed jeans and a shirt and then headed for her dresser.
    “Whoa, Winnie, calm down.” Maureen stepped between her and the dresser. She grabbed Winnie by the shoulders. “It was just a dream.”
    Desperate, Winnie blurted, “It wasn’t. It’s not just a dream.”
    She shrugged off her aunt’s grip, surprised when Maureen let go so easily. Winnie knew her behavior must have seemed erratic, and she expected more
    resistance. Whatever the reason, she didn’t have time to wonder. Lives were at stake. The future of an entire fae clan was at stake.
    She dug out a bra and socks from her dresser drawer.
    Maureen wandered over to the bed and sat with a heavy bounce.
    “You see them, don’t you?” Her aunt’s voice sounded distant. Hollow.
    It made Winnie stop. “What?”
    Maureen’s gaze met hers. “The fae. You see them.”
    “How did you—“ Winnie froze, shocked. Maureen knew? “Did Gran tell you?”
    “Your grandmother?” Maureen frowned. “No. Your mother had the sight. And our mother before her. It passes only to the oldest.”
    Winnie dropped onto the bed next to her aunt. Her mother? Her mother had been able to see the fae? She’d never said anything.
    Everything made sense now. She had two powers because both sides of her family had fae magic. It was almost beyond comprehension.
    But Winnie didn’t have time to freak out about that. She had to get back to the veil, get back to Cathair, and tell him what she’d seen in her dream.
    “There’s more,” Winnie explained as she pulled on her clothes. “I don’t just see them in real life. I dream about them.”
    Maureen looked at her, eyes wide and confused. Then her confusion cleared. “Your stories.”
    “My stories,” Winnie agreed as she bent down and pulled on her shoes.
    “The prince?” Maureen’s smile softened. “You love him?”
    “I do. I really do.” Winnie yanked her laces tight. “My stories don’t come from dreams like I thought. They’re really happening. And right now, I have to
    go tell them what I saw.”
    Maureen didn’t argue as Winnie stood and walked to the door.
    “Wait,” her aunt said.
    Winnie stopped, afraid she was going to try to stop her.
    Instead, she heard her aunt push up from the bed. “I’ll drive you.”

Chapter 17
    Cathair did not see the car until it was almost too late.
    He was so focused on getting back to Winnie, that he just barely saw the flash of blue in time to leap out of the way. Tires screeched on pavement. A voice
    shouted, “Stop, stop, Aunt Maureen!”
    Cathair picked himself up from the knee-high grass by the side of the road. As he stood, he saw Winnie climbing out of the car. Leaving the