Dream Magic Read Free Page B

curious. You seek the dangerous and the unknown, which are one and the same.”
    Trev shrugged. He’d been lectured by adults on precisely these points all his life. “Are you going to tell me how you did it or not?”
    “I will, if you strike a bargain with me.”
    Trev hesitated. He watched the woman as she sat and stared like a cat about to pounce. He did not fear her physically, as she appeared unarmed and relatively harmless. He gathered from her behavior that she thought he should have been overwhelmed by her charms, but he’d felt nothing special in the way of attraction toward her. He’d already kissed half the young maidens in the Haven, and this older woman seemed no more enticing than any of them had. If anything, he found her overbearing attitude off-putting.
    “What sort of bargain?” he asked at last.
    “First,” Morgana said, “you must lay with me. Right here, under the dying light of this rainbow on these sodden leaves.”
    Trev considered. His mother had made him promise not to seduce young girls of the Haven. She’d insisted he was too young and they were the same. But this woman wasn’t from home. She didn’t fall under any such promises. He smiled with mild interest. He was a young half-elf, after all, and they weren’t known for their shyness.
    “I agree. And what would the second thing be?”
    She clasped his hands with her smaller fingers.
    “Second, you will find something for me. You will seek it with all your heart and bring it back to me. And you must avoid telling people what it is you seek.”
    Trev frowned. “Find what?”
    “The Quicksilver Jewel. The stone that is the same color as your shining hair.”
    Trev’s frown deepened. He snorted. “Is that all? I can’t promise to do that. I have no idea where it is. No one else does, either. You’re trying to give me a fool’s errand. I won’t spend the rest of my days in your service seeking a none-such.”
    “You don’t have to seek forever. Just for a year and a day. That’s all, and if you tried your best and failed, you will be released from your bargain.”
    Trev considered. He had never bedded a woman before and was as curious about the process as any young man his age might be. He’d always thought he would end up going to the Twilight lands to find a nice elf girl, or falling in love with a Haven girl the way his father Puck had done. Marriage had been drummed into him as a clear first step. But this way—this way seemed quicker and infinitely simpler. Better still, if he gave into this woman’s advances, he would not be breaking any vow to his mother.
    On the second point, he was less interested. To him, a year was still a long time. His lifespan would measure many centuries, possibly even millennia. But he didn’t want to waste an entire year on a fool’s errand.
    “A year is too long,” he said. “I’ll seek the Jewel until Midsummer’s Eve—no longer.”
    Morgana’s mood shifted with startling rapidity. She made a hissing sound, ripped her hands from his and slapped him with the same fingers that had been caressing his a moment before.
    “Such impudence!” she said.
    Trev touched his cheek, finding three bleeding lines there. Her nails were amazingly sharp. “I take it you reject my offer? A pity. I was looking forward to the first part.”
    She looked him up and down hotly. Finally, she sighed and nodded her head. “You intrigue me more than I do you. I find the situation disturbing. Knowing you are at least part Faerie, I hope you take your vows seriously.”
    “I do.”
    “Very well, let us consummate this deal now. The blood-color is already gone. The purple has faded to umber as well. Let’s make love in the heart of the green, where the light still shines the brightest.”
    And so Trev took her into the green light. He laid with her there upon the moldering leaves with the brilliance of the rainbow shining down on his bare back. Morgana left many bleeding lines on his skin, but he