Prince of the Courts

Prince of the Courts - Chapter 16

Sera woke to the sound of an owl hooting in the pre-dawn light, its luminous eyes staring down at where she was still tangled up with Rayce. It might have been her imagination, but she felt like the bird was judging her. She closed her eyes once more to avoid the accusatory stare and snuggled her face back into Rayce's shoulder, her fingers trailing up his chest absentmindedly as her thoughts flashed back to the previous night. I can't believe I did that, she thought.

She sighed happily, pressing closer to Rayce to steal some of his warmth. It wasn't exactly warm outside, and they hadn't made a fire or dried out before falling asleep in each others arms last night under the outcropping. She also wasn't entirely sure where their shirts were; probably out in the grass somewhere.

Her dreams had been absent again last night, and she felt a flicker of unease in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't seen anything the last time she had slept next to Rayce, either. It was more likely that she was simply too exhausted from the events of the last few days to devote any energy to hunting through her dreams, but the alternative was unsettling as well. She didn't like not having any idea of what they were going to be walking into in the Rift today.

She felt Rayce's shoulder shift slightly under her as he moved in his sleep, his right hand skimming up her side to curl around her protectively, and she caught sight of the strange ring on his fourth finger that she had seen for a moment yesterday. It was a silver signet ring, the face of it stamped with a bold 'M', and a pattern of falling stars was etched into the sides.

Sera reached her left hand up slowly to lay it over his, covering the ring, but she immediately snatched her hand back as if she had been burned as images flashed across her eyes. Fog. Rayce in scarlet gear. A second Rayce laying on a rocky shore sweating and bright-eyed. A blackened, scarred sword worn by both figures.

Rayce started awake, but immediately relaxed when he saw Sera in his arms. "Sera?"

She pushed herself up on one elbow, her hair falling like a golden cascade behind her as she searched his eyes for any clue as to what she had just seen.

"That ring. You didn't have it before."

He looked at it in surprise, almost as if he had forgotten it, then his eyebrows furrowed together as he shook his head. "I think I got it yesterday... from my father." As Sera's mouth fell open in shock, he sat up and rushed to explain what had happened at the lake, stumbling over the visions he had seen, the memory of them dim as he groped to remember details.

"And then after the third vision, I saw him, Sera. He walked out of the mist and spoke to me. I felt his hands on my shoulders."

Sera shook her head. "Rayce... your father is... dead," she said as gently as she could. "Whatever you saw, it was brought on by the waters of the Lake, the poison affecting your Shadowhunter half or the visions affecting your Faerie side."

Rayce held up his hand to her. "This isn't a hallucination, Sera. Something gave me this ring."

She regarded him silently, not knowing what to say. He wanted so badly to believe; how could she shatter his hope? He had never known Sebastian Morgenstern as history had. Right now, he was just a lost son searching for a connection to his father.

"I believe you, Rayce," she said quietly. A gust of cool wind blew her hair back and reminded her that she was somewhat less dressed than she should be, and she broke the tension with a rueful smile. "I don't suppose you know where the rest of our clothes ended up, do you?"

He smiled crookedly and reached forward with his right hand, the one that bore the Morgenstern ring, and he cupped the side of her face gently as he leaned in to kiss her slowly. Her heart was pounding away madly in her chest by the time he pulled back and whispered, "I don't think more clothes are the answer right now."