Drown me with dreams, p.34
Drown Me with Dreams, page 34
J’siiri’s eyes remain wide with shock for a tick before she clears her features, donning a mask of calm authority. She holds her head high, looking regal. Like a Queen. “Anyone who wishes to continue fighting is welcome to. But, as Hayes said, if you do, you will remain trapped here indefinitely, at the mercy of a siren until you kneel before your Queen.”
No one moves for so long, I fear no one is going to.
Then, a soldier makes his way to the front of the crowd. Slowly and deliberately, he sinks to one knee. “Queen I’llyaris.”
Three armies slowly drop to their knees and echo the same.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
MARKED GRAVES
Carrik Solwey’s funeral is in Sinu. It’s small, just people who knew him. Hayes offered to have a larger service, like one for prominent soldiers slain in battle. It’s not what Carrik would have wanted. He loved being a soldier, but he hated Keirdre and its traditions. He would’ve wanted something small and intimate.
I cry into Hayes’s shoulder. I’ve been doing that a lot over the past week. Each time, no matter where we are, he’s there. He hugs me freely, presses soft kisses to my hair, murmurs words in my ear that mean nothing and everything.
We sit in the front row, right in front of the stage. I’m tucked into Hayes’s side, and Rain is curled against mine.
Lex speaks first. Zaire and Lex begged to come, and I relented. They’re going to spend the next several years in prison, but they knew Carrik for years. Passed letters that helped him recover from the loss of his family. In many ways, they were better friends to him than I ever was.
Lex might be a liar who orchestrated a war, but they genuinely cared for Carrik. I think he would’ve wanted them here.
I’m supposed to speak next, but when Lex sits down, my throat closes and I can’t move. My sobs come harder, louder. I don’t want to speak. If I do, he’s gone. If I do—
Rain stands and moves to the front.
What is she doing?
My heart swells as my Beansprout meets my eyes and speaks. “Carrik Solwey was a friend. A really good one.” A tear slides down her cheek. She wipes it away and keeps going.
Rain truly is better than me. In every sense. He blackmailed her, kidnapped her, and hurt her—and she’s standing at his funeral telling a room full of people how much she cared for him.
“He liked to tell jokes. He always remembered my birthday. He’d give me gifts. Nothing expensive, but he’d whittle something out of wood or find a crystal and make it into jewelry.” She sniffles. Wipes away more tears. “He gave me all kinds of gifts. My favorite was five years ago. My sister used to train at the Vanihailian Barracks. She came home all the time and she was always miserable. One day, five years ago, she came home smiling.”
The tears are coming faster now. “It was because she made a friend. Carrik. That was the best gift he ever gave me. He made her happy. He made a lot of people happy.” She chokes on a sob. “I’m going to miss that.”
When she’s finished, she stumbles into my arms. I cry into her hair, and she sobs into my chest.
We bury him with the letters his father never got. I figure if there’s an afterlife and they’re both there, he can finally deliver them.
On either side of his tombstone are gravestones for his parents, Mykah and Aylix. Their bodies aren’t buried here, but I think Carrik would be happy to know they finally have marked graves.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
HAYES
Ow,” Rain whines as I braid her hair.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, please. I didn’t even pull that hard.”
“You don’t have to make it so tight.”
“I do if you want it to last all night.” She’s sleeping over at a friend’s house tonight. It’s the first time she’s done that. The first time I’ve let her do that.
She practically begged me to braid her hair before she leaves so she doesn’t have to deal with it in the morning. I picked some kylith flowers from the yard, and I work them into the braid, giving her hair a splash of blue. I’ve missed this. Sitting on the sofa that smells like grass while she sits in front of me on the rug made of rose petals in our old home. The mill house.
The past two weeks have been chaotic—and I’ve an inkling they’re only going to get more so—so I cling to these rare moments of normalcy. A lot of people were imprisoned after the war on three fronts. The Enforcers, their soldiers, the Alkaran Resistance, and anyone in Reyshka’s army who refused to swear allegiance to the Queen of Alkara.
Given the treaty, J’siiri as Queen I’llyaris’s reign was extended for one more lune to give her time to discuss the details of the treaty before the next monarch ascends to the throne. In the past two weeks, J’siiri and Hayes have been in frequent communication.
Hayes ceded his throne to Alkara, but the process of actually uniting Keirdre and Alkara is a joint effort. Hayes and his advisers and J’siiri with her advisers have meetings just about every day about next steps, especially how to deal with those who were less than thrilled about the end of Keirdre’s monarchy.
Seemingly overnight, dozens of wealthy Vanihailian families fled their homes. Apparently, they’d rather leave Keirdre than stay under its new regime. Hayes and J’siiri have teams searching for them, but given their vast resources, I doubt they’ll be found anytime soon.
“When you’re done, would you like me to braid your hair?” asks Rain.
“No, I like to keep it down.”
“You sure?” Rain twists around to grin at me, eyes mischievous.
“Yes . . . why?”
“You’re braiding my hair because I’m having a sleepover. And since you’re having a sleepover too . . .”
Lune above.
My face is hot.
In Alkara, I developed the habit of sleeping in Hayes’s bed. As the details of the union between Alkara and Keirdre are worked out, Hayes still lives in the Palace. Which means I sleep there as well, every night.
“Shut up,” I grumble to her.
She laughs. “I told you he’s pretty. Don’t you think he’s pretty?”
“Shut up,” I say again.
A knock at the door cuts off her laughter and spares me from being teased by my twelve-year-old sister. I’m relieved to tie off the end of her braid and go open the front door.
I’m met with ocean eyes.
I smile. “Hey. We were just—” I stop. If I tell him we were talking about him, he’ll want to know what we were saying. I have no intention of sharing. “Come in.” I move aside for him to enter.
Rain sidles up beside me. “Hi, Hayes.” She angles her head pointedly so he can’t miss the flowers in her hair.
He grins. “Hey, Rain. Your hair looks nice.”
“Thank you.” Satisfied with the compliment, she tilts her head back to its usual position. “Are you stealing my sister again?”
He chuckles. “Guilty.” He sounds oddly nervous as he looks away from her to me. “You have a moment to talk?”
I’m fairly certain I already know what he wants to talk about. “Sure.” I squat in front of Rain. “I’ll be right back, Beansprout. Then I’ll walk you over to Nyrell’s, all right?”
“Or I could walk by myself . . .”
I laugh. “Not a chance.” I’ve been slowly loosening my iron grip on my sister and letting her have fun—but there’s no way I’m letting her walk thirty-five minutes through Vanihail, two weeks after a war, alone. With a parting smirk at my sister, I lead Hayes upstairs to my room. Former room, I guess, since I haven’t actually slept here in ages. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He says that, but his emotions are stale with his nerves. He grabs one of my hands and plays with my fingers, not looking at me. “I intend to marry you someday.”
I blink, stomach fluttering. I thought I knew what he wanted to talk about—this isn’t what I expected him to say. “Is this a proposal?”
“A proposal is a question. That was a statement.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “You’re ordering me to marry you?”
“If I remember correctly, you were never very good at following orders, even when I was a Prince or a King.” Some of the anxiety he was clearly carrying around disappears as he looks at me with an easy smile. “It’s not an order. I just want you to know that I’m serious about you.”
I can’t help laughing. “Considering our souls are permanently bound together, I figured as much. Where is this coming from?”
“I got a letter from J’siiri today.”
Ah. So this is what he wants to talk about. “I know.”
Hayes frowns. “You do?”
“Yes.” I move past him to retrieve something from my dresser—a letter. “I got one too.”
Brow knitted with curiosity, Hayes reaches for my letter, but I hold it out of reach. “Wait. She told me she offered you a position on the council. Are you going to take it?” One of her last acts as Queen. If Hayes accepts, he’ll serve on the Alkaran council, as a liaison to help facilitate the union of Keirdre and Alkara.
Hayes’s nerves are back. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to take it. I want to learn how to rule so that someday, I’m worthy of a title. But if I accept, I’ll have to move to Alkara. I want you to come with me. And your family, of course.”
Is this why he was nervous? Lune above, he’s adorable. “Sure.”
He looks stunned—and ecstatic. “You’re serious? Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I agree. “I’ll get to show Rain all the creatures we used to read about. Maybe we’ll travel outside of Alkara. There’s a whole rest of the world out there. She’ll love it. Besides . . .” I grin coyly. “It was my idea.”
“You told J’siiri to offer me a spot on the council?”
By way of answer, I hold out the letter I received from J’siiri just this morning.
His eyes jump quickly as he reads it over. A wide smile threatens to split open his face. “You told her to offer both of us positions on the council?”
“It’s Alkaran law,” I say. “All creatures are supposed to be represented on the council. Since I’m the only siren they have, I need someone to represent my interests.”
He laughs. “You could have told me that.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” My smile turns into a smirk. “You know, all these changes are going to complicate things.”
“Why?”
“We’re equals now. I’m not sure what to call you,” I muse. “I can’t call you ‘sir.’ Can’t call you ‘Your Majesty.’ I definitely can’t call you ‘Your Highness’ . . .”
He throws back his head and laughs in a way I haven’t seen him do in a while. “Hmm . . .” He pretends to think about it, but the mischief dancing in his ocean eyes and the amusement twitching in the corner of his mouth tell me he already has an answer. “How about Hayes? Have you tried that name yet?”
“Hayes?” I raise a teasing eyebrow at him. “You know, I guess I kind of like the sound of that.” I hold out a hand for him to shake. “Nice to meet you, Hayes.”
He grabs my hand. Instead of shaking it, he uses it to yank me to him, wrap his free arm around my waist, and kiss me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So many people helped shaped this book into existence, either through feedback and writing help, unwavering support through my debut year, or steadfast friendship. Writing Drown Me with Dreams, my sophomore novel and the conclusion to a story that means so much to me, was hard. For everyone who played a hand in this book, I am so incredibly grateful. First, I want to extend a massive thank you to my endlessly supportive parents. You both cheered me on through my debut’s release, took time out of your busy lives to fly to my book event(s), and you’ve listened to me talk about publishing for hours, even when you have no idea what I’m talking about. Thank you both so much!
Thank you to my unicorn agent, Naomi Davis, for getting me through the release of Book 1 and hyping me up for Book 2. I honestly don’t know how I would’ve gotten through my debut year without your guidance through this process. Additionally, I am so, so grateful to my editor, Camille Kellogg. Thank you for every response to my frantic emails and for always being open to brainstorming with me. This book wouldn’t be what it is without you.
Working with the team at Bloomsbury has been a dream come true. Thank you to: Alexa Higbee, Briana Williams, Erica Barmash, Faye Bi, Phoebe Dyer, Beth Eller, and Kathleen Morandini in Marketing and Publicity; Jennifer Choi, Andrew Nguyễn, and Stephanie Purcell in Rights; Donna Mark and Yelena Safronova on the design team; Alona Fryman and Erica Chan on the marketing design team; Laura Phillips, Oona Patrick, and Nicholas Church on the managing editorial and production team; Sarah Shumway and Mary Kate Castellani in the editorial team; and Valentina Rice and Daniel O’Connor in sales. Thank you all for everything you do!
I was blown away by this stunning cover art, courtesy of the talented Fernanda Suarez. Thank you so much for bringing these characters to life and working with the design team to make such a jaw-dropping cover I’m completely obsessed with.
Drown Me with Dreams has had love and support from across the pond as well. Thank you so much to the entire team at Hodderscape for all you do. Massive thank you to Molly Powell and Sophie Judge in the editorial team; Kate Keehan in publicity; Laura Bartholomew in marketing; Claudette Morris in production control; and Will Speed in design. I am appreciative of all you do to put books in the hands of UK readers.
I have so many thanks to dole out to people within the writing community. I can’t imagine going through publishing without the support of my amazing author friends. Thank you to Karen Sapiro, Amanda McBride, Eliza Luckey (and Lucy, of course), Emily Emmett, Jennifer Risi, and Laura Samotin. Special thanks to the incredibly talented Joan Reardon, whose debut The Grimsbane Family Witch Hunters is out today! You ladies are amazing and I am forever grateful for our friendship.
To my friends in the Lit Squad: y’all are sometimes the only thing keeping me sane. Thank you to Camille Baker, Bethany Baptiste, Sami Ellis, Elnora Gunter, Jas Hammonds, Allegra Hill, Deborah Kabwang, Avione Lee, Britney Lewis, Shauna Robinson, and Melody Simpson. Honestly don’t know how I’d do this author thing without you.
I am very grateful to my fellow authors who offered blurbs for Sing Me to Sleep, including Natasha Ngan, Deborah Falaye, Alechia Dow, Adrienne Tooley, and Kate Dylan. For helping me get through my debut year, special thanks to Riss Nielson, Rachel Menard, and Jean Louise for being fabulous conversation partners for the release of Sing Me to Sleep, and for generally being amazing, kind, and encouraging. To Alechia Dow, thank you for your words of wisdom, friendship, and outstanding food recommendations.
Special thank you to Taylor Grothe, Yusof Hassan, Bayana Davis, and Andrea Aquino for your friendship, and my ride or dies, Yume Kitasei and Ehi Okosun. There are too many friends in the writing community to thank you all, but so many authors have touched my life, and I can’t thank you enough for the endless love and support.
To my friends outside of writing, thank you for your encouragement and for those of you who came out to launch events. I’m especially grateful to Emilie Barrett and Pippa, who flew out from St. Louis for my debut launch event. And special thanks to Annabel Winterberg for her help copyediting this book.
Finally, a massive and heartfelt thank you goes out to my family. I can’t stress enough how fortunate I am to have such an amazing family who has gone out of their way to shower me with love through my debut year and beyond. Thank you so, so much for years and years of being a rock I can always rely on.
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First published in the United States of America in August 2024 by Bloomsbury YA
Text copyright © 2024 by Gabi Burton
Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Kaitlin June
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Gabi Burton, Drown Me with Dreams
