Chapter 563: The Other Side

I'm not sure what I was expecting. Thunderclaps and lightning and doom coming down on me, maybe. Instead, I rubbed my arms against the subtle chill in the air, feet sliding over dry grass and onto a graveled path. I turned to look back, over the shining land the queen maintained as her reality, Bronagh already gone from view, before spinning back to compare.

Not dismal, not really. Just duller, unglamoured. Ordinary. Trees dotted the distance, a riverbank not far away, likely the same one running past the queen's palace. Its banks looked rocky, not the shining white stone I was used to now, but gray and laced with darkness and light. A real river.

So the king did like things based in reality. This could work to my advantage after all.

"What did she want?" Quaid fell in beside me.

"Nothing." I sighed and shrugged. "Let's just keep moving."

Venner's beaming smile almost made me laugh, would have if I wasn't in such a horrible state of mind. He looked like a kid who'd just been grant