Dream Stone

by Glenna McReynolds

The Chalice Story:

THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE (Book 1 of 3)

Twin children Ceridwen and Mychael escape the destruction of Carn Merioneth as children when their priestess mother Rhiannon is killed and the castle falls to the warlord Caradoc. Fifteen years later, Ceridwen—now an orphan unaware of her immense inherited power tied to sacred rites and the legacy of the Mother Goddess—flees a forced betrothal to Caradoc and ends up in the tower of Dain Lavrans, a Crusader-haunted alchemist with no innate magic but deep knowledge of arcane secrets. Pursued by enemies seeking to exploit her power, Ceridwen and Dain navigate betrayal, passion, and underground chases through time-warped caverns beneath Carn Merioneth, where mystical creatures and the Quicken-Tree dwell. Their enemies-to-lovers bond forms the foundation for protecting the ancient balance.

DREAM STONE (Book 2 of 3)

Mychael ab Arawn—Ceridwen’s twin brother, orphaned and raised by monks—reclaims Carn Merioneth in battle but is haunted by visions of dragons (pryf) and endless caverns. Drawn back into the underground labyrinths to confront and master these visions, he quests to tame the unleashed dragon spawn and seal threats from the time portals. Joined by Llynya, a fierce Quicken-Tree warrior with a lavender scent and swift blade, he faces manipulation by those who would weaponize his power, ancient enemies, and escalating darkness in the caves. Their reluctant alliance deepens into sensual passion amid sorcery and sacrifice, directly building on the events of book 1 by exploring the same cavern system and legacy that Ceridwen and Dain first encountered.

PRINCE OF TIME (Book 3 of 3)

In a desolate far-future Earth ravaged by apocalypse and the encroaching Dharkkum darkness—caused by the long-ago death of a key 12th-century mage—priestess and princess Avallyn Le Severn awaits her prophesied partner: a mage, warrior, and saint. Instead, she finds Morgan ab Kynan, a cynical 12th-century thief accidentally flung forward through a wyrmhole/time portal (from events tied to Carn Merioneth in book 1). To avert total destruction, they must travel back to the past to save that pivotal mage and restore the timeline. Pursued by villains across eras, their mismatched partnership ignites into fierce romance and mutual redemption. The book unites threads from the entire trilogy—Ceridwen and Dain’s era, Mychael’s cavern quests, the underground portals, and the ancient prophecies—culminating in a high-stakes convergence to heal the fractured world and legacy.

The Series:

In 12th-century Wales, twin siblings Ceridwen and Mychael, heirs to an ancient druidic legacy, are torn from their destroyed home and drawn into quests involving sacred prophecies, underground caverns teeming with mystical creatures and time-warped portals, and fierce romantic bonds forged amid danger and passion. As Ceridwen unites with the tormented alchemist Dain to protect her power, and Mychael allies with the swift warrior Llynya to master visions of dragons and seal ancient threats, their intertwined fates ripple forward to a desolate far-future Earth ravaged by apocalypse. There, priestess Avallyn must partner with a cynical time-displaced thief to journey back and avert catastrophe, uniting the trilogy’s threads of Celtic mysticism, epic romance, and redemption in a desperate battle to restore balance across eras and heal a fractured world.

The Books in the Series:

boookwyrm Review:

Dream Stone by Glenna McReynolds (Chalice Trilogy Book 2 of 3)

★★★★★ (still one of those books that lives rent-free in my head after all these years)

boookwyrm, and the Cybernet Book gnomes, have reread this series more times than can be counted, and it never loses its grip. This is a direct continuation of book #1, picking up right where The Chalice and the Blade hands off, in the same late-12th-century Welsh timeframe, with the same ancient Carn Merioneth castle, the same vast underground caverns full of time-warped wyrmholes/portals, and the same escalating threats from mystical creatures and encroaching darkness. The story simply shifts focus to the other twin: Mychael ab Arawn, Ceridwen’s brother, the monk-raised warrior who’s just reclaimed his ancestral home in battle. But the victory is short-lived and he’s immediately haunted by relentless visions of pryf (dragon spawn), glowing dream stones, and endless labyrinths that pull him back into the very underworld his sister and Dain barely escaped.

He’s joined by Llynya, a fierce warrior of the Quicken-Tree, the ancient, elf-like (or fey/fairy-kin) race of guardians who’ve watched over these deep places for centuries. The Quicken-Tree are ethereal yet primal, graceful and swift, with an almost supernatural sense of smell, lightning-fast blades, and a deep, mystical bond to the land’s pagan magic and forgotten memories. They’re not your typical twinkly fairies. They’re secretive, duty-bound protectors of the balance, often clashing or allying with humans to keep ancient forces (like the pryf and the time portals) from unraveling everything. Llynya herself is lavender-scented, blade-quick, loyal to the bone, and carries scars from her clan’s eternal watch.

Their alliance starts out prickly and necessity-driven, but it deepens into a profound, sensual, soul-bound connection, forged through shared peril, quiet healing moments, and the kind of trust that only comes from facing mythic darkness side by side. If you loved the first book’s enemies-to-lovers heat, this one trades that electric friction for something even more intense. A deeper, more enduring bond amid epic questing, dragon-taming tension, and sacrifices that hit hard.

The world-building levels up here. The caverns aren’t background. They’re alive, breathing, full of wonder and terror, guarded by beings like the Quicken-Tree who make the whole underground feel like a living otherworld. The pacing can get lush (those long underground treks reward patient readers), and the romance leans into erotic discovery without derailing the plot. But when the visions crash into reality, when the ancient rites and pryf guardians demand everything… it lands with real weight. This is the book that most makes the trilogy feel like one seamless saga—the stakes build directly from book 1, and the payoff sets up the time-bending finale of Book #3 perfectly.

Underrated comfort read with teeth, wonder, and heart. If you’re diving into the Chalice Trilogy, know that books #1 and #2 flow like one long medieval epic before book #3 jumps eras. Get lost in the caverns. You won’t regret it.