“I miss you,”I told him.
“I miss you too, little witch.”
I tripped over my feet, falling to my knees. Next to me, Kyla gaped at me. I held up my hand, and she went silent.
“You can hear me?”
His voice was very faint, but it dripped with the smug amusement that was so… Samael.
“I can. I didn’t dare to hope that our bond would be strong enough for you to speak to me in this place without the benefit of our dreams. But you strengthen it with your will.”
“Does it weaken you?”
“Our bond strengthens me, witchling.”
“You know what I mean. Does speaking to me like this weaken you?”
“Slightly. Not enough that I would give up the chance to hear your voice.”
A tear dripped down my cheek.“I miss you so goddamn much. I can barely function.”
“I can sense you in another realm, little witch. I have a feeling you’re doing much more than barely functioning.”
I let out a choked laugh.“I just talked to someone who knew my parents. He said my father is alive.”
“And you believe him?”
“I used Misty.”
A long silence.“My spies have not informed me of this. If he’s alive, he must have fled to a pocket realm, or else he was smuggled somewhere he could fly under the radar.”I could practically hear Samael’s frown. “Where exactly is my body right now, witchling?”
“Uhh, I’m walking through a portal. Gotta go. Talk later!”I sent him an image of me blowing him a kiss and got a chuckle in response. He didn’t protest, though. I had a feeling speaking to me this way wore him out more than he wanted to admit.
“I was talking to Samael,” I told Kyla. She raised one eyebrow.
“That’s freaky. Werewolves can communicate in a similar way with their mates but never between realms.”
“When Samael was hit by that spell, I completed my end of the bond. I had no idea what I was doing, but now I can see him in my dreams.”
She stared at me. “I guess you’ve been wishing you could spend more time asleep.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“Where to now?”
I sighed. Truthfully, I was worn out. And I’d bet Kyla was too. “It’s getting late. We should get some sleep before we head to the swamp.”
Of course, there was always the chance that we’d arrive in the unseelie realm in the middle of the night. Time didn’t exactly work the same in all of the realms. But we’d cross that bridge if we came to it.
Besides, I had a niggling feeling that whatever I was about to face in that swamp would require me to be at my best. And I was learning to listen to my instincts.
10
SAMAEL
Ipulled Danica into my arms as soon as she appeared, rolling her beneath me. “I thought you’d never fall asleep.”
She sighed. “Turns out, the anticipation of needing to fall asleep isn’t conducive to actually falling asleep.”
