He shrugged. “I have nothing to lose. I’ve lived in damnation for five centuries; perhaps an eternal stay in the Beyond would pale in comparison.”
More stars were released from the sky, glittering as they fell. If the dark purple sky was a tapestry, then the stars were the stitches holding it in place. As it became undone, patches of pure, soul-eating black stared back at us, a steady reminder of what was about to become our world.
“See, that’s where we will never be the same. Because I do have something to lose.” I glared up at him, trying to ignore how magnificently tall he was and how that height affected me. His lithe body was built for destruction, but it was also unfairly proportioned. Unfairlyperfect. “I have Elliot. My brother needs me alive and breathing in reality, not stuck in a dream. Surely you have something that you desire enough, too.”
“I didn’t say Ineverhad anything to lose.” His silver eyes swirled with shadow; he was clearly contemplating something. “At Somnus’s suggestion, there is one tactic we might attempt. But it is a gamble since we’re on borrowed time.”
“And? What is it?”
“We can walk through past dreams to get a better sense of how to free ourselves. But we will only have a few tries to get it right.”
“How many dreams? How many tries?”
He stared at his domain, watching as it slowly tore itself apart. “Perhaps only three. One dream per day.”
“Then we have to choose them carefully.” I thumbed my lower lip, considering. “Surely there’s some clue in your past that will lead to our freedom.” And there it was.Ourfreedom. I wondered if he heard it. “Somnus said that the horned demon might be the key. Can you think of three dreams where it was significant in some way?”
The Shadow Bringer ran a gauntlet through his hair, appearing quite vexed. “One.”
“Then we’ll begin with that one. We need to start somewhere.” Another shattered window, anothercrackas part of his castle fell. I wondered how the dream would manifest. If it was anything like the one I’d created, it would consume our immediate surroundings. “Let’s go now.”
“Visiting my past dreams requires more concentration. They are a part of my subconscious,” he said, placing his hands over his armored hips. Maker, hewasvexed. “I haven’t dream walked in some time. My body has been too tense to focus.”
“Tootense?”
“Too many demons to be on guard against.”
“So you’re a bit out of practice? What is considered ‘some time’ to you?”
“I haven’t dream walked since before I was locked in here. It could go wrong.”
My eyes widened. “Surely not wrong enough that it would be worse than our current fate.”
“No, but I might send us somewhere useless.” He glanced away, cursing as more stars fell. “My memory is distorted. You’ve been here a few days; can’t you already feel your mind breaking apart? Imagine five hundred years of this.”
I shivered. I knewexactlywhat he was talking about.
“We don’t have a choice, Shadow Bringer. We need to go—we need to gonow.”
“Ah,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders.
He was stalling. Why was hestalling?
“As I said before, past dreams are inextricably connected to the subconscious. I can’t summon a dream on a whim and walk through it as you did.”
“How, then?”
“It’s only possible if we’re both in a relaxed state of sleep.”
I made my way to one of his armchairs as he went to his bed. I curled into the leather, ignoring the chill in the air and how uncomfortable my dress was becoming. “Sleep it is, then. I can handle that.”
“We need to be in closer proximity,” the Shadow Bringer said, clearly irritated. As though I wasn’t understanding him at all. “Stop fidgeting in that chair and join me in my bed.”
I blinked open an eye, instantly wary.
“You say that so easily. Like we’refriends. As if I should listen to you without reason and trust that you won’t devour my soul or strangle me in my sleep.”
He scoffed in exasperation. “I’ve watched you sleep before and have never harmed you, have I? In fact, when I watched you sleep in my tomb, I felt no malice, even though you had very nearly killed me. I felt only guilt at leaving you there alone.” He made a small sound of disbelief, as if he could hardly understand it himself. “Is that enough to convince you I’m sincere?”
