“No,” I said, steadier now. “You’d argue. You’d deflect. You wouldn’t sound like her.”
For a split second, just one, the mask slipped.
Something moved behind his eyes. Something older.
Fear curled in my gut. “You aren’t alone in here.”
He tilted his head, smile returning, wider now. “Neither are you.”
The surroundings stirred.
“Get out,” I demanded. “This is my mind.”
“And yet,” he said softly, “she found a door.”
The thought landed with terrifying clarity.
If the Priestess could reach him through the dream realm…could reach me through the Hedge.
What did that mean for Celeste? The Academy?
“What does she want?” I asked, playing along.
His expression blurred, the edges of him smearing like ink in water. “The same thing she’s always wanted.”
“And that is?”
“You,” he said, and the dream fractured.
I woke with a sharp gasp, sitting bolt upright as my heart slammed against my ribs. Moonlight spilled across the bed, pale and steady, the Academy quiet around me. My hands were shaking, and I felt the person beside me.
Celeste was curled up against my side, knees tucked, one arm thrown across my waist like she used to when she was little. Her breathing was slow and even, her face relaxed in sleep, completely unaware of the storm I’d just torn myself out of.
The sight broke something open in me.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, breathing her in. Safe. Warm. Here.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, though she couldn’t hear me.
Carefully, I slipped out from under her arm and rose from the bed, padding quietly into the hallway. The Academy hummed softly beneath my feet, watchful and awake in a way that told me I wasn’t the only one unsettled.
Something had reached into my dream, and I intended to find out how.
Chapter Fourteen
The Academy didn’t creak at night; it breathed.
I slipped into the corridor, barefoot against cold stone. My pulse still raced from the dream I hadn’t shaken loose. Sconces glowed low and steady, their light softened, as if the walls themselves understood this was meant to be a quiet hour. The hum beneath my feet had shifted to subtle, alert, and questioning.
I just walked.
Gideon’s room was in the west wing, tucked into a stretch of hallway the Academy used only when it had to. Temporary quarters.
The door stood open.
Not cracked. Not ajar.
Wide open.
