It’s confusing.
It’s all-consuming.
When I finally speak, my voice is barely a breath. “You don’t make sense.”
“I’m not trying to.”
And for once, I believe him.
To sleep,perchance to dream…
Yeah, right.
It starts in silence—like all my worst dreams. No sirens, no gunfire, no trial-room tension. Just a space. Dim. Warm. The kind of warmth that seeps into your marrow and makes you forget what cold ever felt like.
I’m standing in it. I know it’s a dream. I always do. But I don’t care.
Because he’s there.
Aebon.
Not cloaked in gore. Not brandishing weapons. Just… present. Dressed in that black silk shirt again, sleeves rolled to his elbows. He’s leaned back against a pillar that doesn’t exist anywhere I know, smirking like the devil who knows exactly how the story ends.
“Aria,” he says, and the sound of it is ruin.
My name, shaped in his mouth like something sacred and sinful all at once.
I don’t move toward him—but I want to. Gods help me, I want to.
He does, though. One step, then another. Fluid. Slow. His eyes, that impossible molten red, lock onto mine, and it’s like gravity resets. I’m no longer in control of my own axis.
“You dream about me now,” he says. “I should be flattered.”
“I don’t,” I lie, even as heat pools between my thighs.
He smiles, close now. So close I can feel the warmth of his breath ghost along the curve of my jaw. “Liar.”
His voice isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. It slides under my skin like velvet-coated wire, tugging at the rawest parts of me. His hand—calloused, massive, not gentle but not cruel—tips my chin up. And his mouth doesn’t take. It claims.
When I wake, the sheets are tangled and damp. My skin slick with sweat, my pulse frantic. I’m flushed. Aching. And ashamed.
The shame burns the worst.
I press the heel of my hand against my mouth like that’ll keep it in. The memory. The need.
It doesn’t.
I bury my face in the pillow and scream.
Quietly. Feral.
Because I’m losing grip on the lines I’ve drawn. The moral walls I’ve built.
And somewhere deep down… I think I want to.
CHAPTER 10
AEBON REXX
