He should have known. He should have godsdamn known the moment she’d said she couldn’t use her magic in her dreams.
“Has Cethin ever been in your dreams?” he demanded, knowing his eyes were glowing brightly as he fought a full shift.
Kailia clearly sensed the same because she was eyeing him warily when she answered, “I don’t see how that is any of your business.”
“Answer the question, Lia.”
“What does it matter if he has?” she countered.
He swore viciously. “I told you his dark magic was a fraction of his power. I told you you’d do well to remember that.”
“I know that. I saw what he did to those members of the Elder Clan without touching them.”
He huffed a derisive sound. “Not touching them was a mercy. Do you understand that? And that’s still not even— Kailia, Cethin can dream-walk. He can do more than that. I thought he would have told you. I thought— Fuck!”
She was not the one who should be on the receiving end of his anger.
No, that was the arrogant king who was used to getting his way. Who’d manipulated her and coerced her into a marriage she didn’t fully understand.
And now she was looking at him, perplexed and uncertain, clearly trying to work things out. But she couldn’t. Because she was too literal and didn’t conform to normal social interactions, and Cethin had fully taken advantage of that.
“What is that? Dream-walking. What does that mean?” she asked.
Too calm.
Too still.
Too unpredictable.
He was torn. Stay here and explain everything, or track down Cethin and make him face what he’d done. Make him answer all her godsdamn questions, but then be left wondering what he’d omitted. All of this was Cethin’s fucking mess. It always was. Everything always led back to him and his lineage. Always the priority. Always the one everyone else was expected to sacrifice for.
Not this time.
“Stay here, Lia. All right? Stay here, and I’ll be back?—”
She shook her head, ashes spilling off her. “I’m asking you to explain this to me, Raz.”
“I’m not the one who owes you an explanation,” he snarled.
“Razik—”
“Stay here,” he ordered again.
Then he was Traveling.
He went to Cethin’s study first. When he found it empty, he sent a message with his dragon fire before Traveling to the council room where he often met with Zayan. Receiving a message back from Cethin immediately, he Traveled to their rooms where the king was waiting for him.
“Where is she? What happened?” Cethin demanded.
It took everything Razik had not to drive his fist into the male’s face.
“Youhappened,” Razik snarled, keeping space between them so hedidn’tfollow through on that desire.
“What are you talking about? You said something happened with Kailia. Where is she, Greybane?” Cethin snapped, that inky darkness that matched the tendril in Kailia’s hair creeping along the floor.
That was all he needed to dream-walk. He needed a connection to the person. A physical connection was best, but at some point, he’d let a minute piece of his magic latch on to her.
“How long have you been lying to her?” Razik demanded.
