“But you . . .” The woman looked from me to the Basty man. “Do you feel it, Yusuf?”
“Yes, Aylin. I feel it.” Yusuf's gaze shifted back to me. “You have the energy of a traumatic dream hovering over you,Your Majesty. It's as if one of us is straddling your shoulders like a child. I don't believe it's the Tromlaighe. That's more of an attack, while this is neutral. And I can't imagine your husband attacking you with his mór.”
“No, he'd never do that.”
“Hold on.” Tiernan leaned in. “Do you sense an entity around her?”
“No, King Tiernan.” Aylin chewed at her lip before continuing. “Not an entity. But it is a presence. Have you been having troubling dreams, Queen Seren?”
King Crybaby must have taken more from me than I thought because the Basty's question didn't bother me as it should have. I answered without hesitation, “Yes. For the last eight months, I've had dreams that I share with the King of Hell.”
Aylin gasped and looked at the man. “Yusuf?”
“Shared dreams are never natural,” Yusuf murmured. “Someone is sending you these dreams, Your Majesty. You say you share them with the King of Hell?”
“Yes. They aren't nightmares exactly, but they aren't good either. They are in fact, romantic in nature.”
“Seren!” Tiernan hissed.
“What? They are dreams, Tiernan. And these are dream experts, are they not?”
He sighed and motioned for me to go on.
“As I said, they are romantic and intimate, but I don't want to be intimate with the King of Hell. Not when I'm awake,at least. When I'm dreaming, I want it very much. The guilt was nearly unbearable before the blight took it from me.”
“He tookthatguilt?” Tiernan hissed.
“Yes.” I cocked my head at Tiernan, wondering why he sounded upset.
“I see.” Yusuf frowned. “It sounds as if the King of Hell is behind your dreams.”
Dismissing Tiernan's strange reaction, I returned to my conversation with the Basty man. “He is not. I'm almost positive. He doesn't want the dreams either and has, in fact, tried to protect himself from them.”
“Now, that is very interesting. It's difficult to enter someone's dream if you aren't one of us. Even more so to send dreams to two people and stay out of them.”
“My Angel husband said that Angels could do it. Anu gave them an influential magic they can use to form telepathic links with people. They can't influence fairies when we're awake, but he thinks they may be able to do so while we're asleep.”
Tiernan grabbed my hand. “You didn't tell me that.”
“Oh, yes, well, I was upset about Miri.”
Tiernan grunted, but he didn't look happy.
“Angels? Hmmm.” Yusuf swayed.
“Yusuf.” Aylin shook his arm.
He glanced around the room. “The darkness took our nightmares. All that we had to nourish ourselves with. It fed upon us and left us nothing. I'm sorry, Your Majesty. Althoughmy body is whole, I think it will take a while for me to mentally recover.”
“Yes, of course. I'll leave to rest.”
“No, I didn't mean I wouldn't help you. I just wanted to explain why I'm behaving oddly. You saved us. It would be my honor to assist you.” He paused. “Would you allow me to hold your hand?”
“Certainly.” I held out my hand.
Another pause, and then Yusuf took my hand. I felt a light tingling on my skin. Holding his deep blue stare, I was reminded of Daxon's mesmerizing eyes, and I wondered if Yusuf would hypnotize me. But then he closed his eyes, and the tingling spread. It was hesitant. Inquisitive. Touching and withdrawing. Prodding at my mind without entering. A minute passed, Yusuf's eyes moving rapidly under their lids before they popped open. He just stared at me.
“Well?” Tiernan prompted.
