Oh no.
I realized I was in a nightmare.
This had happened before, and I hated it because it made it so much harder to reach the person. Zane wouldn’t see reason while he was stuck in a nightmare, and I needed him to. The only way to gain his trust in this situation was to join him. Even thoughwe were not enemies in real life, in a nightmare, he might attack me, and I’d get nowhere.
I ran forward, pulling the girl into my arms and twisting her out of the way just as one of the men lunged for her. I moved in front of her and kicked the man between the legs. He went down, moaning.
“Nellie!” Zane bellowed, several men now between us.
Clutching the girl tightly, I crossed the room to get to him, twisting out of the men’s grasps as I went. Zane fought to reach us, and when he did, I passed the girl off to him. He picked her up, and she clung to his neck, nuzzling her face into his chest. My heart melted.
Who was this girl?
Zane held her close, his protective instincts palpable, and stared at me wide-eyed. “You’re here again.”
I nodded. “Zane, you’re dreaming. You can stop all of this. You can think them away.” I gestured to the angry men, who were now trying to stand up and go for a second round.
Zane’s brows bunched together, and even in a dream, I couldn’t help but be struck by his handsomeness.
“Zane,” I urged him. “I need you. Please, will them to be gone.”
At my words, he closed his eyes. One by one, the angry men faded from the tavern. The girl, Nellie, was still tucked tightly in his arms, now sound asleep. The speed with which he’d done all of that amazed me. Most fae would not be able to control their dreams or nightmares with such clarity, and it made me feel even more attracted to him. So capable as well as handsome. And then I shook myself. We had other things to discuss.
When he opened his eyes and noticed the men were gone, he staggered backward in shock.
“Zane, I don’t have much time,” I told him, and his gaze snapped back to me.
“Dream drifter,” he whispered.
“Dream walker,” I corrected him.
He rubbed his forehead, clearly trying to recall our last dream.
“Yes. This is real,” I assured him. “I’m really contacting you, and I need your help.”
He nodded and walked over to one of the couches at the back of the tavern. Gently, he laid the sleeping Nellie down and covered her with his coat.
When he strode back over to me, I couldn’t help it—I had to ask.
“Who is she?”
He glanced back at the girl, his expression softening into something like adoration. “A kid I met in the Harvest Mountains. She’s had some rough luck. I’m traveling with her to the Spring Court to reunite her with her aunt—and to see you.”
Hearing that he’d found this girl in the Harvest Mountains and was helping her made my heart flutter. But I couldn’t focus on that right now.
“Listen to me. I’m not in the Spring Court. Or at least I don’t think I am. Queen Liliana has kidnapped me—”
“What?” he bellowed, and then suddenly, he was inches from me, scanning my body as if searching for injuries. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
Oh, stars. I lost all train of thought then and had to take a half-step away from him to regain my wits.
“Not right this second,” I hedged. “But the queen is draining my power. She has some sick plan to go through the Spring Court mirror portal and …” I hesitated. His brothers were the Ethereum lords, soI couldn’t say the next words lightly. “Carve out the heart of one of your brothers.”
Grim determination settled over his features. “How long do I have?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know … Every time she siphons my power, I black out—”
“Does it hurt you?”
