“Shuahn’s dreamwalking glass. How did you get it?”
Kell shrugged and smiled like he thought he might get into trouble. “I was talking to Verandil. He had the idea. He asked Shuahn for the hourglass as a favor to you.”
“To me?”
“He thanked you when he found out you helped me find him. He owes you.”
And this was how he thought to repay Saeldian. “How did he know about it?”
“I know you don’t know what it’s like to have a brother. Or family.” Kell rubbed their knee to soothe any hurt those words might have caused. “I told him about the maze. He went to Shuahn with questions, and she told him it would work. If you wanted to.”
Saeldian should stop his soothing touch. They didn’t want to, though. “You want us to go back to the dream realm because—”
“You can do anything in dreams. You can fly. You can—”
“Do what you can never do when you’re awake.”
“Right.”
He knew. “Why are you doing this?”
“One reason,” Kell said. “You might want someplace where you can do or say anything.”
“Once,” Saeldian said. “In a dream.”
“Once. If you would like,” Kell said. “While we’re there, nothing here matters. It doesn’t count.”
The hourglass sat on the nightstand, built from blown glass and turned wood. He knew. He understood enough to give them a chance to stop back in Hearthaven. He understood enough to give them this clever way to escape. A person can dream anything because it’s not real.
“How long?”
“About two hours,” Kell said.
Dreams couldn’t break a pact.
Saeldian called up the glowing Mage Hand and used it to pick up the hourglass and flip it over.
“Kiss me.”
Kell gathered Saeldian close, dragging the blankets along. Saeldian kicked free of them, hitching up their sleeping shirt tostraddle Kell’s lap, and pressed close, cradling his head into their hands to kiss him.
It shivered all the way down. He groaned a little, and Saeldian kept his neck supported as they pushed him down to the mattress. They sat high on his thighs and pulled the shirt over their head.
It was the only thing they were wearing. Kell gazed up at them, and Saeldian’s face went hot. They looked at the hourglass. A small pile of gray-violet sand lay in the bottom chamber. Too much already.
“We have time, and we don’t have to.”
“I want to,” Saeldian said. “I just—I don’t know how.”
Kell stared at them, shocked, but wiped it off his face in a hurry. “All right. We’ll go slow. Don’t worry about asking questions. Nothing is too silly—”
Saeldian couldn’t help laughing. “I think I understand enough to get by. I mean I don’t know how to do it with you. Should I be like this?”
Kell’s eyes widened as Saeldian became the pretty young noblewoman from the party. They bent forward a little. “I can’t really see you over these things.”
It was Kell’s turn to laugh. “They’re definitely impressive.”
Saeldian swatted his shoulder. “Be serious.”
