Page 126 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“You will,” he says, then presses a finger to my lips. “Now,” he murmurs, holding my hips and shifting me, our eyes locked on each other as I straddle him. As his cock fills me. As his eyes go dark with need despite the pain etched around them. I move slowly, testing, and he groans my name like a prayer. We find a rhythm that doesn’t hurt him, and I lose myself in it—in him—in the desperate need to prove we’re both still alive.

His hands guide me, hold me, claim me. And when I break apart above him, it’s with his name on my lips and tears on my face, because this is too much and not enough. Not even close to enough.

He follows me over the edge with a shudder and a broken sound, and then we’re just breathing together, holding on.

After, I curl against his too-hot chest and listen to his heartbeat. It’s steady now, but for how long? The thought makes fresh tears spill down my cheeks.

“Look at me,” he says softly.

I do. His eyes are starting to glaze with fever.

“I meant what I said. You will be fine. You know what you are. You have power. You just have to trust it.”

You know what you are.

The words linger like a tease. Like a crooked finger luring me down a path.

The Neutral Zone.

The flowers.

The way reality bent to my will.

I sit up with a start.

“Cora?”

“I wanted the flowers,” I say. “I wanted them, and they appeared. Flowers that should never have thrived in that desolate landscape.”

His brow furrows. “Either I’m delirious from fever, or you’re not making sense.”

I press my hand to his forehead. He’s burning up, beads of sweat on his skin, his hair damp. I squeeze his hand hard. “Fight,” I say. “Don’t ever stop fighting. I’ll be back soon. I think—Chase, I think there’s a chance, so you have to hang on.”

I dress in record speed, then squeeze his hand once more. “Hold on,” I repeat, and I kiss him again, deep and hard, wanting to leave him with something to fight for.

Then I pull away and race for the door. “I love you,” I say. “So don’t you dare die before I get back.”

And then I take off running.

I don’t know how I find my way to the library. I should be lost in this maze of a castle, turned around by identical corridors and endless staircases. But somehow my feet know where to go, carrying me down and down through levels that grow quieter, cooler, until I’m standing before massive double doors of dark wood banded in brass.

I don’t slow. I hit the doors with both palms and they swing open, and then I’m inside.

The library opens before me like a cathedral to knowledge itself. The ceiling soars impossibly high, disappearing into shadows that even the chandeliers can’t reach. Bookshelves tower on every side, creating corridors of leather and paper that seem to stretch on forever. The air smells of old parchment and ink and something else—something magical, like the space between lightning and thunder.

And there, in a cozy armchair near a reading lamp, sits Uncle Finn with a single book open in his lap.

“Uncle Finn!” I run to him, my bare feet slapping against cold stone.

He looks up slowly, his expression befuddled, like he’s not quite sure what he’s seeing. “Cora?” He blinks, then smiles in that loose, dreamy way. “Oh. You’re here too. Did your mother send you?”

My heart lurches. “What?”

“We talk about books. Have you ever seen such an incredible library?” He leans forward, crooking his finger to draw me closer. “It’s just a dream, of course, but I have so missed my big sis.”

I blink back tears, wishing I had the time to tell him that I’m so sorry that Kali got him twisted into this strange half-dream reality. And that I’d come here to rescue him. And even though that plan’s all gone to hell, somehow, I’ll find a way to get him back home.

Right now, better to just let him think his body’s back in his cluttered house, tucked into a comfy reading chair.