Page 55 of Veil of Night & Flames

“By coming to my realm of your own free will.” He looks down at the sand we’re both standing in. And your will, my love, is the only thing in five realms I cannot decree, cannot command, cannot order Kali to bring me on a platter.”

I tip my head back to look at him. “You missed me,” I say, fighting a grin. “And you figured out a way to not break your promise. Liminal space indeed.”

He shrugs. “You could have simply shut your closet door. Instead, you stepped inside.”

“Don’t get smug about it.”

“I would never.”

I tilt my head. Hello? You’re getting smug about it right now.”

“Perhaps,” he admits, and there—finally—is the ghost of that smile that draws me in even though he’s turned my closet into a loophole.

“Say the word, and I will go,” he says softly. “Reluctantly, but I will do as you bid.”

And just like that, the weight of that courtyard lets go of me. “I’m glad you found a loophole,” I admit, then smile as his entire face lights up.

“Walk with me,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me along before I even have a chance to answer.

The sand is fine and pale and slightly warm under my bare feet. The ocean’s waves crash against the shore, looking like sparking embers beneath the orange sky. We walk in silence for a while, as I take it all in and try to figure out why it seems so damn familiar.

Then it hits me, and I stop short with a gasp as I release his hand and turn to face him. “I know this place.”

Adric doesn’t pretend to be surprised. He just waits for me to figure it out.

“My dreams,” I finally say. “When Chase was protecting me. The creepy scorpion monsters and the lava babies. And even before,” I say, rushing on. “This is the beach I came to with my mother.” I look straight at Adric. “How?”

“I told you. A liminal space. It can become what is needed or wanted. Kali uses it for training. I had another use for it this evening.”

“And the lava creatures and scorpion things?” I ask, my voice coming out smaller than I intended. “The ones that terrorized me before I learned the truth?”

He goes very still. “Those were created for the training exercises. They should never have left the training grounds. Kali built this place to train soldiers in conditions modeled on the Real. She based it on a coast in your world that she had studied through the scrying pool.”

“And you’re using it now. To visit me.”

“I am.”

“Without her knowledge.”

“Technically, the space belongs to the castle, though all concede Kali’s need to use it for training. But, no. She is not aware that I have used it this night to access your room.”

I file that away in the same drawer where I’ve been filing everything Kali-shaped since I first met the bitch. The drawer is getting full.

“Why this place?” I ask. “Why bring me here?”

“Because it is contained. Because I can reach you in the Real from it without breaking my vow and entering the Real myself. And because—” He pauses. Then says more quietly, “Because I wanted to show it to you the way I see it. Not the way she made you see it.”

I look at the orange-lit water. At the long, slow waves. At this Nightmare copy of a real place I used to visit with my mother. A place that later haunted my dreams.

A place that truly is beautiful now that nothing here is trying to kill me.

“I’m glad you came,” I say. “Even if you did cheat.”

His eyes go overly wide, and he places a hand dramatically over his heart. “I? I have broken no rule. I said I would not go to the Real. And I have not gone to the Real.”

“If you ever want to live in the Real, you could probably get a job as a defense attorney.”

“I’ll consider that a compliment,” he says, and we both laugh.