Page 142 of Court of the Fae Princes

Yet another part of me doesn’t believe that. No, this dream, like the others, was too real. It was… something else. A warning. An omen. I’m not sure which, but I’m unsettled. As much as I’ve loved my sex dreams with the princes, I hate these dreams just as much.

“You can’t lay there all day,” Lady Nova says, and our gazes meet. There’s intensity in her eyes for a moment, before the look falters and shifts to one of concern.

I don’t want her to be concerned about me. I don’t want to have to explain the way I’m feeling, all because of a dream. She’ll think I’m the weak woman she fears I am. Yet, it feels wrong to keep this inside. If my grandmother and father were here, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell them, and they’d say something in turn that would make this all feel okay.

But I’m not here with them. With my family. I’m with a strange woman. On a strange quest. To get back four men who make me feel confused and vulnerable in a way that scares me.

“Are you sore from yesterday?” she asks.

And the days before that... Maybe I am. But does it matter? Does any of it really matter?

Of course not.

I crawl out of my blankets, put on my boots, and sit by the fire. The air is warm, just as the air is always warm in the Summer Court, yet I’m cold. The chill from my dream, from that dark underground place, hangs over me, unwilling to let me go even in the daylight. Nova hands me some stew, which I take without a word, then she sits down next to me.

“You’re oddly quiet today. Even more so than the other mornings. Are you okay?” She stares at me with genuine concern. I’ve been holding these dreams in for a while now, of course she’d notice something wasn’t right.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, and my throat is scratchy, more evidence I’d spent the night crying.

Lady Nova sighs. “If it’s impacting what we’re doing, it does.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

Does she think I’ll really admit a weakness to her? She’s insane. “I can handle it.”

“You’re as stubborn as an old horse,” she mutters, spooning food into her mouth.

“Being stubborn can be good.”

“Not if it gets us all killed,” she says with a glare.

I snort. “You don’t seem to be in any danger.”

She glares. “Are you forgetting the wolves that tried to kill us?”

Damn it. “But otherwise, uh, everything is okay.”

“Now, sure, but you’ve been distracted. Fuck, Lady Cassia, you look like a woman haunted by ghosts.”

Her words make something inside me tremble. “Maybe I am.”

She sighs again. “What’s going on? And don’t give me any shit. I’m no genius, but even I can see something’s going on, something that’s affecting our mission.” She hesitates, then presses on when I don’t speak. “You know what a soldier does with an old horse that won’t move? We kill the damn thing, because it’ll just slow us down. Stop being an old horse, or I’m going to press on without you.”

Leave me behind? She wouldn't dare.

“At least I’m not a stubborn mule with a temper,” I mutter.

“Keep stalling. Real queenly of you.”

I hesitate. "You'll think it's dumb."

She lifts a brow. "Or, I'll help."

I glare, then decide the hell with it. “I keep dreaming about the princes.” I let my eyes meet Lady Nova’s again, but I find the amusement gone from her face, so I press on. “Only, they’re strange dreams. And they feel… so real. More real than you and I, even. Sometimes it feels like I can’t tell what’s real and a dream anymore.”

“Okay, that’s okay. Tell me more,” she says, and her voice gives nothing away.

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