Page 143 of Court of the Fae Princes

I hesitate. Most of these dreams have been terrifying, and other times embarrassing and private, but the way Lady Nova looks at me with a mix of concern and something like desperation compels me to speak. At least about the scary dreams. So I take a deep breath and push down the anxiety bubbling up at the idea of saying these things out loud for the first time.

“Last night,” I began, my voice shaking, “I walked through dark underground passages filled with dead bodies. There, in the cold and darkness, lay Sulien, beaten and bloody. Broken in a way I never imagined. Mumbling strange things.”

“Did he tell you anything?” she asks, seemingly unbothered by the prince's pain or the fact that all of this was just a dream.

Did he say anything?

My thoughts were lost in him, in the pain he was in, but I remember now that he did speak. “He talked about iron demons and a barrier falling.” I set my stew down and wrap my arms around my shoulders. “He spoke of the Keeper of Death. He said she wanted war.”

“The Keeper of Death, are you sure?” she asks, her tone serious.

I take a minute to think, then answer, “Yes, I’m sure.”

She’s silent after that, so I keep going. Talking and talking without taking a breath.

As I finish recounting my dream, I look up from where I’d been staring at the ground and meet Nova’s eyes. Her stew, bowl and all, lies on the ground–dropped and unnoticed. Her face, frozen in astonishment, sends a shiver through my body.

“What?” I ask, growing even more anxious. I anticipated she might laugh at me at the worst and reassure me at the best. I hoped she might tell me that it was just a dream, and that I’d feel better when I saw them again.

Her reaction doesn't reassure me at all.

It was just a dream, right?

Her face is shadowed with concern, but she flashes a reassuring smile that’s as fictitious as my dream to go off and live a normal happy life. “No–nothing, let’s just finish packing. We should get going.” She stands and kicks dirt at the fire to put it out, not even using her magic.

And she loves to use her magic.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, studying her in confusion.

She keeps packing up. “Nothing. Just pack.”

Except, she’s shaking. Her hands struggle to shove things in her packs.

“Come on, you’re scaring me.”

Her head lifts, and her green eyes meet mine, panic in her features. “You sure you want to know?”

I nod, straightening my spine. “I need to know.”

She continues packing as she talks. “It sounds like you’re dream sharing. Not dreaming.”

“Dream sharing?” I ask, frowning. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

“Powerful fae can slip into each other’s dreams. Usually, they have to try to do it. But mates… they’re so deeply connected that they can do it by accident.”

Now, I’m shaking. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

She finishes packing one bag, then dumps out the remainder of the stew. “What I’m saying is that everything you saw in your dream last night was true. Everything in the dreams you’ve had about the princes since becoming their mate has been true and real.”

“That’s impossible.”

She’s moving faster. “Trust me, it isn’t.”

“I’m not powerful enough.” She said I had to be powerful, right? I barely have powers at all.

Lady Nova starts to pack my stuff. “Eat,” she commands, then continues, “I don’t completely understand it myself, but what you were describing is the House of Death. I’m assuming you’ve never been there, right?”

“Right.” This is insane.

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