Page 17 of Court of Aether and Shadows

When you’re stronger? Be careful of my dreams?

With that cryptic warning, she was gone, leaving me alone with a visibly baffled Liam.

Not everything that glitters is gold…

"What the hell was that about?" he asked, moving to take Elenore's vacated seat. "And what's this about dreams?"

I shook my head, not quite ready to share the full extent of my experiences.

I mean, how do you tell your male best friend that when you fall asleep, you delve into a different world where creatures walk the lands and beautiful majestic monsters kiss you better than any man has?

He’d be jealous if anything. Wondering who dared try to kiss me without his consent. That makes me smirk just thinking about it.

"Nothing. Just some weird side effects from whatever was on that bullet.” I go with that excuse because it’s something that can be backed up if he did question Elenore about our conversations. “How are you? What happened after... after I went down?"

Liam's face darkened.

My protective best friend always gets super serious when explaining “what happened” in situations where I get hurt or in its rarity, “knocked out”.

"It was a mess, Sparrow. Vincent is furious. The job was compromised from the start – someone fed us bad intel.” He’s fuming just revealing the surprising truth, and I can see just how riling it is for him by the tension in his demeanor. “We're lucky to have made it out alive."

I absorbed this information, my mind racing.

A setup? But why? And who could have the power to manipulate a family as well-connected as ours?

"But hey," Liam continued, his tone lightening as he reached out to squeeze my hand. "None of that matters right now. You're alive, you're healing, and that's what's important. I was so worried, Sparrow. When you collapsed in my arms, I thought... I thought I'd lost you."

The raw emotion in his voice brought a lump to my throat. Staring into those burning eyes that dare show me a glimpse of raw vulnerability has my heart aching in an instant.

Liam had been my rock for so long. The one constant in a world of shifting loyalties and betrayals. It was to the point where I couldn’t see myself doing this shit without him. That alone was something to be proud of because I didn’t allow anyone to get close to me anymore.

Too many betrayals and close calls do that to you.

I squeezed his hand back, offering a small smile.

"Can't get rid of me that easily, darling,” I tease him like always, giving him a taunting wink. “You know me – too stubborn to die."

He laughed, but it was a fragile sound.

"Don't joke about that,” he complains, but can’t hide that strike of worry in his thick voice. “I don't know what I'd do if... if you weren't around."

The vulnerability in his eyes made my heart ache yet again.

I wanted to reassure him, to promise that I'd always be there. But the memory of another world tugged at me, a siren call I wasn't sure I could resist.

And he of all people knows when I’m lying. He’d see through my fake declaration with ease.

"Liam," I said softly, "I need to tell you something. About what happened while I was unconscious. About the dreams I had."

I feel bad keeping it from him for so long. It’s not like these have been happening just out of the blue. I’ve been dealing with it…for years.

Since I was eighteen.

I don’t need to dive into the whole ‘having sexual intercourse with a sexy handsome forbidden prince of the shadows’ part, but letting him know I am having very vivid dreams that feel all too real may help me feel not so alone.

He would keep it a secret and wouldn’t deem me crazy. It just would be nice to have someone to converse about them and figure out why I’m experiencing these things.

If other women are enduring it and even being kidnapped for it, something has to be going on. Something in the air that’s affected only women.

---