Page 79 of Crown of Slumber

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she let out a choked sob. “Oh gods, Aurie!” She knocked her teacup to the floor, allowing the contents to seep onto the carpet as she collapsed to her knees to embrace me. I clutched her to my chest, weeping with her as we clung to one another.

“I have so much to tell you,” I whispered. “So much has happened.”

Gigi suddenly withdrew to look at me with wide eyes, her facepaling. “No.No. Aurie, you cannot be here.” She glanced over my shoulder, her expression stricken as if she expected to find a horrible monster lurking behind me.

I followed her gaze, but all I saw were the open doors of the tea room and an empty hallway beyond. “Why not? I’ve missed you terribly. All I’ve wanted to do is talk with you.”

She shook her head frantically, dropping my hands as she staggered to her feet. “You can’t be here,” she repeated. “You—You aren’t supposed to be here!” She wrung her hands together and began pacing the room, her eyes wild with terror.

I stood, trying to touch her, to embrace her or hold her hands once more, but she stepped out of reach, still shaking her head.

“No,” Gigi was saying as if speaking to herself. “No, you—You’re different. Mother explained it to me. Youcan’t be here.You’re the only one who can—who can—” She brought a hand to her forehead. “Gods, Aurie. Did she find a way to trap you, too?”

I frowned, my heart wrenching in my chest. I had never seen Gigi so frightened. “What are you talking about?”

Gigi looked at me, then closed the gap between us, grasping my shoulders tightly. “You have to wake up, Aurelia. You are the only one who can stop this. The only one she can’t reach. If you’re here, it means she’s close to trapping you. But you have to fight it.Fight it.You have to wake up!”

Her voice rose with each word until she was practically screaming at me. Though she stood a few inches shorter than me, she seemed to tower over me with the intensity of her words. My hands began to tremble. “Gigi, I don’t—I don’t understand.”

“Wake up, Aurelia!” she repeated in a shout. Behind me, a strange buzzing filled the air, making the back of my neck prickle. Gigi looked over my shoulder, then made a strangled gasping sound. I turned to look, to see what lurked behind me, but she pressed her hands to my face and screamed, “Wake up now!”

With a jolt, I woke, my heart thundering in my chest. Something warm was pressed to my chest. I sat up quickly, the sheets and comforter shifting with the movement. The warmth left me.

Beside me, Fenn grunted in his sleep. His arm had been wrapped around me.

I stiffened, my stomach dropping as awareness flooded my mind.

Last night. The Equinox Ball. Callan and Tyrone.

AndFenn…

His hands on me. His tongue. The explosive release that spread through me with violent delight when his fingers moved inside me.

Heat filled my cheeks from the memory. I glanced at him, afraid he would wake. But he remained fast asleep, his long eyelashes fanned out over his cheeks.

I covered my face and found my hands were still trembling. Just like in my dream.

Shit.My dream.

I eased out of bed, careful not to jostle Fenn with the movement. When the mattress shifted as I stood, he sighed in his sleep, turning his head and murmuring, “Aurelia.”

I stilled, thinking he’d woken up. But he remained still, his slow, soft breathing filling the room once more.

Fenn was dreaming of me. The thought sent an unexpected warmth spreading through me as I strode away from the bed.

Darkness had coated the room, and the faint moonlight shining through the curtains told me it was sometime in the middle of the night. I started pacing the room, my bare feet padding across the floor. I faintly registered that I was still partially dressed in my red gown, though the corset strings were loose and my petticoat had been removed, which made it much easier to walk. My pulse was racing, and I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lungs.

The dream had felt so very real. And Gigi’s palpable terror…

It had to have been real. Wherever Gigi’s consciousness was right now, I was with her for a brief moment. And there was something in that dream world that frightened her.

The thought of my baby sister so afraid made me want to draw my dagger and lunge into action, to fight off whatever foe she faced. I would die for my sister. I would do anythingto save her.

What was it she’d said?

You are the only one who can stop this. The only one she can’t reach.

Who wasshe? Was it the Dream Mage?

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