Page 21 of Blood of the Ruthless

I suspect she was taken, but they don’t seem to want anything, and that doesn’t make sense. Why steal our mate? Are they just trying to hurt us? If they are, they’re succeeding.

Fuck.

Whoever took her will feel so much more pain than I feel right now, Iswearit. She’s innocent. If they think we should pay for the sins of our fathers, I almost understand, but I don’t understand involving Cassia. My anger multiplies.

But anger is useless in this situation, and I know it.

I sigh and step out onto the balcony, needing the fresh air. The sun’s rays are peaking out over the horizon, the warmth unfamiliar but pleasant. I let the feeling settle over me, wishing it could erase the hell inside of me.

Gripping the railing, I close my eyes and picture Cassia the night of the ball, with that gold dress hugging every inch of her nicely curved body. Imagining the fire in her eyes when I spoke to her, those beautiful hazel eyes too pure to belong to a human. And her smile, nervous, cocky, it didn’t matter, she had the kind of smile that melted a man’s heart.

“Zane,” Cobar calls out my name, breaking me from my thoughts.

I slowly open my eyes, irritated at being disturbed, and see Cobar on his balcony next to me. He’s shirtless, standing in nothing but a pair of blue cotton pants, similar to my gray ones. His blond curls are a tangled mess on his head, and his face has lines from his blankets across it.

“What do you want?” I ask.

How long have we been sleeping? It’s sunrise. It was nearly sunrise when we went to sleep, so maybe two or three hours? Why is the man already awake and in the mood to chat?

The Spring Fae just might be insane.

“Move out the way,” he says, waving his hand at me.

“What?” Move out of the way? Why? And where the hell am I supposed to move? This balcony isn’t that big.

“Move out of the way,” Cobar repeats.

Before I can finish processing what he’s doing, he leaps onto the railing of his balcony. My eyes widen in realization, and I step back until my back hits the railing, forming the words to tell this insane man that he can use the damned hallway, but I’m too late. Cobar leaps across the space between the two balconies and grins in my face as he slams into me.

“What the hell? Were there too many steps to enter my roominsidethe castle?” I ask, pushing him back from me. The last thing we need is our morning wood… dueling? Connecting? I don’t know exactly, and I don’t want to know.

This man makes no sense. Everything is fun and games to him. Granted, that’susuallysomething I like about him, but Cobar is someone best handled after at least one full mug of coffee.

“The walk wasn’t too long.” He shrugs and changes the subject. “How’d you sleep? You look like shit”

Dreaming of Cassia helped me relax, I suppose. “I slept. And dreamed.”

He’s trying to untangle some of his ringlets, and failing miserably. “Dreamed? Of anything in particular?”

I sigh. Cobar is the only one among my friends I would so easily tell such a vulnerable thing. I know he’ll keep it to himself, and not make me regret telling him, so I decide to get it off my chest. “I dreamed about Cassia, and it felt so real. She told me about her family. I showed her the Winter Court. It was a good dream.”

“Is that all?” his eyes glint.

What the hell.“We kissed. And it was an epically good kiss.”

I’d rather be back in the dream than standing here with Cobar… I’d rather be living that life with Cassia. One where she tells me what she needs, and I fulfill her dreams. One where I could listen to her talk for hours, and hold her in my arms forever.

If we can get her back, I think she can grow to love me. I can be what she needs… what she wants. I just wish it’d been real.

It will be. We will find her and bring her home.

“What if you’re dream sharing?” Cobar says, his eyes lighting up at the thought.

Dream sharing?I haven’t considered that because dream sharing is only something very powerful fae can do. The royal fae are the only ones I know for certain can do it. My parents have interrupted my dreams a few dozen times with something they deemed important, but it takes them a great deal of effort to do so. For Cassie and I to be dream sharing without meaning to, our mate bond would have to be very strong. We’d have to both be reaching out to each other with our powers and our minds as we slept.

Still, it’s possible.

My heart rattles against my ribs.Was everything actually real then?Our dream wasn't full of terror or despair. She might be safe wherever she is if she’s dreaming about me.

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