Page 67 of A Story of Sinners

“Do you need a moment?” Redmond asked behind me, and I gritted my teeth.

“No, let’s just get this over with,” I groaned, mentally preparing myself for the ridiculous requests that would come my way.

They did. Oh, they did. The next male in line, a spy for the autumn court, requested a human woman he had once seen venture into the Scourged Forest. When asked if she would arrive in Faerie willingly, his answer seemed doubtful. His request was denied unless he could convince her to come with him of her own accord.

The requests grew stranger and stranger with each passing fae, some of them downright outrageous. By the time the sun sank in the sky, I was overwhelmed, exhausted, and drowsy.

The last fae left, his request of enacting a new law that allowed jilted lovers to murder their betrayers denied.

“That was interesting,” Redmond voiced behind me.

I waived my arm out, gesturing around the throne room. “Welcome to Faerie.”

Redmond chuckled as I heaved myself from my chair, and I shook the man’s hand. “You’ll make a good advisor once you get used to Faerie. Tomorrow, we will need to travel to the continent and meet with the different leaders of each nation. Be sure to get some rest.”

Redmond cleared his throat as I moved around him. “Are you going to visit her tonight? In her dreams?”

I froze, and my eyes slid to his. “I was planning on it. Will she know it’s me?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I told her a lot about the mate bond, but I didn’t tell her of the dream walking your kind can do. I figured it best if she didn’t know. If she did, I’m sure she would block you out immediately, even to her own detriment. You have a fighting chance, Ryken. Use it wisely.”

Redmond brushed past me and left the room before I could utter another word. With a steadying breath, I charged towards my room, ready to invade her dreams and change her mind.

I would win her back. There was no other option.

* * *

I fell asleep quickly and waited in the blank expanse of dreamscapes for her to lay her head down. When she did, I opened a door into her world. A bright golden sun and fields of lavender and golden wheat met my vision. I followed along the trail between fields, toward my ultimate destination. Her.

She sat in front of that golden tree, butterflies flying down from the branches to tickle her nose. She didn’t wave them away—she let them gather on her head, forming a crown as she gazed out into the distance.

My pace quickened when her eyes landed on me, narrowing. I didn’t let the look of absolute disgust stop me, though; instead, I sat across from her, folding my knees in the dirt.

“Hello, little crow.”

A sound of disproval stirred at the back of her throat. “Dream Ryken. I know you’re a figment of my imagination, but you really need to have better timing.”

I leaned back, letting the bright sunlight warm my skin, and raised a brow. “Oh, you must have been thinking of me in order to have conjured my visage. What were you thinking about?”

“Nothing good.” She glared.

“Did real Ryken do something bad?” I purred, moving to crawl over her. Her breath hitched as her eyes widened. Even in the dreamscape, she couldn’t resist the pull between us.

Neither could I.

“Gods, even dream you is just as insufferable as the real you,” she chided, scooting closer to the trunk of the tree and away from me. I crawled after her as her back hit the golden trunk, and she groaned with annoyance.

My legs straddled hers, and my arms lifted to the tree, caging her in. “Tell me what naughty things I did, little crow.”

Of course, I already knew, but her complaints would be the perfect opening to a conversation.

She seethed. “You rejected me as a mate, drugged me, abducted me, and tried to reclaim me without my permission.”

I leaned closer, my lips almost brushing hers, and when a dreamy sigh escaped her lips, I withdrew the slightest. “Now why would I do something like that?”

“Well, the drugging, the abduction, and the reclaiming were all done from feeling a loss of control, but I’m still unsure on why he would have rejected me.”

“Maybe real Ryken was scared. Maybe he was terrified.” Dahlia’s lids fluttered when I licked my lips. “Maybe it was the loss of control that scared him the most—the fight he would have to pursue over his basic instincts to kill everyone, so that it would just be you and him and nobody else. Maybe he was terrified that if he was fully bonded to you, he would make the world suffer, just to ensure your safety.”

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