Page 111 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“And he didn’t kill you,” she says, taking my hands in hers. “He loves you. And this is going to get very, very complicated.”

“Understatement of the year.”

“Of the century,” she counters.

I laugh, then jump when my cell phone rings. Our eyes meet, then I snatch it up, expecting the call to be from Chase, and feeling a knot of disappointment when I see the Caller ID.

“Uncle Finn? It’s so late. What’s up?”

“Shenanigans, my dear little Bride. We’re going to have a lovely time, your uncle and I.”

I go completely stiff, terror crawling up my spine.

Kali.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Don’t worry.” Her voice is sickly sweet. “His majesty won’t execute him right away. He’s useful, after all.”

Then the line goes dead, and the only sound in the room is from the painful throbbing of my heart.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

The training room feels smaller tonight, like the walls are protesting this venture into the nightmare realm and are leaning in. The air’s thick, oozing tension and fear, though maybe that’s just me.

Tia stands beside me, twisting the hem of her T-shirt. And though she says nothing, I know she’s scared for me. Not surprising—I’m scared for me too. Or, more accurately, for my uncle.

“She used the phone,” Tia says, her voice a low whisper. “I mean, she just used a regular freaking phone.”

Chase looks up, his brow furrowed in confusion. But I understand exactly why that grates. It’s one more encroachment into this realm. Not just mares loose in the streets, but a resident of the dreamscape is actually using human tools and devices for dream-related dirty work.

I frown as the realization hits me, so obvious I don’t know why I didn’t catch it before. “She was here,” I say, looking up to meet Chase’s eyes, before remembering and quickly looking away. “She was here,” I say to the floor. “She came physically into this realm, just like you do.”

“Yes,” Chase says, and even though it’s only one word, I can hear the plea in it. A plea for me. For us.

But I’m not ready to hear it.

“I thought she was stuck at that castle,” Tia says.

Chase shakes his head. “Adric is bound to the castle and its grounds. Kali is not.”

“Well, that sucks,” Tia says, demonstrating her profound skill at stating the obvious.

“It makes sense,” Chase says. “My brother would hardly be without someone who can move about in the world. Who can do his bidding. Mete out his punishments.”

“It may not be his bidding,” I say, earning me a harsh look from Chase. As if he has any right to look at me that way after slaughtering my ancestors.

I turn away, only to find Whistler standing beside me. He hands me a curved blade with a golden hilt studded with lapis lazuli, just like the ring that still refuses to come off my finger.

“What’s this for?” I ask. “I can’t take a knife in with me.”

“Today you can,” Chase says. “It’s the mate of that ring, and those stones are protective. If you insist on doing this, you’re taking the blade.”

“Couldn’t have been too protective,” I say flatly. “My mother’s dead.”

“No protection is perfect,” he says. One beat passes, then another before he meets my eyes and adds, “Nor is any person or creature in any of the five realms.”