Ani felt better than she had since she discovered her dual appetites. “I’m… sated.”

“You sound surprised.” His hand continued down her shoulder and onto her arm.

“It’s the first time.” She kissed him quickly, lips closed, and then rolled over and stretched. “Ever.”

“Good.” He didn’t move at all or have any inflection in his voice.

The lack of emotion was so different from the version of him in her dream that she felt a foolish surge of sadness. In her dream, Devlin had no barriers, no hesitation, no impenetrable wall. He’d reached for her hand. He hadn’t needed to hide his feelings.

But that wasn’t real.

In the real world, Devlin couldn’t kiss her with his emotions laid bare: she’d drain the life from him.

“Do you want to shower before we leave?” She sat cross- legged beside him.

He still hadn’t moved. His brow was furrowed, and his emotions were locked down. “We should talk.”

“About?” Her heart began to race, pounding like a drum.

Not all faeries had the same sensitivities, but she’d begun to realize that Devlin was attuned to Hunt-like qualities. Her thrumming pulse was as clear to him as a thundering bass would be to most faeries.

“I received a message—”

“Wait.” She put her hands on the mattress on either side of his still bare chest, bracing herself as she leaned over him. She kissed him for just a moment, lost herself in the touch of his lips against hers, his breath tangled with hers, his skin against hers.

His hands were on her hips, not pulling her closer or pushing her away, just keeping her steady. It wasn’t like the dream, but it wasn’t all restraint either. He stared up at her curiously for a moment. Her heart raced just as loud, but now it was the right sort of reason.

She leaned back and sat atop his legs. “Okay.”

To his credit, he didn’t question her actions. He resumed his sentence: “I received a message that requires a change to our plans.”

“When?”

“In my dream.” He stared at her. “Before our dreams…”

“That was real? What we… you and me… and…” She leaned closer until she was once more braced over him, and placed a hand on either shoulder.

“I told you it was real.” He reached up and threaded his fingers through her hair. “Do you regret it?” He let none of his emotions leak through, but she didn’t need to taste his emotions to know he was afraid of her answer.

“Awake or asleep, I want you,” she assured. “The only reason I’d say no in the waking world is because I like you, but if it’s safe there—and it is, right?”

“Yes. It’s safe there.” He smiled, but there was also tension in his expression.

“How? How did we do that? Share a dream, I mean.”

“There are those who can walk in dreams,” he murmured.

“And we did? You knew, and we—” She broke off and kissed him until she was breathless. “Are you tired enough to sleep more?”

“I would rather stay here with you, fall asleep or stay awake, just be with you, but I need to go.” He paused, frowned, and then said, “Faerie is coming unmade. I need to retrieve Seth and deliver him to Sorcha.”

“Say that again.” She stared at him, trying to process the enormity of what he’d announced so casually. The revelation about what they’d done—and that it was real!—shook her world, but the second announcement wasn’t the good kind. “What you just said. Repeat it.”

Devlin propped himself up on his elbows. “I need to collect Seth before we can resume… anything.”

Ani realized that she was watching him like she was transfixed. “Give me a sec here, Dev.” She slid farther back from him and tried to focus. “Faerie is coming apart… what does that even mean?”

“Within Faerie, reality is a reflection of the queen’s will. Once there were two courts there, and the world was the combined visions of the two monarchs. With the Dark Court gone from Faerie, there is only Sorcha, and she appears to be ill from mourning her s—Seth’s absence. If Faerie vanishes, we all die with it.” Devlin sat up and wrapped a black leather tie around the hair he’d gathered at the nape of his neck. His movements were unhurried; his tone was calm.

And the world is ending.

It wasn’t like Ani thought often about Faerie, but it was their homeland. In some primal part of herself, of every faery, there was a chord that was struck at the thought of Faerie. For her, Faerie was forbidden, but somewhere inside she’d still known that it was there.

“I will take him to her and return quickly.” Devlin stood and retrieved his shirt. As he spoke, he put on his shirt and shoes. “I’m certain we will resolve it. I’m not sure the seasonal courts need to be made aware, but the Dark Kings need to be informed. Perhaps if I cannot wake her, they can… come home.”

“What do you need me to do?” she asked.

“Tell your steed that invisibility and optimum speed are required. Blending in with the mortals aids us in hiding you, but I fear that the time to retrieve Seth for the High Queen is limited.” Devlin’s words and manner were becoming increasingly aloof.

“Devlin?” Ani put a hand on his arm.

He paused.

“Is she going to be okay? Your sister?” Regardless of what Ani thought of the High Queen, Sorcha was Devlin’s sister. If Tish were sick, Ani would be lost.

“The High Queen has never been ill,” he said. “I will do what must be done, but I cannot say that I am without worry… or frustration. Her behavior is—” He stopped himself. “The High Queen should not mourn. She should not grow ill over emotion. Something else has happened, but Rae didn’t tell—”

“Rae?”

“She delivered the message from Faerie.”

“You know Rae,” Ani said slowly. “Rae from the dreams?”

“Yes.” Devlin gave her an unreadable look. His emotions were so tamped down that she had no idea what he felt.

She didn’t know what to say.

And when she didn’t respond, he asked, “What do you need to do before we depart?”

“Give me fifteen minutes.” She walked past him to the bathroom.

Rae is real. Ani had just learned that her dream with Devlin was real, but hearing Devlin mention Rae so casually startled her. Who is she to him? What is she?

Ani absently went through the motions of washing up and brushing her teeth as she replayed every detail she knew about Rae. There were more questions than Ani could fully process, but in light of what Devlin had told her, asking about Rae seemed unnecessarily selfish.

Devlin held Ani’s discarded shirt in his hands. He’d kissed Ani, shared a dream with her, and for a few brief moments, his life had been his own. After an eternity of existing as an object in an endless conflict between his sisters, the possibility of living on his own terms was intoxicating—and interrupted already.

Sorcha’s maudlin emotion over Seth was forcing Devlin to choose between staying at Ani’s side to keep her safe from his mad sister or abandoning her because of the solipsism of his other sister. Being near Ani had made him realize he wanted a life that he knew he couldn’t have as the High Queen’s Bloodied Hands. He was made to exist as the fulcrum between Order and Discord; he only had value because he served the will of the Unchanging Queen and reminded War not to kill them all by killing Order.

I want to determine my own path.

Ani returned to the main room. “I have questions. You’re keeping things from me, but they’ll wait. I’ll wait.”

“You’ll wait for what?”

“Answers. You. Time. Whatever this is”—she came over and took his hands—“it’s not going to go away. I don’t really buy the whole fate thing. I know the Eolas claim to know the future, and so do… your sisters, but it’s not always as set as all that. Some things, though, feel like they’re right. You and me? It’s one of those things. I don’t know what they see or why things are such a mess, but in the middle of it all, I do know that being around you is really the best thing that’s happened to me in, well, ever.”