She arched a brow. “Niamh is beautiful. And she clearly adores you.”
I chuckled. “I’m not her type. Besides, I could never see her that way. She is like a sister to me.”
“All right then. So, why not someone else? Surely there are many beautiful fae in Dubnos who would be thrilled to be your wife. You’re the king. And you’re…not bad to look at.”
My eyes caught on her parted lips, the hollow of her throat. Something within me warmed. “I have never met someone who I felt matched my soul.”
She smiled. “That’s a pretty intense requirement, Kalen.”
“It is not,” I said. “Mates are a forever thing. It is a bond that cannot be broken. It transcends even death. I do not want anything less than the deepest connection I could ever find. Anything less than that is not worth the trouble. I want—no, Ineed—someone whose soul matches mine.”
She gazed up at me. “How can someone ever match your soul? You’re…you, Kalen.”
Something in her eyes drew me toward her, and her body seemed to curve my way in response. So badly, I wanted to kiss her again. I had for days. The dream might not have been real, but it had felt real to me. And it had been killing me to pretend that it had never happened. Neither of us had mentioned it. Not a word.
But I knew I could not do this. It wasn’t fair to Tessa. Hell, it wasn’t fair to me, either. So, I sucked in a breath and turned my gaze toward the wall of windows. Black clouds churned outside, whipping bands of rain against the glass.
She let out a little sigh. “All right. I suppose I should get some sleep.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said tightly. “Rest now in case we can get back on the road tomorrow.”
* * *
As soon as her eyes closed, she called to me. With my powers out of my control, there was nothing I could do to stop myself from going straight into her dreams. She stood in the center of the fields near her village, her hair free and flowing in the wind.
“Where’s the braid?” I asked with an arched brow, trying my best to appear nonchalant about this whole thing. But it was hard to look at her like this after our conversation beside the fire. All I could see was the strength in her body, the fire in her eyes. She was breathtaking.
“Where are your sapphire eyes?” she countered.
I frowned. “What color are they?”
“The color of ice.”
I pressed my lips together as pain rocked through me. “That’s the color of my mother’s eyes.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Kalen. I didn’t realize.”
“You don’t need to be sorry, Tessa. There’s no way you could have known.Ididn’t even know I brought them into the dream like this.” And I couldn’t bear to dwell on it much longer. It had been centuries, but the pain was as fresh as it had been then.
She blew out a breath and glanced around. A shadow crossed her face when her eyes snagged on her village, on the home she’d left behind. “I guess you’re stuck here with me again. What should we do?”
“I’m guessing you don’t have any desire to take a stroll through Teine. Or even Albyria.”
“Teine feels like a tomb. There’s no one there, and things are wrong. Like that broom.”
Her and that bloody broom. “Teine was empty when I visited, but Albyria wasn’t. In fact, I could show you something interesting there. It’d be good for you to see it.”
She cocked her head. “That sounds deliciously intriguing.”
“I thought you might say that.”
Together, we took the winding path up the side of the hill to the city of Albyria. I gazed up at the walls that glittered beneath the sun. It had been a long time since I’d been here, even in my own dreams. It held nothing but terrible memories for me. Coming here was like taking a step into a past I wished I could erase. If only I could go back to the days before my mother had met Oberon. I might have been able to stop everything that had happened.
We reached the top of the hill and stepped through the guarded gates, though none of the soldiers paid us any mind. To them, we didn’t exist. Tessa let out a pent-up breath and glanced around. Her face was ashen.
“It looks different like this,” she whispered. “You know, when I’m not being paraded around as Oberon’s silent mortal bride. It almost looks like a normal city.” She sounded sad about that.
I followed her gaze to a child laughing, running after his mother’s long skirts. His pink cheeks glowed.