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“The lock on your heart. Is it hurting you?” It can’t be comfortable.

“Can you fix it?” Mal’s voice is louder this time.

“I don’t know. I don’t know this symbol.” I trace the mark over his skin with my nail as I study it. The spark pokes and prods it for a minute but gets no response before returning to me.

“That can’t be right,” I mutter as my eyesight returns to normal, and I see ordinary reality around me. “What does that mean, Ben?”

I notice that Ben is distracted by growling back and forth between two people. One is Mitri, and the other is Kimi.

I suck in a sharp breath at his appearance. He isn’t the Kimi I met years ago. This is the Kimi from my nightmares. The one with long canines and a sharp smile that spreads before he eats my heart.

Herheart.I’m not her!

His skin is the same gold, with a tail undulating behind him. He’s wearing the same silky cloth over his groin that bears his thighs and ends above his knees. He’s missing his shoes, which is good because the sharp talons he has for toenails would rip them apart.

What doesn’t jive is the jacket he wore when we met. The clash of the nightmare version mixed withmyversion is jarring.

A ball of silver tape is tucked under one arm with a smiley face drawn on it with the words ‘Mitri the Second’ written on what would be its forehead.

My seesaw struggles, fluctuating wildly as I stare at him in horror.

“You put a ring on it, and now you have to marry him,” Kimi says in an aside to Mitri. “When do we makeusofficial?”

Mitri doesn’t answer as he inspects Mal’s form on the ground.

I snap my other hand away from his chest to put it on my head. Like that’s going to help my sanity stay inside.

Mal’s body temperature is high enough that I feel like I was holding a hot stone. It’s soothing on my scalp, but no help otherwise. No wonder he doesn’t wear a shirt. I’d be covered in sweat.

Mal sits up and stares at me with his eyebrows drawn low. A one on the scowl meter. “I don’t know what you did, but I feel amazing.”

I can’t respond to his subdued, happy response to the healing. I’m too busy trying to keep my sanity balanced in an earthquake.

“Keep your tail in your pants,” Kimi laughs and begins tossing the ball back and forth between his hands.

The scowl turns to a level three as Mal looks at the golden-skinned male. “Where have you been?”

“Here,” he shrugs.

Ben’s growl gets a little louder.

“Sugartits, I appreciate you adopting us a dog, but I think he needs training,” Kimi smirks as Ben continues to rumble.

I can’t work up a reply, so I busy myself standing just as Mal does. Panic is beginning to try and overtake me. They’re all too close and they’re a threat.

The fence is close to me, but it seems too far away for me to reach safety right now. Plus, I don’t want to leave Ben to face them alone. After all, I’ve done what Mitri wanted, and now he has no use for me.

Hello, being set on fire. Again.

The seesaw slams down hard enough to leave a dent in my brain matter.

“So, you really can heal people?” Kimi takes a step forward, and I narrow my eyes on his approach. “I thought it was a myth. I never saw you heal anyone before.”

To the rest of the people around us, it would seem like he’s discussingme. Only he and I know what he’s commenting on is theGoddess.

He’s right. In my nightmares, she starts off healing people, but it’s only to gain followers. The rest is pain and death. In a flash, I recall some of the other random things he’s said that seemingly made no sense.

“I didn’t think you would value any life form.”