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"Where in the hells am I?" other-me said.

No. no. no!

That was the very first time I'd dreamed of the ballroom.

Jaiel ducked down, smirking as he watched the other-me taking in the room.

That first dream had differed from the rest, but I'd never thought anything of it. And then they'd all blurred until I'd forgotten, and …

FUCK!

Taking a deep breath, dream-Jaiel stood up straight, straightened his suit, and strode through the crowd.

"Hello, Princess."

"Jaiel?!"

He held out a hand. "I believe I have the honor of the first dance …"

She awkwardly accepted his hand, brows still knit in confusion. She — I had been so lost and confused back then — my first days on the ship. And those dreams … they'd helped me survive.

His hand flexed on my lower back pulling me closer as we spun into the first steps of the waltz.

I stumbled immediately, stomping on his poor toes. But Jaiel didn't care. He just smiled and laughed.

I watched, tears pouring down my cheeks, warm rivulets of pain.

How had I missed it?

How he'd been so patient with my terrible dancing…

How he'd teasingly told me how wonderful I was ….

How he'd looked at me, as if I was the whole world …

I saw none of it! Not then …

When the music stopped and the dance ended, Jaiel asked for another dance.

Then another.

And another.

I watched, heart breaking as the Fae Prince spent his final hours quietly loving me from behind a mask, just as he had for the past two years …

"You know," the cloaked figure said from next to me. "Dreams are powerful things. Little worlds unto themselves. Perhaps a goodbye spoken here might be heard by the lost?"

I watched them dance — Jaiel and I.

I had touched him — had held him that night. Not some dream, but the real man. And yet I couldn't clearly remember what he'd FELT like in my arms!

"Would you like a kiss?" Jaiel's words pulled me from my thoughts.

"A kiss?"

I remembered how confused I'd been. That hadn't happened in the real world nor in any of the dreams after.

"Yes," he whispered. "A kiss. I rarely do such frivolous things, but with you, Princess, I'd make an exception."