Page 3 of Dream Lost (The Fae Universe #12)

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B as wasn’t the type of person to pout when things didn’t go his way, but he definitely was pouting at being interrupted talking to Hawk Girl.

He had prowled around the Greatdrakes mansion like an irritated tiger in a cage until he finally gave in and went to the kitchen. It was the one place that soothed his bad moods and kept his hands busy. He liked cooking when working on a problem. Kneading bread helped him think.

Bas was working on a sourdough when Valentine came in and plopped down at the counter. He didn’t look like he had been sleeping. Fresh ink and blood were smeared on his forearm, and his usually slicked-back dark hair was in disarray.

“Gods, what have you done to yourself now?” Bas chided before wetting down a clean kitchen towel and wrapping Valentine’s arm with it.

“Didn’t notice I was bleeding. Is there food?” Valentine answered wearily.

“I’ll make you some. When was the last time you slept properly?” Bas asked. He pulled out leftover roast chicken from the night before and other ingredients before starting to fix his brother’s sandwich.

Valentine had stayed with the elves for a few weeks over midsummer to learn how their ink shamans bound magic into their tattoos. When he had returned, he had been touching up and renewing different sigils on his own body to incorporate his new knowledge. Bas had no idea what all of Valentine’s tattoos meant, and he doubted his brother would tell him. Valentine was private in that way.

Valentine rested his chin in his hand. “What day is it?”

“You’re asking me?” Bas and his brothers were good at many things but, like all magicians, absolutely hopeless at keeping track of time. Bas, more than most, lived outside of time.

Valentine rubbed at his eyes. “Good point. You seem more manic with the bread thing than usual. What bug has got up your ass?”

Bas pulled out a small frying pan from a cupboard, placed it on the stovetop, and dropped some bacon into it. He hadn’t even told Cosimo about encountering Hawk Girl at Midsummer, but he needed advice, and Valentine was the best of them at magic.

“So, I met a girl,” Bas began when the kitchen door swung open, and Apollo came in wearing a faded purple bathrobe.

“Hallelujah, the drought is over, brother. I was beginning to worry. Is there more bacon?” Apollo asked and sat down next to Valentine.

Bas put more bacon in the pan. There would be no shutting Apollo up until he found out whatever gossip he could, so Bas gave into the inevitable and told them both about Hawk Girl, her library in the astral plane, and the shadow creature that had tried to feed off them.

“Trust you to find some weird chick in the astral instead of at a bar like a normal person,” Apollo said, eating bacon with his fingers.

“She’s not weird. She’s got attitude, but I would too, if someone kept turning up where I didn’t want them. She has created this whole pocket realm to herself, and it has no wards, and she thinks that it’s in her head, not in the astral,” Bas replied, pacing up and down the kitchen again.

“You’re worried about her,” Valentine stated, his dark eyes watching him closely. “She’s got to have magical talent to have built all of that. I wonder if she even knows she’s a magician. How did you find her again?”

“My dragon did,” Bas said with a shrug. Both brothers stopped eating their massive sandwiches and stared at him. “What? I’ve always been able to change into a dragon in the astral.”

“Interesting,” Apollo murmured.

“Very interesting,” Valentine agreed.

Bas crossed his arms. “Spit it out.”

“Taranis said that now that magic was flowing again, we might have the ability to shift. That our dragons are stronger, and our magic will be too,” Valentine said, his food forgotten. “Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that you were led to her more than once. Especially if the dragon was in charge.”

“Still not seeing your point,” Bas said and made a get-on-with-it gesture.

Apollo’s grin went impish. “Maybe she’s your mate. Did you get close enough to sniff her?”

“No, I didn’t sniff her,” Bas said, his heartbeat picking up. He would know if she was his mate straight away, wouldn’t he? He needed to distract Apollo’s reasoning and fast. “Of all of us, you’re the one who has a mate without a doubt. Whom you ignore . You think you would have seen what Reeve went through and learned your lesson.”

Their youngest brother, Reeve, had recognized his mate, Charlotte Ironwood, before magic returned and had managed to avoid her for years.

“I don’t think Reeve could have walked away from Charlotte in the same way now,” Valentine said in a small voice. “That dragon impulse would have been too much to let her go. Might be a lesson for you there, baby brother.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Apollo said, tossing his golden curls. “I’m going out tonight. Bas, you are coming with me because you need to leave the house for a few hours. Val, you are going to take this sleeping potion and get some fucking rest. You’re starting to look more like a vampire than usual.”

Apollo magicked a small bottle out of thin air and put it in front of Valentine. Surprisingly, he didn’t argue, just took the bottle and downed it. Now Bas was really concerned because it wasn’t like him to take whatever Apollo gave him without questioning what was inside of it.

“I don’t want to go out,” Bas protested. Apollo just stared at him until he gave in. “Fine, but I swear if you ditch me for a sleazy hookup, you’ll regret it.”

Maybe a few hours out of the house would clear his head, and he would finally figure out how he would find Hawk Girl in his dreams that night. If he could find her in the astral, surely he could find her in her dreams. He grinned, encouraged by the thought.

“I don’t suppose I could have one of those sleep potions too?” Bas asked.

Apollo hummed. “Let me choose your outfit tonight for it?”

“Okay, but nothing shiny, glittering, or cropped in any way,” Bas agreed.

“There goes my gold sequined assless chaps idea,” Apollo said with a roll of his eyes. “Come along, little brother. We must make you presentable.”

“You know better than to get into a deal with the devil, Basset,” Valentine mumbled, his eyes already clouding from the potion.

“But look how happy it makes him.” Bas kissed the top of his head. “Get some rest, big brother.”

“Tell me if you find your Hawk Girl again,” Valentine said and rubbed his face. “I think she’s important.”

Bas made sure Valentine got to the nearest couch safely and went after Apollo before he trashed his wardrobe completely.