Page 11 of Night Fae (Monsters of Veridia #3)

The chambers Zev had been given were not his childhood rooms. Those had been stripped bare after his defection, his possessions burned in a ritual cleansing, or so he had been told. These were guest quarters—luxurious but impersonal, lacking in both comfort and memory.

But he was glad for the lack of memories these chambers stirred. He'd already had too many of those today.

Without further thought, he crossed to the washbasin and plunged his hands into the cold water, scrubbing the blood from his fingers.

After his hands were raw from washing, Zev retrieved the journal from his jacket.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, flipping through pages of hastily scribbled observations and cryptic shorthand.

Most entries documented changes in the shadow path's behavior—fluctuations in energy, instances where the path seemed to thin or widen. Later entries grew more alarming.

Day 47: Path breached surface for 3.2 minutes. Stones placed within disappeared. No retrieval possible.

Day 51: J.M. reports similar breaches at eastern site.

Day 58: Temporal anomaly observed. Path emitted cold light for 7 minutes. After dissipation, strange device recovered. Not one of ours. Inscription dated 1923. No such year in any calendar we know.

Zev paused at a detailed diagram labeled "Cross-Realm Contamination." It showed the shadow path as a dark river with tributaries branching into different colored sections—each representing a different world or realm. Notes in the margins documented increased "bleed-through" between these sections.

Near the back of the journal, a passage caught his eye:

The Night Court must know. The paths have never behaved this way, not in all our recorded history.

Whatever ancient balance maintained the separation between realms is failing.

If the Court won't acknowledge it, we need to bring this to the attention of the other powers.

The Shadow King might listen where the Court won't.

The Shadow King. Caelen.

Zev almost laughed at that.

The wolves were going to seek assistance from Caelen, of all people?

The majority of the paths did run through his kingdom…

How ironic that Zev wished he'd ended up there instead of here.

He closed the journal when it stopped providing the distraction he needed.

Tomorrow, he would kill again. More wolves who were only trying to understand what was happening to their world.

What a waste.

When he tried not to think of that, his thoughts circled back to Malik. What had the guards done to him? How badly had they hurt him despite Zev's sacrifice? The uncertainty gnawed at him.

He should have checked on the human after all.

Maybe he still could.

Not in the waking world, but he was a night fae, and he'd entered Malik's dreamspace before. It wouldn't be easy with his magic as depleted as it was, but the human was unlikely to try to shut him out, which would help.

Zev settled onto the bed, arranging himself comfortably. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, on the rhythm of his heartbeat. Gradually, he extended his awareness beyond his own body, beyond the physical constraints of the room.

The palace around him teemed with sleeping minds—guards drowsing at their posts, servants collapsed after long days of labor, nobles dreaming of power and gold, minds closed to him. Zev moved past them all, searching for the distinctive texture of Malik's consciousness.

There—a warm glow several corridors away, but disturbed, rippling with distress. Malik was dreaming, but not peacefully. The edges of his consciousness pulsed with terror.

Another nightmare.

Of course.

Zev hesitated. The taste of Malik's nightmare brushed against his senses—rich with emotion, potent with pain. The kind of nightmare that would nourish a night fae for days. But there would be consequences if he gorged himself on Malik's nightmares. He had to remember that.

Never mind that he'd meant to check on the human, not feed on him.

Maybe this was not the right time.

Zev nearly pulled back, nearly severed the tentative connection between them. But beneath the nightmare's distress, he sensed something else—Malik reaching out to him, almost as if he could sense that Zev was there, lingering at the edge of his consciousness.

Almost as if he was calling for Zev.

A silly thought.

And yet…

Taking a steadying breath, Zev gathered his power and slipped into Malik's dream, carefully, gently, determined not to feed on the nightmare even as its flavors washed over him.

The dreamscape materialized around him. A twisted version of the car crash Malik had survived.

But unlike the previous nightmare, this one had merged with their current predicament.

The wrecked car sat in the middle of a Night Court chamber.

Prince Ashelon stood over the vehicle, his silver eyes gleaming as he reached for Malik, who remained trapped in the twisted metal.

"You'll never escape," the Prince was saying, his voice distorted and too deep for reality. "Your friends abandoned you. No one is coming for you."

In the back seat of the car, the bodies of Malik's family stirred unnaturally, their limbs bending at painful angles as they turned toward him with lifeless eyes.

"You should have died with us," they chanted in eerie unison. "You should have died with us."

Malik struggled against his seatbelt, panic evident in every line of his body. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "I'm so sorry."

Zev moved without thinking, pushing past the dream-version of the Prince, who dissipated like smoke at his touch. He reached the car door and yanked it open.

"Malik," he said firmly. "This isn't real. You're dreaming."

Malik's eyes found his. He had such expressive eyes, clearly reflecting his terror, as well as the confused hope that replaced it. "Zev? Zev! It's really you, isn't it?"

"Yes, I'm here." Zev cut the seatbelt that trapped Malik. "This is a nightmare. None of it is real."

The dream-corpses in the back seat hissed at Zev's interference, their features melting and reforming until they looked like wolves.

How odd.

Why would Malik be dreaming of wolves?

Zev pushed the thought aside as he focused on freeing Malik from the wreckage.

The human clung to him as Zev lifted him. Zev didn't mind. It wasn't an emotion that he let himself linger on, but there was something comforting about feeling the weight of Malik's body, warm and alive, against his own.

The scene around them flickered, the shadows twisting as the car and corpses wavered at the edges of Malik’s mind.

But the dream didn’t collapse entirely. Malik was still holding on to him for dear life.

It didn't seem that he had entirely realized that he was dreaming.

"I'm so glad you came for me," he said. "I was so scared you wouldn't. I was so scared that they would break you. " A half-sob ripped from his throat.

Zev stared at the human. He was that scared for Zev's sake?

Something inside Zev twisted. In his dream-state, Malik was terrified of many things, but Zev hadn't expected his own well-being to factor in.

Malik buried his face against Zev’s chest, his breath warm and unsteady. "Run away, just run away," he whispered. "I can't... I can't be responsible for ruining another life."

Zev’s throat closed. So that was what this was about. Malik blamed himself for the deaths of his family, and now he was also blaming himself for whatever the Night Court might do to Zev. That was what motivated his selflessness.

His dreaming mind didn't hold back any uncomfortable truths.

Was it rude of Zev to intrude on him in this state?

Maybe, but he'd tried to tell Malik he was dreaming. What else could he do?

He gripped his shoulders. "Malik," he tried again. "You're dreaming."

Malik's fingers twisted in the fabric of Zev's clothes. "Of course I'm dreaming," he murmured. "You'd never let me get this close in real life."

The human wasn't thinking clearly. How frustrating. Zev should--

His thoughts cut off when Malik lifted his head to look at him.

His expression was open, raw in a way Zev rarely saw on anyone. There was no caution, no hesitation—only something hopeful and yearning.

Before Zev could do anything, Maliksurged forward, his lips brushing against Zev’s in a soft, desperate kiss. A hesitant kiss, like a wish Malik never expected to be granted. A dreamer's gamble.

It shocked Zev all the more for its honesty.

While Zev froze, Malik's warmth melted into him,trusting him, leaning into him the way no one had done since... since...

Malik’s hands curled against Zev’s chest, clinging, as if afraid he would disappear.

Something inside of Zev cracked. Just for a moment, he allowed himself to linger in the kiss. Allowed himself the ghost of a response, the briefest press of his lips in return, before he forced himself to break away.

"Malik," he murmured, his voice rough, uneven. "You don’t mean this."

Malik’s dark lashes fluttered, his dream-drunk gaze filled with confusion. "Why wouldn’t I?"

Zev exhaled sharply, his grip tightening on Malik’s arms, grounding himself. "I'm your second favorite, remember?"

The dream wavered around them, flickering at the edges. "Oh God." Malik exhaled. "I'm dreaming... but you're not a dream." He pulled back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." His face flushed. "I just thought..."

The human was stuttering.

How annoyingly adorable.

Oh shit. He'd kissed Zev. He'd kissed Zev.

Malik wanted to sink into the ground and disappear.

Unfortunately, the dreamscape around him followed his command, and the next thing he knew, a sinking feeling pulled at his stomach and he actually plummeted downward.

"Malik!" Zev’s voice was distant, already fading.

Malik’s body jolted as if he'd just missed a step going down the stairs, and then?—

His eyes snapped open.

His breath came fast, his heart slamming against his ribs.

He was in a bed, an unfamiliar bed, silken sheets cool beneath his fingers, the lingering warmth of the dream still curling around his skin.

He stared at the ceiling, pulse pounding in his ears, the sensation of Zev’s lips still there, like a phantom touch.

He lifted a trembling hand to his mouth. "Oh my God."

The realization hit him all over again, crashing down on him like a landslide of mortification.

He had kissed Zev. He had kissed Zev. In a dream, sure, but Zev had been real. Zev had been there . He had felt it. He had…

"Nope. Nope nope nope nope." Malik muttered, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face into the pillow. "I did not just do that. I refuse to believe that."

The problem was, refusing reality would not erase what he'd done.

Malik groaned into the pillow, muffling a string of curses. He would never be able to look Zev in the eye again.

A knock at the door made him jump. "Human," a voice called. One of the guards. "You’re going out today. Get up and get dressed."

Right. He was still in the Night Court’s hands.

Malik pushed himself upright with a deep breath.

There were bigger problems than Zev knowing about his pathetic crush.