Page 10 of Night Fae

Finally, the sobs quieted to shuddering breaths. Malik's fingers slowly unclenched from Zev's coat.

He hadn't broken down like that in years. At least, not in someone else's presence.

"I'm sorry." His voice came out hoarse. "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry," he repeated. What had come over him?

What was happening?

Wherewerethey?

Had Zev said he was dreaming?

Malik studied Zev, whose expression was closed off. If the night fae felt any which way about Malik using him as a pillow to cry into, he didn't show it.

Malik inched away from him. He'd offered for Zev to feed on him before, but this wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. This was mortifying.

"You entered my dream?" Malik asked.

"Your nightmare," Zev corrected. "You were making it very hard not to."

That response did not help Malik's feeling of mortification. "I'm… sorry?" he tried to apologize again.

What the hell was going on?

He was still so confused.

"My father gave you a sleeping potion."

Vaguely, Malik recalled something like that happening. "I landed in Veridia," he remembered. "In the Night Court." A sense of dread accompanied his words. He'd read all about the Night Court in the web novel. He'd known it wasn't a good place to end up in, and he'd been all by himself too. But then Zev had showed up in his room… and then Zev's father. "He gave me nightmares?"

Zev shook his head. "He made you sleep, but you created this nightmare all by yourself."

Malik winced.

But who wouldn't have nightmares after getting captured like that?

The worst part was that he'd gotten Zev caught too. He remembered that now. "Did you free yourself?" He gave the fae warrior another once-over.

"Sadly no," Zev admitted grudgingly. "But I needed you to stop having this nightmare because it was very distracting, so I came to shake you out of it."

Right. Zev hadn't come to console him out of the goodness of his heart, of course not. Nevertheless, he'd come to help Malik. Putting himself in danger.

"What are they going to do to us?" Malik asked, making himself voice the question even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Whatever they think will break me fastest." Zev looked away, his jaw tight. "My father wants me back in the fold, and you're just a means to that end."

The dreamscape around them shifted, the cemetery fading into mist. They now stood in a blank, gray space.

Malik tried to remember everything he knew about Zev's backstory. Hishistory, he corrected himself. Zev was not a fictional character, after all.

"You said you'd rather be dead than call this place home again," Malik mused. "Because of what they did to your?—"

"Don't even say it." Zev's voice sounded sharp. "I've had enough of this."

Malik swallowed and shut up.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. Then Malik said, "The others will come for us."

At least he hoped that was true. Yuri had transported all of them here, hadn't he?