“My mother was the last Dark Queen, and her death still hurts. Even nine hundred years later. She was the only one who understood me. My father was a full-blooded incubus, and he was her consort, a position like a husband in the Mortal Realm. He never strayed from the bounds of his position. They were inseparable until he died.”
“How did he die?” I’d never heard Sebastian so melancholy. What was it that I didn’t know?
“I don’t know. I was too young. It isn’t uncommon for a full-blooded incubus to die suddenly. Their powers are almost exclusive to the dreamscape. Any assassin could have killed him if he weren’t protected while dream walking. Glass cannons, they can cause incredible damage if they decide to, but they are easily killed by people in the physical.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know him well, but my mother knew him well enough to be able to teach me about my powers. And about my curse.”
Sebastian sighed. “I miss her, Rose. She’d know what to do. She’d know how to handle everything, and then we could live in the Dark Court in safety and peace. We could visit the village anytime we wanted without fear.”
“You don’t have to leave the village, Sebastian. We have to talk to Seraphina tomorrow, but then we’ll return here and live like we’ve been living. We’ll be happy here.”
He turned to me, his eyes full of sadness behind the mists. “I am the last of her line. The last of the strongest blood in the Dark Court. Seraphina wants you dead, but she wants me dead even more. She blames me for her husband’s death. Tomorrow, I’m going to give her what she wants.”
“I’m going to lock you in this dreamscape. Then, I’m going to break the portal before you wake up, and I’m going to give myself to Seraphina to kill. There was never a way to convince Seraphina not to hunt us. Not now. This is the only way.”
“No! You will not sacrifice yourself like some martyr to save me. That’s not the way that this works. Sebastian, I love you. You’re bossy and annoyingly male, but I fucking love you, and you don’t get to die on me. Especially not like this! Stop trying to save me, and we’ll figure something out.”
He gave me a sad smile and said, “It’s either this or Seraphina hunts us forever. Everyone you care about dies. Everything in the world that brings you happiness will be taken from you. No Rose, I’m not going to let you lose everything you love.”
“I love you more than anything. Including myself. My life has been one terrible experience after the next. Until you. You’re obnoxious and talk too much, but you’re also the only good thing left in my life, and I’ll be damned if I let you end up miserable like me.”
Tears began to fall as I looked at him. No! No! No! This was not happening. This was not the way that things were supposed to turn out. We were supposed to live out our immortal lives in peace in the place that finally felt like home with friends.
“You’ll find happiness without me. Enivyn, Sinivyn, Kasia, Cara, and everyone else will help you. Goodbye, Rose. I love you.”
He pulled me to him, and I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn’t open. His magic stopped me. I couldn’t even tell him how I felt about him. That he was my world. That I’d rather watch the world burn than see him do this. That I’d go through any kind of hell to keep him with me.
He wrapped his arms around me, bent down, and I felt his lips press against mine as he turned to mist and faded away.
The dream didn’t end though. I was left screaming, with tears running down my face, as I was forced to watched little Sebastian and his mother moving a stream of mist between them.
Chapter 32
Rose
I woke up screaming as I twisted and turned in the bed. My power clung to my skin, a shadowy shield coating my body. Eyes wide, I flailed in the bed, trying to find Sebastian. He was gone.
That bastard had purposefully ignored teaching me about dream magic so that he could do this if he wanted to.
On a table was one dagger in the hartskin sheathe. A second to my one. He’d left it for me. He wasn’t going to fight her. He was going to die. I screamed in anger and sadness.
Andryn broke open the door, tearing the latch from the wall as he came in, a golden sword in his hand. I pulled the sheet over my body. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he glanced around the room, his eyes trying to find the source of my pain before finally looking at me.
“Sebastian’s gone,” I whispered as the tears began to fall again.
“Yes, he said that he was going settle things with Seraphina. Isn’t that what the two of you had planned?”
I shook my head. “We were supposed to settle things with her. Not him. He’s not strong enough to protect himself against her. He’s not going to settle things. He’s going to sacrifice himself to protect me.”
Andryn sheathed his sword. “Did you think that there was another way? Seraphina will not stop hunting him. Ever. The only reason he is still alive is because he’d never given her a good reason to have him executed or assassinated. The Assassin’s Guild would never have fought him without a reason. He was their Prince.”
“She has her reason now. He didn’t assassinate you as she ordered, and he killed Nyx while Nyx was under her orders. Both of those things were worthy of an execution.”
“Now, unless you became responsible for him by taking the throne, she would never have stopped.”
“Then why didn’t he tell me that?” I screamed, the tears falling even faster. The portal would already be broken, and there
