Chapter 18 #3
He pauses, and I stop too, looking up at him with curiosity. “You know why, Cora.”
I swallow, not just from the intensity in his voice, but because of the answer. “Adric,” I say. “He brings me there.”
“Yes.” Chase slides his hands into his pockets. “He does.”
“And all those creatures? They live in the Nightmare Realm?”
He nods. “Some are simply citizens of that realm. Others are part of his royal guard.”
“Like the woman with the long hair.”
“Oh, yes,” he says. “She is probably his most loyal subject.”
We walk in silence as we approach Hamilton Hall, its familiar brick facade looking almost mundane after the otherworldly experience at Griffin’s.
Students are still moving in and out of the building despite the late hour, their voices carrying across the night air. I don’t see Tia, but Mr. Griffin holds up his phone as he heads back toward his shop. A second later, Chase’s phone chimes.
He glances at the screen. “Tia said to tell you she’s with Riley. They’re going to find coffee.”
I grin. Good for Tia. Plus, it’s rare to have alone time in a shared dorm room. So I should be eager to go up.
Except I’m not.
As we cross under the shadow of the Widow Maker, Chase pulls me to a stop.
“What?” I ask.
He shrugs, looking almost boyish. “I guess I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Tonight was kind of intense.”
“It was,” I say, suddenly aware of my entire body. Because, honestly? I want it to get much more intense.
He reaches out, then curls a strand of my hair around his finger. “You’re amazing, Cora. I’ve known that for longer than you can imagine.”
I bite my lower lip, not sure what to say. I’m attracted to this guy—like seriously, wildly attracted—but it’s weird too, because he knows me more from a world that still seems like a dream—not an actual dimension that truly exists in our reality.
But right now, he’s standing here, his warm palm sliding from my hair over my shoulder, then down the bare skin of my arm. He’s flesh and blood.
And yet he’s so much more.
Apparently, so am I.
I tilt my head to look into his eyes. “Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything,” he says. “Whether or not I answer is a different question.”
I smirk, but I also know he means it. There are things he’s not telling me, and I have to trust those secrets will be revealed in time.
Right now, it’s not me I want to know about.
It’s him. This man I’m drawn to more intensely than anyone I’ve ever known.
And not because he saved my life, and not because he’s gorgeous, and not because he looks at me with that expression that suggests he’s just one heartbeat away from losing it and pulling me close to him.
It’s not any of those things, and at the same time it is. It’s all of them together. And it’s his courage, his persistence. Everything I’ve seen him do in the Nightmare Realm over and over and over again.
He’s saved me from Adric’s minions so many times, and though I know that’s his duty, it feels like more than that.
It feels like he’s protecting what’s his. Me.
I don’t know what to do with that, though. I’ve never had a serious boyfriend. Or any boyfriend for that matter. And I’ve surely never been the prey of an interdimensional king.
My life has gotten very, very strange. And, weirdly, Chase is one of the rocks that is keeping me steady through all of it, even though he’s smackdab in the center of it.
“Hey,” he says, releasing my hair. “Deep thoughts?”
“Not that deep,” I say. “But I do want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“When we were in the library construct, you started to tell me something about Adric. About how he’s connected to you.
I know Mr. Griffin said it’s dangerous knowledge, but…
” I meet his eyes, seeing my own uncertainty reflected there.
“I’m already in danger. Isn’t it worse to face threats I don’t understand? ”
Chase runs a hand through his dark hair, a gesture I’m beginning to recognize as a sign that he’s debating himself. “You’re right. But remember what we talked about? Some truths, once you know, you can’t unknow them. They will change how you see everything.”
“Maybe I need to see things differently.”
He studies my face in the lamplight, and I can see him weighing his words. “Adric isn’t just the king of the Nightmare Realm. He’s… Well, he and I share a connection that goes back centuries. Oh, hell, it goes back millennia.”
The weight of that word settles over me. Chase looks like he’s only a few years older than me, and I can’t quite wrap my mind around how old he must truly be.
As if he can hear my thoughts, the corner of his mouth quirks up. “Yeah,” he says. “Our fates have been intertwined for longer than you can imagine. And I look damn good for my age.”
I laugh. “You really, really do.”
His mouth twitches, and he gently brushes the pad of his thumb over my lower lip, making my body tingle with raw, pure desire.
“Do you really want to date an older man?” His voice is like a low flame, safe, but also able to burn.
I feel a squeeze around my heart. “Yeah,” I say. “Absolutely.”
For a moment, I see something wonderful on his face, in his eyes. Then a shadow falls, fast and hard, like a curtain blocking everything.
“Cora.” My name is laced with pain. “Cora, there are things you don’t know. About me. About Adric. Hell, about you.”
I take his hand, reveling in the tingle of that familiar connection. “Then tell me. Start with the connection you have with him, because I’m thinking that’s the heart of everything, isn’t it?”
I see the shock in his eyes, but before he can answer, his phone buzzes. He glances at it, frowning. “Whistler. He’s found signs of mare activity near the north entrance to campus.”
And that’s it.
The moment breaks, reality crashing back over us as the supernatural world I’ve only just learned actually exists intrudes on us once more.
“We should get you inside,” Chase says, taking my elbow and leading me toward the dorm. But I don’t want the night to end with another interrupted conversation and another wall between us. So as he holds the door open for me, I draw in a breath and blurt, “Walk me to my room?”
He hesitates, then nods, and we make our way through the lobby and up to the third floor. The hallway is empty, most students either asleep or out at late-night study sessions.
When we reach my door, I turn to face him, hyper-aware of how close we’re standing in the narrow hallway. And how much closer I want to be.
“Thank you,” I say, suddenly shy despite my earlier boldness. “For tonight, for the training, for everything.”
“You don’t need to thank me for doing my job.”
I tilt my head, studying his face. “So that’s all this is? Your job?”
“You know it’s not.” His words are whisper soft. He reaches out, then runs a lock of my hair through his fingers. “It stopped being just a job a long time ago.”
My heart skips at the confession. “When?”
“The first time I saw you in the Nightmare Realm. You were fifteen, having a particularly brutal nightmare after losing your mother. You were so scared—surrounded by monsters—but you never gave up, never stopped looking for a way out.” His voice grows soft with memory.
“I was there just to observe. To gather intelligence about your developing abilities. But when I saw you in danger…”
“You couldn’t help yourself,” I finish, a tease in my voice to lighten the moment and settle the butterflies in my stomach.
“I couldn’t let anything happen to you.” His voice is low. Raw. And the butterflies start dancing again. I take a step closer.
“Chase,” I whisper.
“This is a bad idea,” he says, but he doesn’t move away.
“Why?”
“Because I’m supposed to—well, I’m not supposed to complicate your life—or mine, for that matter—with…” He gestures vaguely between us.
“With what? Feelings?”
“Pretty much.”
“What if they make you fight harder to keep me safe?”
He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. More like irony. “You don’t understand the position you’re in, Cora. The forces that want to use you, the power you represent.”
“No,” I say, rising on my toes. “I don’t.” And then I press my lips to his. Way bolder than I’ve ever been in my life, but it feels really, really good.
For a moment, he freezes, caught between surprise and desire. Then his arms come around me, pulling me flush against him as he deepens the kiss with a hunger that confirms he’s been thinking about this as much as I have.
His lips are warm and sure, moving against mine with a passion that makes my knees weak. And that sizzle that’s always between us explodes into something much more intense, tingling through my entire body and leaving me breathless.
When we finally break apart, we’re both breathing hard.
“Cora,” he murmurs against my forehead, his voice rough with emotion. “We shouldn’t—”
“No,” I fist my hand in his shirt. “Don’t say it. Don’t back off when neither of us wants you to.”
“Dammit, Cora—”
I press a fingertip to his lips, then speak before I can talk myself out of it. “I know it’s complicated. I know there are things you’re not telling me, dangers I don’t understand. But Chase…whatever happens—whatever we have to face—I don’t want to face it wondering what this could have been.”
He closes his eyes and draws a breath, and in the seconds that pass, my heart pounds so hard I think it’ll break a rib. Then he looks at me, his golden eyes searching my face. “I’m trying to find the words to say no. But dammit, Cora. I can’t.”
Then he’s kissing me again, softer this time but no less intense. When we part, we’re both breathing hard.
“We’ll figure this out,” he promises. “Whatever it takes, whatever the cost—I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” I say, and I realize I do know. Despite all the secrets, despite the supernatural chaos swirling around us, I trust this man with my life.
“I should go,” he says reluctantly. “Whistler’s waiting, and you need rest before tomorrow’s session.”