“No, no, no, no, no,” Shey mumbled while shaking his head. This couldn’t be real. None of it made sense. What kind of dark magic happened that would steal away his family and his sweet Rayne? He sat on the cold ground and pulled Rayne into his lap, holding him with one arm behind his shoulders while his other hand pressed to the wound right through his heart. Blood seeped through his fingers, and a thick, wet gasp for air came from Rayne.
“I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. Please don’t leave me, Rayne. You can’t leave me now,” he pleaded. Each word fractured into tiny glass shards as it left his lips. He stared through tear-filled eyes as Rayne’s face grew paler and his eyes lost their focus behind his glasses.
“Shey?”
“Yes, love. I’m here. I’m never leaving you.”
“Ty…”
“What?” Shey tightened his grip on Rayne and leaned in as close as he could to hear his breathless words.
“Tyche claims the sky is green.”
Shey jerked his head up.What the…
Thunder crashed, shattering the world. In an instant, all the memories came rushing back into his brain. The secret trip to Damardor. Being captured and thrown into prison. Tyche. Tyche had said bad things were coming.
This wasn’t real.
It was a nightmare. He was still a captive in a secret prison.
CHAPTER 19
Tyche
“Rayne! Rayne!”
Tyche winced at Shawn’s agonized cries as he remained locked in the grip of a nightmare. He leaned against the wall that separated them and scrubbed a hand across his face, trying to shake off the last of his ragged emotions. His nightmare wasn’t nearly as long or traumatic—but then, Yesuntei’s powers didn’t have the same hold on him.
He didn’t know who this Rayne was, but it was clear that he and Shawn had some kind of past that the man wasn’t over yet. Tyche prayed Shawn hadn’t come here looking for him, because there was a damn good chance he was already dead.
A sharp gasp cut through the room, followed by the sound of clothes scraping along the floor. Tyche fell still, listening as Shawn’s breathing evened out and he groaned softly. He’d woken up.
“You okay?” Tyche inquired in a low voice.
“No.” A beat passed, and Shawn swore. “I’m fine. What the fuck was that?”
“Bad things.”
“Ty,” he growled.
“What? Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Ty!” he barked. It sounded like he wanted to knock down the wall between them and strangle Tyche with his bare hands. Unfortunately, Tyche was out of patience as well.
“What the hell do you want me to say? It was magic. I really don’t think I need to spell it out for you, right?” Simply saying those words out loud felt dangerous. The people holding them had been searching for any sign of magic, and they’d finally found a repository of it they could break. It just backfired in their face in a big fucking way. That was what you got when you were stupid enough to torture the Goddess of Nightmares.
Tyche sucked in a deep breath through his nose and slowly released it from his mouth. With his shredded emotions at least partially under control, Tyche began again. “You passed out and had a nightmare. Nothing more.”
“Except you knew what was going to happen.”
“How would I know what you would dream?”
“No, you knew that I would have a nightmare. That’s why you gave me that trigger phrase. To help me pull out of it.”
Tyche bit his tongue. There was nothing he needed to say. He’d seen the effects of Yesuntei’s powers on people who frightened her or pissed her off. There were some who struggled to ever escape their nightmare, while others never shook it off, convinced even the waking world was still a dream. He didn’t want that for Shawn. Not to mention, he needed the man to be recovered before those bastards brought Yesuntei to her cell so they could break out of this place.
“Thank you,” Shawn murmured, surprising him. He’d expected the man to continue being pissed at him for keeping secrets, but at least he wasn’t going to hold a grudge about that. But there were still plenty of opportunities for that to happen.
