Page 114 of Somnium

The sun had just started to dip below the city skyline as he climbed out of his car, casting the quiet street in a soft amber glow. A shiver raced through him, and he buried his hands in his pocket against the chill before he stepped onto the sidewalk and peered in for a better look at this mystery woman that had Sera so captivated.

Drawing closer, he was able to see more of her details from around Sera’s body, and his brows lifted at the sight of iridescent wings that fit neatly through the custom slits in the back of her coveralls. She wasn’t just a woman, but a shockingly edgy-looking faerie.

Stunning violet eyes complimented her bright green tresses, the effortless topknot accented by the silver hoops that decorated almost every available piece of cartilage on her pointed ears. Intricate lines of ink swirled and climbed over the skin of her left arm, disappearing beneath her rolled-up sleeves only to reemerge from beneath her collar and tangle in her hairline.

When he stepped inside, a soft chime announced his arrival, drawing the attention of both women. Sera strode across the space to meet him with a warm smile and wrapped her arms around his shoulder to pull him close in an affectionate squeeze. She stepped back, looking up at him warily.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked.

Elias lifted his shoulders as he slipped out of his jacket. “Better. Still not great.”

The sigil she had given him still sat on the coffee table where he’d left it the night before. Its design had worked just as Sera described, but it had been useless against the agony of missing Cadi.

Sera nodded, pressing her lips together in a look that told him she understood the deeper meaning behind his response. His hand drifted to rub the back of his neck. The pity in her gaze left him feeling significantly more exposed than he was comfortable with.

“How’s the plan coming?” he asked, desperate to shift her focus to something that wasn’t him.

Sera pulled in a tight breath as she lifted a single shoulder. “It’s coming. You know I can’t tell you much more than that though. Sorry, dude.”

Elias nodded. Even though he understood why, he didn’t love that the others had to keep their progress on lockdown when he was around. Until the sigil Sera had made was magically and physically linked to him, they couldn’t risk him knowing any information that could put their plans at risk if his current defenses against Oneirios failed.

Just then, a small, pointed cough pulled his attention down to where he found himself staring at the beaming smile of Sera’s new friend.

“Shit! Sorry,” Sera said, “Elias, this is Mona.”

Mona was easily over a foot shorter than him, but with a rapid flutter of her wings, she lifted off the ground to meet his eyes. Before he knew what was happening, she darted forward and pressed a quick kiss to each cheek. Elias froze, every one of his muscles locking at the unexpected affection.

“Pleased to meet you, Eli,” she said in a deep western drawl, her voice smooth and unhurried. “Sera here just goes on about you. If I weren’t such a confident girl, I’d have half a mind to be jealous.”

She winked, her playful demeanor soothing his tension and instantly stirring a soft chuckle. Mona turned, gave Sera’s ear a flirtatious tug, and then flitted away to the shop’s back room.

“Oh, I like her,” Elias said.

“Me too,” Sera murmured, her eyes still watching the swinging door where Mona had disappeared. There was a sparkle there that Elias knew well. It was the same one he felt stir in his own eyes each time he looked at Cadi.

The pain in his chest grew, the reminder landing like a punch to the gut, but he couldn’t let that show. Not right now. His friend was happy and he’d be damned if he was the one to dilute that with his own problems. So instead, he worked his mouth into a teasing smirk.

Sera’s gaze flicked to his, and she answered his sly expression with a roll of her eyes and a punch to his arm.

“Shut the fuck up,” she said, but Elias didn’t miss the joy that lingered in her voice.

When the door chimed again behind them, the sound sent Elias’s heart slamming into his ribs. Mona had closed down the shop for this, so he knew it wasn’t a random customer walking in for a jewelry cleaning.

His shoulders dipped when he turned to see Kai at the threshold. He wasn’t surprised, Sera had told him the other god had basically insisted on joining them, but that didn’t lessen the disappointment that it hadn’t been⁠—

Kai stepped aside as he cast a vigilant glance toward either end of the street, then guided Cadi into the store with a protective hand steady at her back.

Elias’s fists clenched at his sides. He wasn’t jealous—no, this was far more than any jealousy he had ever experienced. This was the deep gnawing that came with the unbearable reminder that another man had to step in where he couldn’t. The pain of knowing that it should have been him at her side, guiding her, protecting her.

A sudden pressure at his arm made him flinch, and Sera’s powerful presence beside him pulled him back from the edge.

“Take a breath, dude,” she said, giving his arm a firm squeeze. “He’s on our team, remember?”

Elias nodded, and let his lungs fill slowly, focusing on the feeling of them expanding in his chest to rein himself in. “I know, it’s just—that should be me.”

Sera leaned close, her gaze gentle yet firm. “It will be again. I have a good feeling about this.”

The muscles in his jaw tensed. While well intended, her words felt empty against everything that still stood in front of him like a towering mountain that he had only just begun to climb.