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Seretis glowered. “He cannot create a dream link.”
“Sure he can,” I insisted. “He used to invade my dreams all the damn time.”
Bryce pressed his lips together then shocked me by taking hold of Seretis’s chin and forcing the lord to meet his eyes. “Tell her,” Bryce said, unflinching.
I planted my hands on my hips. “Tell me what?”
Seretis gave Bryce a look of deep chagrin coupled with unspeakable gratitude. “Rhyzkahl did not forge his previous dream links with you,” he said to me, subdued. “I did.”
Whoa. That was unexpected. “So that’s why you wigged out at Pellini’s ‘dreamer by the sea’ comment.”
His chagrin deepened. “Yaghir tahn,” he murmured and looked away. Forgive me.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You owed Rhyzkahl a debt?”
“I am weak,” he said, voice low. “I owe every qaztahl.”
Bryce seized his arm. “Stop that,” he ordered.
“Yeah, you need to listen to Bryce,” I said. “Just because you’re not a raging asshole doesn’t mean you’re weak.” Frowning, I tried to piece together his remarks. “I’m lost. If you didn’t create the link, and Rhyzkahl can’t, who did?”
“I do not know.” His mouth bowed into a puzzled frown. “None of the other qaztahl are able to do so, unless they have kept the ability well hidden.”
“Could a human have done it?” It was a stretch, but maybe Katashi or Tessa were fucking with me?
The look Seretis gave me said No, no, and hell no, but he answered with a more polite, “I do not believe it likely.”
All right, so that narrowed my suspect list down to non-humans and non-lords with arcane skills. In other words, most of the demon realm. “Since my abilities are gone, the dream link is too, right?”
“No. Such can be forged in any human, even ones without arcane talent,” he said with the authority of experience. “In the days when humans lived in the demon realm, I often linked with them. In this manner, I learned much of humanity.” His expression remained free of guilt, unlike when he’d spoken of forming the link to me from Rhyzkahl. Probably because he’d known Rhyzkahl was up to no good.
“Since my arcane loss won’t affect the dream link, what should I do if it happens again? Is it dangerous?”
“The danger to you is not physical,” he said, yet his tone grew serious. “The danger lies in what you choose to share with Rhyzkahl within the dream connection. It is quite real for him.”
“I punched him in the face,” I said with a crooked smile. “I’d be happy to share that with him again.”
Bryce let out a bark of laughter, but Seretis remained somber as he spoke. “It is up to you to initiate the dream visit. It will not simply happen.”
“But I didn’t this last time,” I said, frowning.
“In that instance, it was initiated by the one who forged the link.” Seretis shifted, uneasy. “When did you visit Rhyzkahl’s dream?”
I had to think about that one. “Thursday night. Um, four nights ago. I’m not sure of the time. Late.”
Seretis dropped to one knee and placed his hands flat on the nexus, closed his eyes. I resumed my seat on the quilt and mulled over the implications of everything he’d revealed. Someone hooked up a dream link to Rhyzkahl where I held the reins. Which meant that Someone had a secret agenda. And I doubted it was simply because Rhyzkahl needed to be socked in the face.
Seretis lifted his head. “There are echoes of Szerain here.”
I yanked my wandering thoughts back into place. “Szerain used the nexus on Thursday around midday. He was looking for someone or something that had him scared shitless.” I peered at Seretis. “You have any clue on that?”
His mouth pulled into a frown of concentration. “More recent activity distorts Szerain’s residuals.” He adjusted the position of his hands as if fine-tuning his reception.
“Damn,” I said. “Must be from Idris. He uses the nexus a lot. Or Pellini.”
Seretis remained in deep concentration. “Not Idris or Vincent Pellini,” he murmured as he continued to assess. “Demahnk.”
“Szerain took Zack away on Friday,” I said, puzzled. “I guess he might have come back here and—”
