I hadn’t realized just how much my hair had grown out.

  I stood before the mirror, observing the physical changes I had undergone since that day, so very long ago, that I had left my home cabin to follow a strange stag to a far-away place. My cherry-dark hair had grown past shoulders, losing some of its curl to newly-acquired weight. My face had changed, aged, and yet my eyes held a youthful spark they hadn’t before. A set of armor hung against the wall behind me. I wore a gown, periwinkle fabric, finely draped and tethered with sparking gold rope. I, Aster Fallowfall, had changed immensely since what I now considered the start of my tale, the initial event that led me into the life I was meant to lead.

  I turned to the large, fine bed the Guard-Captain’s guest quarters allowed me, a huge circular mattress of dark blue fabric with a silken lavender canopy hung over it. I blew out the candle and crept through the darkness to the bed.

  An easy sleep took me; I had worked hard these past few days, exercises and combat training leaving my body sore and bruised. And yet, as my body fell into rest, something active woke in my mind. A dream- perhaps- but it felt so real.

  I was back in Cervis’s floating palace, back in the dark bedroom, no moonlight coming through the window. I could barely see my surroundings, but I knew where I was.

  The bed shifted next to me. He had come and lain down, keeping his usual safe distance. This was a dream, I knew, and I allowed myself more liberty than I otherwise would have. I turned on my side and reached for him, finding his hand and grasping it briefly, trailing my fingers up, over shapely bicep, over round shoulder, to angular jaw, to cup broad cheek.

  “Aster,” he breathed in the dark, and turned toward me as well. His own hand found mine and held it to him for a moment, and then reached forward, trailing gently through my hair. The backs of his fingers grazed the skin of my neck, and I could almost see the details of his silhouette, my eyes strained hard against the dark.

  “Cervis…” I edged closer. This is a dream. There are no boundaries here. This isn’t real.

  I leaned close, my nose brushing his, the warmth of his breath on my lips. It felt so real, so lifelike, that I hesitated. Time seemed to move at a normal pace here, rational thought lived- but I had gone to sleep in the Kingdom Under the Ice, and I could still feel my aching muscles and myriad bruises.

  Cervis’s hand moved along my shoulder, back to my shoulderblade, hesitated on my side. “Is this a dress?”

  “Yes.”

  He laughed lightly, and a smile curved my own lips in response. “You finally wear one now that we’re apart.”

  “Your people didn’t give me a choice.”

  “My people? Are you with them?”

  “They’re having some trouble with dragons. The queen is away. I’m trying to help, so they can help me come save you.”

  “They won’t make it here- this place is far too hard to find.”

  “Surely they have something they can send with me. It felt important to come to them. Even if it is just to remove the dragons, it is good that I came here.”

  “The dragons… Do you have a plan to deal with them?”

  “Lady Strigga taught me how to turn into one. I will fight the broodmother in her own form.”

  “Lady Strigga is there? She’s banned from our lands.”

  I tried to focus on his words, but his long fingers continued to trail my side, my hip, my back, my arm, my collarbone, my hair. I relished the feeling. This is a dream. “The ban is temporarily lifted. She’s helping on promise that the People Under the Ice will allow her and her korrigans to take some bloodblooms back to the Palewood.”

  “They plan to restore it to its former state- it used to be full of bloodblooms, green and lively and flourishing. When the bloodblooms were killed off, the ecosystem of the forest changed. That’s not a bad trade. Was it your idea?”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “She named her terms. I decided them innocuous and confirmed the deal. She’s been training me all week, as has Guard-Captain Raelyn.”

  “Raelyn made it to Guard-Captain?” Cervis laughed lightly. His hand around my side tugged me closer to him. My knees brushed his calves. My thumb brushed his cheek. Cervis continued, “Good for him. When will the dragons be dealt with?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “And your sure your plan is the best one?”

  “It’s the best we’ve come up with.”

  “Stay safe, Aster. Please.”

  His forehead rested against mine, our noses budged against each other, close enough to kiss. His plea rang in my ears. This is a dream, I reminded myself. A beautiful, wonderfully realistic dream. Whatever happens here doesn’t follow into daylight.

  I leaned forward and touched my lips to his.

  I had never kissed a man before.

  Cervis tilted his head and kissed back, moving his lips to mine, warmth and pressure pushed against my lips. His hand tangled in my hair, and as our lips began to part, I kissed him again, again. Hands traveled along sides, faces, hair. This is a dream. The best dream.

  I parted from him finally, my breath short from having forgotten to breathe. He ran his hand idly, slowly, through my hair.

  “Aster…”

  I wanted to meet his eyes, to see him in his true self, but I decided it didn’t matter. This was a dream, and I could say this now, and then say it right in person someday- or perhaps not. Here, I was free. “Cervis- I l-”

  “I love you.”

  “-ove you.”

  The words overlapped. I smiled and kissed him again, and wrapped myself around him, one leg wrapped around his, an arm around his side, one hand against his back.

  “I know this is a dream,” I said. “But just for tonight, I would like nothing more than to lay here with you, like this, and pretend we’re still together, and pretend it’s real.”

  His hand ran over the back of my head, and he kissed my hairline. “Whatever you wish. When you wake, find a book called Ferensen’s Guide to Somnamancy.”

  “Whatever you wish,” I murmured, sleepy within the dream, holding him close and comforted by his touch. The heated skin of his chest against my shoulder. The soft, gentle caress of his fingertips against my scalp. The occasional light kiss pressed to my hair or forehead. This… This was heaven.

  I woke feeling refreshed. My aches and bruises were gone. My body felt strong, capable, healthy. Something in my chest seemed to cave in at the realization it had been a dream, that Cervis wasn’t here, but something else sang to remember the words exchanged in quiet dark, the warmth of his touch. A dream that made me sad to revisit reality, but the sweetest dream.

  Ferensen’s Guide to Somnamancy. My head tilted. I stepped out of the canopy and quickly swapped the nightgown for armor, taming my hair into a bun and preparing for the day. I moved down the ladder into the guest quarter’s living area and prepared a quick breakfast. This geometric, tower-like house was nothing like the tower I had lived in with Cervis, but it was comfortable and cozy. I quite enjoyed it. Today, however, would likely be my last or second-to-last day in it.

  After dining, I walked quickly to the nearby spell-book store. The man behind the counter regarded me as most People Under the Ice had: with guarded disdain and begrudging admiration. “How can I help you?”

  “I need to borrow a copy of Ferensen’s Guide to Somnamancy.”

  “This is a bookstore, not a library.”

  “Cervis came to me in a dream and demanded I seek this exact tome. Will you defy your prince’s wishes?”

  His brows drew together, and I raised mine at him, hands on my hips.

  “Well? Oh, come on.” I sagged. “I’m probably getting eaten by a dragon this afternoon anyhow. What does it matter if I skim through a book first?”

  He sighed, a most reluctant acceptance of my demands, and found the tome in question. He handed it to me and I helped myself to a stool next to the wall. I’d become quite the reader in my time with Cervis- and not just fictional accounts of heroes and adventurers, but actual factual writing. I flipped through the pages, trying to find what Cervis wanted me to read. Nothing jumped out at me during the first skim-through. I flipped back to the beginning, and tried again. When that bore no fruit, I simply flipped to a page and began to read at random.

  A few pages later I found it:

  How to Spin a Dream. Want to visit a far-away friend in your sleep? Need to communicate something without being overheard? It is possible to control what someone sees or senses in dreams, following these steps.

  So it had been a dream- but he had sent it.

  That caved-in feeling in my chest returned briefly, at the knowledge it had been real. All the things said and done in the dream- all of it had been real.

  My eyes welled, and I slammed the book closed and set it on the counter. “Thank you. Now, I’m off to fight a dragon.”

  Twenty minutes later, I stood outside the gate in full sentinel armor, three words replaying in my head: “I love him.”