“Yes,” he whispers back. “You need to leave now. You coming here is what She wants.”

“I am only in your dreams, my love, She can’t sense me,” I say to him as I stroke his hair. He closes his eyes in bliss at my touch and my heart aches for him and for us. I want him back desperately.

“Stay awhile then?” he asks me with his eyes still closed. He is exhausted.

“Of course,” I say. “I will come for you, Col

e. Just as soon as I can.”

“I know…he said you wouldn’t come, but I knew you wouldn’t leave me here…” He trails off as he falls asleep.

“I love you,” I whisper to him, hating Remiel for telling Cole that I would abandon him here. He has some explaining to do next time I see him. Big time. I climb onto the tiny cot with Cole and wrap my arms around him. He sinks into my embrace and I just lie there and hold him until I feel Devon’s essence tug on mine.

“Lizzie,” I hear him call me from a distance. “Lizzie, come out now.”

I don’t want to. I want to stay here and keep Cole safe, but suddenly…

I am yanked out of the dream reality and I open my eyes to find myself in the D.F.K. with a furious Constantine shaking me.

“Aefre,” he yells at me. “What have you done?”

“Nothing,” I say defensively and pull my arms out of his. I feel wetness under my nose, and I bring my hand up to wipe at it. My hand is covered with blood when I bring it away and I quickly put my other hand to my nose. It is bleeding profusely, no doubt due to the immense magick of the wards around Cole’s cell.

“Where did you go?” CK asks, trying to get his calm back, now that he sees me awake and alive.

“To Cole,” I answer reluctantly. “I had to see if he was okay.”

“Are you okay?” Devon asks me, handing me a tissue.

“Yeah, thanks for asking,” I say to him but with an angry glare at CK. I fall back to the bed and hold the tissue to my nose. “Fucking wards,” I mutter. “And before you yell some more, I only went into his subconscious. Tiamat will never know I was there.”

“We agreed you wouldn’t risk yourself or our baby,” CK says tightly.

“I didn’t,” I say and bunch the tissue up and throw it in the trash. Devon shakes his head and holds his hand out over it, and it burns brightly and then turns to ash.

Since when did he get so picky about cleaning up?

“Can’t be too careful,” he says.

“Look, I went, I learned, I made sure he was okay and then I came back. No harm, no foul,” I say.

“What did you learn?” CK asks.

“He is in a cell in the cave in the Underworld. The wards on the cell are designed to keep me out. It’s why I needed your help to get in, Devon. Cole said that She wants me to come for him, but I am guessing She wants me on the outside of the cell, as She expects the wards to keep me out of the cell itself. It’s a trap,” I say, stating the obvious.

“No fucking kidding,” CK growls at me and then closes his mouth as there is a soft knock at the door.

“I have to go for him,” I say, climbing off the bed.

“Aefre, no,” CK says. “You promised me that you wouldn’t do anything foolish again. I cannot allow you to go.” He stands up and I can see him get his power ready to stop me if I try.

“So, you just expect me to leave him there?” I shriek at him. “How can you possibly think that would be okay with me?”

“Leave it to Drake to handle,” CK says calmly.

“Oh, like he’s been handling it for days now?” I yell. “I can’t believe that you kept this from me. All of you!” I round on Devon now as well.

“Hey, I wanted to tell you, the others made me keep quiet,” Devon says, his own anger firing up. “You know how I feel about him,” he adds quietly.

Tags: Eve Newton Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net