In Her Dreams

by Bolryder, Terry

  “But—”

  The guy grabs me by the sleeve of my dress and this time manages to pull me a few steps with him.

  “Reve! Dammit! Do something.”

  Reve jumps down off his horse, but I don’t know if it’s to help me or to just come along for the ride because the guy with the death grip on my sleeve is already dragging me down a ravine toward a stream where the others are already undressing.

  I hear a muttered, unfamiliar curse, and then a crack sounds, and the guy dragging me goes flying, driven by the sudden appearance of Reve’s fist.

  “Dammit,” Reve says, stepping in front of me to face the rest of the men who are now running over to attack. “I’m sorry, I can’t go with your dream flow. I can’t be a villain when you’re in trouble, dream mate. I’m sorry.”

  Another man runs forward, and Reve throws a punch, breaking the man’s jaw as he flies back.

  Reve gets the next man in the nose, and he arcs back with blood flying out of him.

  Reve runs to me, picks me up in his arms, and sprints for his horse.

  He mounts it, ignoring the angry yells of his compatriots as we ride, literally, toward the sunset.

  The sky is streaked with dazzling oranges and reds across the deepening blue.

  I’m safe in Reve’s lap, and it just feels so good to be looking up at him.

  I’d taken for granted that I would always have him in my dreams.

  If I refuse to go with him, if I want to stay with Joey, that means I won’t have this amazing man.

  When we’re safe and he pulls the horse over in a grassy pasture where we can watch the sunset, he stops, dropping the reins and just holding me tightly in his arms.

  “Don’t dream without me, soul bond,” he says softly. “Don’t go where I can’t protect you. Don’t tell me not to keep you safe. It’s my life. My whole reason for living.”

  I reach up, brushing his hair back, feeling along his hard jaw.

  Damn, I love this man.

  “I want you with me,” I say softly, my heart aching. “But I have to be in my world. But if you aren’t there—”

  “I will be where you are, soul bond,” he says, lowering his face so our foreheads can touch.

  I can feel his hot breath.

  God, I want to kiss him.

  “I will stay in your world,” he says. “Or at least think about it. If you can think about mine.”

  “Fair enough,” I say, though I really hope it ends up being my world.

  His hand twists into my hair, and my hand knocks his hat away so his teal hair can blow back in the wind.

  As we kiss and the heat between us grows hot as the night air cools around us, I guess I’m just glad we found a compromise.

  Because I truly don’t know how to ever let go of this man.

  13

  Jen

  “Is this really necessary?” I ask, watching all three dream fae talking in the corner of the room while Joey bounces next to me excitedly.

  He doesn’t quite understand what the dream fae are, but we tried to explain some simple things to him. He still seems to think Reve is a superhero of some kind, and that works for now.

  It was difficult to break it to him. That he isn’t fully human. That I’m not fully human.

  At least for now, he seems happy to just have lessons in combat.

  “I have a whip! Yay! I’m going to whip the whole neighborhood!” Joey says happily.

  I send Reve a look, and he grins at me as he walks over to Joey, then takes a knee.

  “Whips are only for protecting those we care about,” Reve says. “Until you’re a trained warrior, and then you can use them for punishment.”

  “Like grounding?” Joey asks, cocking his head.

  “Exactly,” Reve says. “But that’s for parents, right? You’re still a kid. So what you need to work on now is building up your love so you have a good whip to work with.”

  “Love?” Joey wrinkles his nose.

  “Right,” Jerrek says, walking over alongside Lorien.

  Tess is on the couch with a cup of coffee, watching all of this with amusement. I can’t help envying her slightly, knowing things have worked out between her and Lorien.

  It’s just the two of them, and together, they can decide where they want to go and when they want to go there.

  I wish things were that simple for me.

  Jerrek holds out his hand, and warm fire burns over it. Joey gasps at it, and I take a step forward.

  But Lorien stops me with a look. “Kids often understand things easier than adults. Give him some credit.”

  Joey reaches out to touch the fire, but Jerrek lets it disappear into his hand.

  “The fire is our magic, which is generated by love. Then our ability to control that forms our whip.”

  Joey throws his hand out, posing like he expects a whip, but when nothing happens, he looks around suspiciously. “Where’s mine?”

  Reve laughs, then pulls out a long, black whip from seemingly nowhere. He hands it to Joey. “Here. Try this one.”

  Joey unfurls it and waves it a bit, and Reve just chuckles before taking it back.

  “Reve, that’s not your dream whip,” Lorien says.

  Reve nods. “I have three levels of whip I have trained. One which has no fire whatsoever. For punishment when it needs to be a little… discreet.”

  It’s the whip he used on Mark the other day.

  “My other whips are used to punish fae or to fight love duels.”

  “Love duels?” I ask.

  “You don’t want to know,” Tess says, shaking her head. Her eyes shine with love at Lorien. “I’m glad that’s all over for us. And we’re bonded.”

  He walks over to sit down next to her, putting his arm around her. His purple-blue hair is disguised to be dark and short right now, and his astonishingly beautiful face is full of almost supernatural love for his mate, as always.

  It’s the same way Reve looks at me.

  “Love duels are fought when two warriors claim to be a queen’s potential dream mate,” Reve says.

  “There can be more than one?” I ask.

  Reve shakes his head. “The Great Connector doesn’t work like that. It’s almost always a nightmare, lying about seeing their dream mate in a vision. It’s something rare. I guess they could be mistaken too. But when the whips are pulled out, the greater love is obvious by the size of the whip.”

  Tess snorts, and I share a look with her. Our fairies definitely don’t lose in any size competition.

  Especially in the bedroom.

  “Ew. Girls are gross,” Joey says, flushing. “I don’t want to use my whip for that. I want to kill, like, dinosaurs or something.”

  “Dinosaurs?” Reve asks, looking confused.

  “Big lizard things. Do they have them where you’re from?” Joey asks.

  “No,” Reve says. “I don’t believe so. But we have scarlaths and norgoths, which can be defeated with whips.” He kneels by Joey. “Honestly, the most dangerous creatures in any world are the nightmares. Because they look just like us, but their hearts are pure cold.”

  Joey nods. “Like bullies.” He rolls up his sleeve. “I like to beat up the bullies.”

  I put a hand to my face. “I can vouch for that.” We just moved to a new school district so Joey could have a fresh start.

  Before that, he threw another boy down the hill for trying to kiss girls who didn’t like it.

  I smile, thinking that it is a bit like Reve or the other fae.

  Lorien apparently killed a group of gang rapists. Neither Tess nor I got the details. I don’t think either of us wants them.

  Then again, I’m not violent like Tess, who has been acting as a minor vigilante ever since she’s been an adult.

  A tall, curvy, but strong blonde, she’s always been standing up for the little guy.

  I’m more the type to quietly spread love. I take good care of my patients and try to give anyone suffering or struggling a little ex
tra love beyond what my job demands of me.

  I feel like I’m making a difference one little smile at a time.

  But I’m not beating people. And I definitely can’t imagine using a whip.

  “I have one too,” Tess says. “Want me to pull it out?”

  “Can you?” Jerrek asks. “You have full control already?”

  Tess frowns. “I guess not. But it’s a super cool one.”

  “I bet,” Jerrek says. “For now, we better leave it to Reve. He has the best whip control. Lorien would be next.”

  Joey looks at Jerrek. “You don’t? But you’re awesome at Fortnite.”

  Jerrek laughs. “All dream fae have excellent reflexes. You’re good as well, Joey.”

  Joey flushes in pride once again, and gratitude wells in me for these men coming into our lives.

  I hadn’t realized how much a male presence was missing for Joey. I was so busy trying to protect him from a bad male presence that I forgot how positive interaction with good men could be.

  Someone to show an example for him.

  “Doesn’t Mom have a whip?” Joey asks. “Come on, Mom. Let’s train with it.”

  I shake my head. “No, no, I have no intention of whipping anybody.”

  “Aw,” Joey says, disappointed.

  “But I’m going to have fun watching,” I say quickly. “And hey, if it looks easy, maybe I’ll join up later.”

  Joey just shrugs. “If someone has to use a whip before you and I are ready, Reve can just kick their ass.”

  “Joey! Language!” I say, shaking my head.

  “I can indeed kick their…” Reve looks at me. “Butt.”

  I just laugh because it is a relief to know Joey feels safe with Reve here.

  Joey has never really been like other boys. Never really trusted other men after what he saw from his dad.

  I tried to encourage good friends but wasn’t very successful. Instead, Joey just became withdrawn. And I tried not to attack him for it. Tried to “give him his space,” as the psychologist I saw with Joey said.

  But I’m glad that these dream fae came into my life at the time they did.

  Because I’m seeing a new Joey now. One that’s excited and hopeful. Not grumpy and closed off.

  Reve ushers Joey and Jerrek out to the backyard, giving me a smile and motioning for me to join them.

  I shake my head because I’m happy to watch from here. It’ll keep me calmer.

  I do appreciate him not trying to wreck the house, though.

  As they go, Lorien steps over to me and Tess, wrapping an arm around her waist and cutting off our view of the other fae.

  “Are you okay with this?” Lorien asks. “I know things are moving quickly.”

  “Like you could talk about that,” Tess says, grinning up at him with her green eyes sparkling.

  “I know, but I learned my lesson. Don’t push people faster than they can go,” Lorien says. “And a young warrior is involved, so there isn’t time to waste. But still, his mother has first say.”

  “Do I?” I ask, laughing. “Isn’t he like property of the dream fae or something?”

  “Until maturity, no,” Lorien says. “His family would have say over what he does. He would already be in warrior training, though. Starting with whip basics, civic duty, battle strategy—”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I shake my head. “Battle strategy?”

  “Yeah,” Tess says. “I thought dream fae were all ‘trained in love and sex and romance’ and how to find the clit and all that.”

  I flush at Tess’s bluntness even though I’m used to it.

  “Perhaps I emphasized that because it was related to our courtship,” Lorien says. “But warriors aren’t trained in that until around fifteen, depending on maturity. Up until then, we do extensive empathy training, supported by the community. We study how to sense nightmares and those with bad intentions. Talk about the ethics of use of force and—”

  “What are the girls trained on?” I ask.

  Lorien rubs the back of his neck. “Ruling? I wouldn’t know. I’m not a queen. They go to more prestigious schooling on macroeconomics and governing strategy. Also, they study maps and territories and how to make their kingdom strong. They don’t have as much testosterone and don’t need nearly as much supervision as young warriors who often can’t think past their own hormones without training.”

  “Sexist,” I mutter. “Still, it’s been the other way around for centuries.”

  Tess grins. “I mean, women weren’t even allowed to learn to read at first. At one point, men decided women couldn’t ride trains without their uteruses falling out. I don’t like when any group makes decisions for another group, but honestly, I think the dream fae have it mostly right.”

  “You’ve been to their kingdom, right?” I ask.

  Tess nods. “Beautiful place. I’m still mad at them for auctioning Lorien, but he broke their rules by committing murder, and my courtship with him was unlike anything they had experienced.”

  “It’s still brutal to have auctioned him,” I mutter. “I mean, his sister was there.”

  “His sister didn’t have any say over the auction. It’s according to law that if a warrior commits murder, he will either be sold, if someone is willing to take him, or banished. She stayed so she could, at the very least, take him back to their kingdom if no one he liked showed up.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” I say.

  Tess sighs, folding her arms. “And considering women are still sold all over our world as slaves, considering women’s genitals are still mass mutilated in many countries, that women are shot in the face for things like daring to go to school—I can’t really care about some guys being trained and held to a higher standard in the fae realm. When half the population commits eighty percent of violent crime, they are the ones who should be watched and trained.”

  I cock my head because I’ve never thought about it that way. I love Joey. He has so much warmth and kindness about him. I hate thinking that anyone would judge him for only his gender.

  But at the same time, if I’d had a daughter, she would have been.

  She would have been told how to dress, where to go, and how to avoid being hurt by the men around her.

  I don’t have to teach Joey how to avoid danger from girls. He just gets to worry about Fortnite and growing up.

  So I guess I can’t be that mad about the sexism in the fae world. It seems targeted at training and helping the men access their full potential.

  “I mean, there are countries that still have mandatory military service,” Tess says. “It’s kind of like that.”

  Lorien shrugs. “I’m sure if we have problems with aggressive, murderous queens, we’ll deal with it similarly. But queens have stronger magic and generally more self-control and better judgment. Warriors like to fight. To protect. It’s in our blood.”

  I fold my arms. “Women like to protect as well.”

  “It’s different,” Lorien says. “Queens protect their communities. They protect the weak in general and everyone around them. Warriors, it’s a little more personal. According to our bonding, we grow more or less willing to fight. But by the time we graduate training, we are all ready to do two things. One, fight and protect our kingdom at all times. Two, find and love our soul bond, our dream mate, and, along with them, continue to build our society.”

  “They put you in a loincloth,” I say to Lorien wryly.

  His face flames bright red. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “How is that building society?”

  Tess’s expression darkens. “Yeah, that was fucked-up. But they did let me save him. And at least he wasn’t hurt. In their defense, they thought he went crazy and murdered five humans, and all they did was put him in a loincloth.”

  “Hm,” I say.

  “They said they needed to do their best to incentivize a queen to take on an unruly warrior,” Tess says, rolling her eyes. “But I think most of them just had
been wanting Lorien a long time, not believing he had a dream mate outside their world, and they took the chance they were given.” She leans into him. “And they won’t get any more chances ever again.”

  “Good,” I say. I spare a glance outside where Reve and Jerrek are still talking to Joey. Joey doesn’t have any whip out yet, thank goodness. “But those guys, you did murder them, right? In punishment?”

  “No.” Lorien shakes his head. “I applied reflexive punishment, and—”

  “In layman’s terms, sweetheart,” Tess says.

  “I used illusions to make them the subject of what they were perpetuating.”

  Tess sighs. “He gave them the chance to be… well, experience what they were going to do to me. Apparently, in the fae realm, their punishments include enforcing empathy, usually by showing them how their crime would feel if it happened to them.”

  Lorien shrugs a shoulder. “We all watch out for each other in the community. There are warriors everywhere, patrolling in daily life. Rape doesn’t happen. Warriors are taught from a young age that sexual urges must be controlled and saved for the appropriate moment. And that queens have full say in any contact with their person. And that hurting or touching anyone who doesn’t want to be touched is a crime. We have zero tolerance for anyone mistreating queens or warriors, and we all demonstrate love and respect for each other. So warriors and queens learn from a young age to respect autonomy.”

  Tess sighs. “We could use that training here.”

  Lorien bites his lower lip. “I’m just not sure it’s possible now among so many. You have criminals convicted of rape or murder that already have young, often who have been exposed to such cruelty. Your society depicts violence at every turn as exciting. Even Jerrek speaks of how most video games involve shooting each other in the face. Young warriors are deadened to violence.” He looks out to the yard. “I’m glad we found you and Joey when we did.”

  “He would have been okay,” I say, bristling.

  “I think so,” Lorien says. “With you as a mom, he could have escaped some of the toxic training boys are given here. I mean, people post half-naked queens over everything you advertise. Women are objects for consumption on everything warriors see. Violent and sexual images are available on every tiny device your children carry around. It’s astounding.”