He wagged his brows at her and left, just as Keiran appeared at her side.
“Come here.” Keiran gently tugged on the hem of her sweater to pull her close, trapping her mouth in a kiss.
Her blood sang. Purging successful. She wanted to kiss him forever and think of nothing else.
Still, she found herself pulling away slightly to say, “I made it into the sleepscape.”
His eyes lit up. “And?”
“I couldn’t find Romie. But I have an idea. I’m not sure it’ll work, exactly—” The disappointment blanketing his face made her go quiet. “What is it?”
Keiran heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “We can’t go forward until we know what to expect beyond that door. Until we find the epilogue. It all hinges on you contacting Romie.”
“I’m trying, Keiran.”
“Not hard enough.”
He must have seen her flinch at the hardness of his tone. His voice softened. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying. It’s just that everyone’s growing restless, and with everything else… It’s taking a toll on me.”
“I’ll find a way,” Emory promised. She couldn’t stand to see him so disheartened.
He squeezed her hand with a smile. “Let’s hear this idea of yours, then.”
“I was thinking I could try calling her through the mark while I’m in the sleepscape. See if that might get through whatever’s blocking her from me.”
Keiran came to the same conclusion as her: For it to work, she would either have to activate the mark before she slipped into dreaming or bring salt water with her in the sleepscape so she could activate the mark there. But neither of them had ever heard of taking things into the sleepscape, only out of it.
Keiran was suddenly pulling her toward where Lizaveta sat with the two boys she’d sold the synths to.
“Hey, William. Question for you.” One of the boys, fair-skinned and brown-haired, lifted slightly glossy eyes to Keiran, who asked with smooth assurance, “Can you Dreamers bring stuff into the sleepscape?”
“Why?”
A shrug. “Call it academic interest.”
“I suppose it’s possible, though I don’t see why we’d need to bring something in. It’s taking stuff out of dreams that interests most people. Only one Dreamer I know of could do that as easily as breathing. Rosemarie Tides-damned Brysden.”
He spoke her name like she was a legend, and Emory couldn’t help but perk up with pride. She realized with a start that, before, such a comment might have prickled her jealousy. But now… she was starting to realize that she, too, had worth. She might have had a hard time recognizing it before, what with her living in Romie’s shadow, but not anymore.
She was a Tidecaller, something new and powerful. She wasn’t lesser than, wasn’t mediocre at all—she was just as worthy as Romie.
As the Dreamer turned to his friend in search of more party-appropriate conversation, Keiran gave Emory a knowing smile. They had their answer: if there was even the slightest possibility it might work, she’d make it happen.
But this was a party, and now she would have some fun.
* * *
“The game is called Kiss the Moon,” Lizaveta explained with a devilish smile. “You pick a card from the deck, and you kiss someone with that alignment. Then that person goes next.”
She pulled a card out of the navy-painted deck she held and flipped it for everyone to see. Silver waning crescents were drawn in the corners, and in the middle of the card was a cloaked silhouette with skeletal hands holding a scythe. The Reaper.
Virgil sputtered on his drink and pulled himself up so swiftly he spilled wine all over the carpet.
“Here, darling!” he hollered as he made his way to Lizaveta.
She rolled her eyes at him, though her red painted lips curled up in a smile. She pulled him closer by the lapels of his unbuttoned shirt and kissed him to lewd cheers and whistles.
Emory took a long sip of wine. The thought of being chosen—and worse, having to choose someone in turn and kiss them in front of all these people—was mortifying. Yet weirdly exciting, too.
Virgil picked a card of his own. The illustration was of a bright lighthouse, with the full moon drawn in the corners. Lightkeeper. He pointed at Keiran. “Come here, you beautiful bastard!”
Everyone laughed and hollered as Virgil grabbed Keiran’s face in both hands and kissed him firmly on the mouth. Emory couldn’t help her own smile as they finally pulled apart and took a deep bow to loud applause.
Keiran took a sip of whiskey before he reached for the deck. “My turn, then?”
Emory’s heart seized as he held up the Eclipse card, illustrated with a wilting sunflower, with the sun and moon in eclipse in the corners.
For a second, she imagined the scene playing out in her head—him coming over to kiss her, outing her to all these people who weren’t supposed to know. But the moment dissolved into nothing as someone shouted, “Pick another!”
“Unless you want us to go find the Timespinner?” someone else asked.
Laughter rang in Emory’s ears. A sick feeling crawled under her skin. She couldn’t make out the expression on Keiran’s shadowed face as he tossed the Eclipse card and reached for another.
He pulled out the Amplifier card.
Surely Lizaveta couldn’t be the only Amplifier here, but Keiran’s eyes immediately went to her. He cocked a brow. She answered with a feline smile.
“Well?” Lizaveta said, leaning back in her chair. “It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”
Emory’s stomach plummeted. She’d suspected a history between the two, what with their shared childhood and Lizaveta’s hostility toward her, but to have it confirmed…
It’s just a game, she tried to tell herself as she watched Keiran brace his hands on either side of Lizaveta. He lowered his face to hers, and Lizaveta bowed toward him like a starved plant under the sun. One dainty strap of her silky dress slid down her shoulder, her lips parting in anticipation.
Keiran moved past her mouth to brush a delicate kiss on her temple instead. His words were low, but everyone heard them well enough. “Best we leave the past alone, don’t you think?”
He drew himself up and discarded his hand. Lizaveta’s icy composure and sardonic smile never wavered, though her breathless chuckle sounded a little too forced as she said, “Your loss.”
Emory didn’t know what to think as Keiran walked away. He looked back at her before disappearing through a door. She followed, leaving the others to their game, suddenly disenchanted by it all. And then eager hands were drawing her into the shadows and Keiran was trapping the sound of her surprised laugh in his mouth and everything was right again.
“There’s the Eclipse kiss I was owed,” he breathed against her lips.
“Lizaveta wouldn’t be pleased.”
“That,” Keiran said, pulling her close as he leaned back against the shelves behind him, “is not what I want to be discussing right now.”
Neither did she, but still she asked, “Was it serious between the two of you?”
“We were young. Had our fun.” He caressed her face. “You’re who I want, Ains.”