Stealing Kathryn by Jacquelyn Frank Page B

precious creature that his sister said he could not have, that he had to give back. Everything about that idea felt wrong to him. And he wasn’t standing there in a haze of rage and stupidity, letting it cloud his thinking. In fact, he had not felt such true clarity in many, many years.
    She was a fighter, and in her heart she yearned for great adventure. He could give that to her. More than she’d ever dreamed. Unfortunately, it would mean she could never see her family again. But she would get over that, he thought with a dismissive nod.
    It was the alternative that could not be tolerated. Let her go? Let her fade away into obscurity in a world that didn’t appreciate the first thing about her, a world full of people who could not see the wondrousness of who she was or relish the innocence inside her?
    No.
    Adrian couldn’t stomach the way it made him feel just to think of it. So yes, the more he thought on it, the more clear his purpose of mind became. He was sorry for what must come and all the pain it would cause, but his soul screamed at the idea of leaving her behind, and he could not tolerate it. Even now he wanted to roar with fury at the feelings it garnered, but he didn’t want to do anything that would draw attention to what he was about to do.
    Aerlyn must not be made aware until the last possible second.
    Adrian’s consciousness transferred out of the dream and into his real body. He took a deep, silent breath at the change, then looked around. He was in the environs of his mirror just as his sister was in the environs of hers. They could not cross into each other’s mirrors without causing themselves excruciating pain. Hers was a focus of all that was good and light; his—well, his was truly the stuff of nightmares. As good and clean as Aerlyn was, she couldn’t mentally or physically cope with the heavy blackness of his mirror.
    And the only way Kathryn could safely do so was through her own nightmares.
    So while they manipulated the dream world, they stayed in their respective mirrors and Kathryn’s physical body lay on a stone table directly between the two rooms they used. When he saw her there curled up in a fetal position and shivering, he cursed himself and his sister. The stone had leached all the warmth from her body and she must be freezing. Cronos had been refused permission to touch her or to even come near her. Otherwise he might have thought to throw a blanket on her. But there was no telling with Cronos. The little mongrel might have sat there enjoying every minute of Kat’s suffering. The very idea broiled Adrian with flames of anger.
    Wait…wait…softly, now. Do nothing to attract attention or you will lose her forever.
    Telling himself this forced him to calm down and control himself, something he never would have done before, never even would have been capable of. But Adrian didn’t mark the change in his control. He just used it as he planned to betray both of the women currently in his life. He walked up to the stone table and peered down at his deeply sleeping treasure. She would not awaken because of the sleeping spell she was under. It was part of his and Aerlyn’s powers, the ability to draw people deeper and deeper into sleep. Now he checked her and felt the theta waves of her deepest sleep state rolling over him like a blanket. Then he reached out and ringed one clawed hand beneath her neck and shoulders and the other under her knees.
    Then he carried her to his mirror, and without a moment’s hesitation he stepped through.
    The darkness of the portal lashed at his good-hearted burden with stinging, painful power. It wanted to suck the white and light out of her, wanted to destroy the innocence. Like trying to nibble on a food it was allergic to, it nibbled at Kathryn. The agony jolted her out of her sleep, as he’d expected. She gasped as the pain rode through her, but she screamed when she saw his face and realized he was holding her.
    “It’s just a dream. It’s