Anton sighed contentedly as Jude dipped to kiss the freckle on his jaw.

He didn’t know how many minutes—hours—they’d lost to this gentle exploration, but an awareness crept over him that he wasn’t supposed to be here. He let Jude kiss him for several more seconds before gently easing away.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “I didn’t even mean to come here.”

Jude frowned at him, sitting up. “Where?”

They were lying in the grass below the pavilion in the Floating Gardens, dressed in the clothes they’d worn to the Nameless Woman’s party.

“You’re dreaming,” Anton told him. “This is a dream.”

A crinkle appeared between Jude’s eyebrows. “This can’t be a dream. I’m not asleep.”

“You are asleep,” Anton said. “But I’m not. I’m in your dream.”

“You’re not making sense.”

This was a conversation they’d had too many times to count, ever since Anton had first mastered dreamwalking. Sometimes, like now, Jude seemed to have forgotten they’d been separated two months ago in Behezda. Other times, he did remember, holding Anton close and whispering apologies against his skin.

But more often, Anton didn’t try to explain anything, letting the dream play out.

He didn’t know whether these nighttime visits made things harder or easier. He wasn’t sure he cared. Not enough to stop, anyway.

He drew his knees up to his chest. “I know it doesn’t make sense. I just … I’m not strong enough to stay away.”

Jude smiled at him. “Why would you want to stay away?”

“Because,” Anton said. “It just makes it worse.”

“Makes what worse?” Jude asked, concern creeping into his voice.

Anton reached up and combed the hair off Jude’s forehead. “Being apart from you.”

Jude frowned. “We’re not apart. We’re together.”

Anton sighed and leaned his cheek onto Jude’s shoulder. “You’re right,” he said, his voice muffled. “You’re right, of course we are. I’m just being foolish.”

Jude laughed, and the sound tore clean through Anton’s chest.

Anton opened his eyes to the dawn twilight over the steppe, Jude’s laughter still ringing in his ears.

He and the Wanderer needed to get on the road before the sun had fully risen. He knew she was already waiting for him, but he let himself lie there a little longer, imagining he could hear Jude’s soft breathing beside him, the way he had every night they’d spent in the mountains around Kerameikos. Maybe Jude was awake now, too, gazing up at his own patch of sky, watching the stars fade beneath the first rays of sun.