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Back Reverie Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

“People like you and me. There is no nice word for it in my world. To name it is a crime.”

Kane knew. He himself had lived a life beyond the true horrors of society’s many hatreds, but the one he could glimpse easiest into was the horror that would have been his own if he’d been born into a different place, at a different time, or within a different life. Dean’s life, maybe.

Kane scooted forward, unable to resist the need to touch Dean and confirm the boy was solid. Dean’s hands rose automatically to rest on Kane’s hip, the same place they held Kane when they’d kissed.

“It’s okay,” Kane said. “It wasn’t—”

Dean’s eyes flashed. “Don’t say that. It was real. It was real to me.” His hands tightened, and he pulled Kane closer, like he needed to hold on to him or risk fading away. Or apart. His shoulders shook under a weight Kane couldn’t see.

“I feel real,” Dean said into Kane’s chest.

“You are,” Kane said back. “It doesn’t matter where you came from, or how you got here. You survived, and you’re here now, and you’re real.”

Dean’s breathing steadied. “That’s what you told me the first time.”

He held on tighter, and Kane let him. Their past was an ache between them. A knot that wound tension and tightness through the space they shared and the skin they touched. Kane had fought to untie that knot and destroy it a few times now, but he knew he had to let it live. He couldn’t destroy the past Dean loved any more than he could unravel this reverie. It was real to the person who needed it, and Kane was powerless against that need.

Kane put his head against Dean’s, who traced infinity symbols into Kane’s temples.

“So you can’t teleport us off this ship,” Kane said.

“Correct.”

“And we’re trapped here until we land?”

“We are.”

Kane had closed himself to wonder when he’d entered this reverie, but now wonder was everywhere within in. Wonder about the vast dreams around them, about the bad power within him, and about the nightmares that raced ahead of them. In every scenario, he faced what came next with the boy before him. They would figure it out together.

Dean got Kane’s hint and pushed through his pain to sit up. He placed a hand on Kane’s jaw to kiss him. It felt very real.

Kane closed himself to wonder once again, turning away from all the world’s bad potential to face this one good thing. This was real, was right now. To Kane, it was better than real. It was fantastic.

Kane stopped wondering, and he kissed Dean back.

• Thirty-Five •

Last Call