Aster’s head felt like it had just gone over a waterfall. It was a different sensation than any other vision she’d ever had. She watched the scenes in front of her play back, passing her by at increasing speed. She saw Dem and Chloe moving in reverse, and then it was just Chloe, the movements going by faster and faster until everything was just a blur.

The room spun and wasn’t the room she had been in anymore. The bright colors, the flowers, the loom, all of it was gone. The room she was in was full of dark luxurious colors. Everything was sumptuously decorated with ruby reds, sapphire blues, emerald greens, and golds. A man was asleep on the large low bed in the corner. A thick head of dark hair was all she could see. The room tilted, and suddenly she was closer. She could see Chloe on the bed as well, her blonde waves brighter than they had been when Aster met her. The other woman ran her fingers through the dark silky strands of what Aster was assuming was Lycus’ hair.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Her voice was soft with a sorrowful note at the end.

“I’m awake,” a groggy Lycus murmured.

“You’ve got to get back before your dad knows you’re gone.” Her hand caressed his face and the dark stubble shadowing his jawline as she nudged him.

“I’ll just stay with you. We’ll find a way to deal with the nightmares.” He reached an arm out and wrapped it around Chloe’s waist, pulling her close enough that he buried his nose in her hair.

“Please, Ly, don’t make me be the bad guy. The dreams are bad enough as it is. I can’t take being the one to end this, to force you to leave.” Her voice hitched at the end.

He pulled back slightly. Blazingly blue eyes opened and locked onto Chloe’s face. “I don’t want that, either, but I also don’t want to leave you. I love you, more than anything, more than I ever thought I could care for another being.”

“And I love you, but you know that your father will only make things worse for us, more painful.” She leaned away from her lover, and Aster could see the center of the dark webbing on her chest as she began to rub it absentmindedly. It looked painful, the black lines tinged with a red outline, not like her own. At least, not yet.

“Maybe we can still see each other occasionally,” he said, the heartbreak evident in his voice.

“Maybe,” Chloe responded, but Aster could tell that she was just saying it to soothe him.

They were both lying on their backs, tears flowing from their eyes, almost mirror images of one another. Man and woman. Dark and light. The only thing that was consistent was the raw pain that radiated off both of them.

“If it would be easier, I could take your memories.” The words were quiet, but it was like a bomb went off.

“How dare you! The memories of us are all I will have. I’m not about to give that up.” Chloe’s voice was filled with a quiet fury.

“The offer still stands if it ever becomes too much.”

He sat up, dark hair flopping forward, hiding his bright blue eyes as he wiped the tears away. Aster closed her eyes as he went to stand. Even though she hadn’t met him, she still didn’t want to see her biological father naked.

“Ly, I—” Chloe’s voice crumbled under the strength of her emotion. The silent tears were now full-fledged sobs.

Aster opened her eyes to find a dressed Lycus cradling her against his chest as they cried together.

“Curse. Him,” she managed to get out between sobs.

The scene was heart-wrenching to watch. So much pain and heartache for nothing. Anger burned deep inside her at what her parents had gone through. Aster wanted to comfort both of them, but mainly she wanted to hunt down Phobetor and kick his nightmare-giving ass. What right did he have to break them apart like that?

On that thought, the world swirled again and she was back in the present with Dem and Chloe. The angle was wrong, though. As she began to push herself up, Dem’s voice cut in.

“Take it easy.”

She ignored him being overprotective and pushed up into a sitting position. Looking at Chloe, she said, “I saw you and Lycus talking. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Have you ever asked Phobetor to remove the marks?”

Chloe shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “The nightmares he gave me were torment enough to steer clear of him.”

“We should get you home, get Hal to take a look to see if anything has changed with this last episode.”

“Dem, I’ve only just met Chloe, and I feel fine. I don’t think we need to jump to the worst possible conclusion right off the bat.”

“He’s right. The marks are insidious. I ignored them for too long, and now, well, I can’t walk around freely, let alone sleep for more than a few hours at a time. His possessive, vengeful nature made this permanent. It’s why I couldn’t keep you. I couldn’t trap you in this house, tie you to me without your consent for your entire life.”

“Have you tried talking to Lycus?” Aster asked, unwilling to back down. There had to be a solution. She wasn’t willing to let this woman, who happened to be her birth mother, live like this when she so clearly longed for more.

“I can’t talk to him. It’s not fair to either of us. We both became too attached, too tied to one another, so when we were forced apart, the wound was deep and permanent. To talk to him would be stabbing myself in the heart.” Chloe’s hand came up as she unconsciously rubbed the darkest spot over her heart.

“Why don’t you let him take your memories, then? If it’s so painful, why not try?”

“Because as painful as it would be to talk to him, the idea of him ripping the memories of us out of my head is even more so. I wouldn’t know why I felt like half of myself was missing, or why I had these marks all over my body. Nothing is ever as simple as we want it to be. I’m just glad that you and I have had the opportunity to meet. I always hoped you would grow up to be the best of us, and from what I can tell, you did. You certainly have your father’s fire.”

“Sorry, I just want to help.”

“I know, but you can help me by helping yourself. Go and let this Hal person look at you, make sure you are healthy, and then seek an audience with Phobetor. Show him that you are uninterested in anything that he considers his, and maybe he will help you.”

* * *

“You just couldn’t let me enjoy spending time with my mother, could you?” she snapped at Dem when they appeared in his living room. If he hadn’t brought up getting her checked out, then they could have stayed and talked with Chloe more.

“Hal needs to look at you.” His voice was razor sharp.

“I’m not a fragile doll! I don’t break that easily. If I did, I already would have. This”—she gestured angrily to her marked eye—“is a walk in the park compared to everything with the Order of Talos.”

“That doesn’t mean it warrants ignoring it, or were you not listening to what Chloe said?” The question was a whip against the anger that was drowning her brain as she stormed away from him.

Everything was wrong. It had been for a long time. The last time she remembered feeling somewhat normal was the night she first danced with Dem. Once he came into her life, everything went to hell. She spun on her heel, the rage that she usually felt around Leonard boiling in her blood.

“You! Everything went wrong after you! I was working a steady job with an understanding boss, and then you came along and everything blew up.” By the time she finished the sentence, she was jabbing her finger in his chest. Part of her brain told her to back off, but the other part wanted to push him further, make him see her once and for all.

His gigantic hands came up and wrapped around each wrist, preventing her from lashing out physically any further, unless she resorted to kicks.

“It is not my fault. What happened to you is inexcusable, but if you thought I actually had anything to do with it, then you wouldn’t be here right now, would you?”

“You treat me like a kid, like a toy. I was fun to play with when I was new and shiny, but now I’m just boring and annoying.” Venom dripped from her words. She hadn’t truly realized how upset she was with him until everything started pouring out of her. The dam had burst, and there was no stopping it now. “I wouldn’t even care if it didn’t seem like you thought I was tainted somehow, like being taken by the Order made me unfit for you. I’m still me. They couldn’t break me, but you don’t see that, do you?”

“You cannot compare our first encounter to the way we live now. That’s not fair. That weekend was supposed to be it. We both knew it. Then the fates threw us together again, twisted bitches that they are, and there is nothing we can do about it. Oh, and I definitely don’t think you’re a kid. You’ve had my cock inside you. That puts you about as far from being a kid as you can get.”

A mirthless laugh escaped her at his comment. “You know, after you left, I caught a cab, trying to remember where it was you said you lived, because I’d never experienced anything like that weekend we spent together before. I sat there like an idiot while the guy yelled at me to either give him a destination or get out of his car, only to realize that you hadn’t let a single detail slip. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was? How hurt I was to realize that you hadn’t trusted me with a single thing except your body?”

The rage was seeping out of her now, leaving her feeling drained and vulnerable. She expected him to be mad, to put up that ice-cold front that gave her frostbite, not for him to kiss her.