Chapter 26 Dream Man

Chapter 26 Dream Man
Ysara POV

I was dreaming when he found me.

Not the fuzzy kind of dream where things slip through your fingers, but the heavy, lucid kind that settles into your bones and refuses to let go. I stood barefoot on a shoreline made of starlight and glassy black sand, and the waves breathed in slow, patient rhythms. The sky was teal and silver, layered like mother-of-pearl.

Then the water parted. He walked out of the sea like a damn mermaid wet dream. Holy. Holy hells.

He was tall, with incredible broad shoulders. Sea-foam green hair fell loose down his back, damp and shining. His skin glowed warm and bronzed, faintly dusted with shimmering scales that caught the light when he moved. And his eyes… gods. Sea-green, deep and endless, like if I stared too long I’d forget how to breathe.

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Well. Hellloo sexy ocean dream man.”

He smiled, softly and reverently, like he’d been holding that expression back for centuries. “Hello, my Ravelyn. Sexy ocean dream man? I'll take it.”

Something in my chest clicked.

“You’re… real,” I said, stupidly.

“As real as the bond allows,” he replied, his voice like waves over stone. “I am Kaelion Aqualore.”

The name settled into me like it had always been there.

“You are my mate,” he continued, stepping closer. The air hummed around him. Around us. “I have walked your dreams since your awakening, waiting for the moment you were strong enough to hear me.”

I didn’t hesitate. Excitement flooded me, bright and fierce. “You’re a merman!”

His smile turned playful. “I am.”

“Oh my gods,” I breathed. “I have a merman.”

He laughed quietly, leaning in just enough that I could feel the pull between us. “Once we are fully bonded, you will have access to my abilities, my love.”

I blinked. “Abilities like…?”

“You will be able to breathe underwater. Swim as I do. Move with the tides.” His eyes gleamed. “You could become a mermaid, if you wish.”

My jaw dropped. “WAIT. What?”

He laughed again, this time deeper. “Is it not so with all your mates?”

“…Is it?” I asked faintly.

“Yes,” he said simply. “You mirror us. You share us.”

I stared at him, my brain absolutely short-circuiting. “So you’re telling me I get wings, claws, fire, and a tail?”

“Among other things,” he said, clearly enjoying this.

I shook my head, laughing breathlessly. “My life is officially fucking unhinged.”

His expression softened. “You shine brighter for it.”

He took my hand in his, and we walked together along the shore, talking like this was normal. Like we hadn’t just rewritten the rules of reality. He told me about the sea, about coral cities and living palaces, and about his evil bitch mother.

“She holds the Siren Seat,” he said quietly. “Queen Nerissa Aqualore. The Tide Monarch.”

I winced. “I’ve heard… things.”

His jaw tightened. “She is cruel. The court is cruel. Power there is taken, never given. I refused to become like them.”

“So you left.”

“I fled,” he corrected. “And when the Broker offered a cage far from her reach, I accepted it.”

My chest clenched. “You let yourself be captured.”

“I chose the lesser evil,” he said gently. “Until I felt you.”

I stopped walking and faced him. “Where are you, Kaelion?”

His smile faded.

“I cannot come to you,” he said. “Not yet. The Broker has me bound. Caged.”

Something in me snapped.

“What?” The word tore out of me, raw and sharp. “No. No, absolutely not.”

His brows knit. “My love..”

“I want you here,” I said, my voice breaking. “With me. In Etheryn. Now.”

The sky darkened. The sea surged.

“I need you,” I cried, as the tears spilled down my cheeks hot and fast. “I need all of you. I hate him. I hate the Broker. I hate that he thinks he can keep what’s mine. Fuck him!!"

Power answered me. Silver light flared around my hands, my chest, and my throat. The dream shook. The shoreline cracked, and the starlight splintered like glass.

“Ysara,” Kaelion said, awe and alarm tangled together. “Stop...”

“I won’t!” I screamed. “I won’t lose you!”

The world collapsed.

I woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright...and found myself face to face with him. Kaelion sat on the edge of my bed, solid and breathing and very much real, his sea-green hair loose around his shoulders, and his eyes wide with shock.

For half a second, neither of us moved. Then I broke. I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around him, sobbing into his chest. “You’re here. You’re here. You’re really here.”

He froze, then slowly, carefully, held me back. “By the tides… my love. You pulled me through.”

I laughed through tears. “I told you I wanted you. I tend to get what I want.”

His voice trembled. “You are far more powerful than I imagined.”

Before I could say anything else, the air shifted. Kaelion suddenly flew backward like he’d been yanked by an invisible force. I screamed his name as the door burst open and chaos flooded the room.

“What the fuck?” Wyatt roared.

Rafe was already between me and the bed, with his claws out. Darken swore violently. Tharion’s growl shook the walls. Kaelion hit the far wall and slid down, stunned but alive.

I scrambled off the bed, my heart pounding like a damn drum. “STOP. Don’t hurt him!”

All eyes snapped to me.

“He’s mine,” I said, fierce and shaking. “And I brought him here.”

The room went dead silent. I shot off the bed like a cat with a personal vendetta, hands up, palms out, trying to block four different flavors of male panic from turning my bedroom into a crime scene.

“Stop,” I snapped, my voice shaking. “Nobody touches him. Nobody bites him. Nobody growls him into a wall. He’s not the enemy.”

Wyatt’s silver eyes were lit like stormlight, his chest heaving. Rafe looked one breath away from shifting, his golden gaze locked on Kaelion like he was choosing where to rip first. Darken’s face was calm but his aura wasn’t, the air around him was thick and dangerous. Tharion’s wings flared, massive and sharp, like he could slice the whole room in half if he felt like it. Axis was a pressure in the air, a low reptilian rumble vibrating at the edge of my skull.

Kaelion pushed himself upright slowly, with his hands open, not threatening. He looked more stunned than hurt, his sea-green eyes flicking to me like I was the only stable thing in a room full of loaded weapons.

“I’m not here to take her,” he said quietly, his voice steady. “I’m here because she called.”

Wyatt’s jaw ticked. “You were in her bed.”

“Yeah,” I cut in, pointing at them like an angry teacher who just walked into a classroom full of chaos goblins. “Because I pulled him out of a fucking dream.”

Rafe stared at me. “You… what.”

“I was dreaming,” I said, the words tumbling out fast now, adrenaline making me sharp. “He came to me. He told me who he was. He told me he was caged by the Broker. I got pissed. Like, nuclear pissed. I demanded he be here. And then I woke up and he was.”

Darken’s expression cracked for half a second. “You manifested a person.”

“Apparently,” I said, gesturing wildly at Kaelion, who was still very much existing. “Look. Evidence.”

Tharion’s voice was low, rough. “A Ravelyn can pull through veils when her need becomes command.”

Wyatt swung his gaze to Tharion. “And you didn’t mention that until now?”

Tharion bared his teeth. “I assumed she would discover it the way she discovers everything else. By doing it. There is nothing our Ravelyn Queen cannot do."

Rafe raked a hand through his hair, looking like he wanted to fight a wall. “We thought he was a threat.”

Kaelion’s lips twitched faintly. “Your concern is not… unreasonable.”

Wyatt exhaled hard and stepped forward, stopping just short of me. “Ysara. I’m sorry. We just reacted.”

“I know you did,” I said, softer, but still fierce. “And I get it. I do. But if you ever throw one of my mates across a room again, I’m going to lose my mind. And not in a cute way.”

Rafe muttered, “Noted.”

Darken’s voice was quiet. “We apologize.”

Kaelion’s gaze slid to Darken. “I accept. But if you strike me again, I will drown you.”

Darken blinked once. “Fair.”

Wyatt let out a rough laugh that had no humor in it. “Welcome to the circle.”

Kaelion’s eyes flicked to me. “I was not expecting… physical rescue.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be a supernatural Uber,” I shot back. “Yet here we are.”

Then the door slammed open hard enough to rattle the frame. Kalesh burst in. He took one look at the room, at the tension, at my wild hair and bare feet and Kaelion standing tall by the wall, and he froze.

“Kaelion?” he breathed, like he couldn’t trust his own eyes.

Kaelion’s expression shifted instantly, something warmer breaking through. “Kalesh.”

Kalesh’s eyes lit up like dawnfire. “My friend.”

He crossed the room in three strides and grabbed Kaelion by the shoulders, pulling him into a fierce embrace. Kaelion hugged him back just as tightly, and for one heartbeat the whole room felt… human. Like brothers finding each other in the wreckage.

“How in the fae hells did you get out of that cage?” Kalesh demanded, his voice rough with disbelief.

Kaelion looked over Kalesh’s shoulder, straight at me, and a smile curved slowly and sincerely.

“Our beautiful Ravelyn decided I belonged here.”

Kalesh turned his head toward me, his eyes widening. “Ysara…”

Kaelion’s voice was reverent. “She manifested me physically from the dream realm.”

Wyatt waggled his brows. “She is so hot.”

Rafe stared at me like he was undressing me. “It's like she can do anything. Baddie.”

Darken’s mouth twitched. “It seems she is… inconveniently powerful.”

Tharion’s dragon pride rolled through the bond like thunder. “Our queen commands realms.”

Kalesh’s runes flared faintly across his forearms, his aura filling the space. He looked at me like I’d hung the moon and set it on fire.

“She is the most powerful creature I have ever seen,” he said, his voice hoarse. “We are truly blessed.”

My throat tightened. I hated how hard my emotions hit, how fast they turned into tears, like my body didn’t know how to do anything halfway. So I did the only thing I could.

I made it funny. I pressed a hand to my stomach as it growled loud enough to shame me. “Okay, cool, I’m a magical menace, great, love that for us.”

I sniffed hard, wiping my face. “I’m hungry.”

No one moved.

I narrowed my eyes. “I said I’m hungry. Feed me now before I stab someone in the eye.”

I paused. “Please.”

Then I batted my lashes. All six of them moved at once like I’d snapped a leash.

“Yes, my queen,” Wyatt said immediately.

“Yes, little witch,” Rafe echoed, already guiding me toward the door.

“Of course, my heart,” Darken added, calm and deadly like this was the most important mission of his existence.

“My heart-track,” Kalesh murmured, his voice softening as he took my hand, “follow me.”

Kaelion stepped to my other side like he’d always been there. Tharion stalked behind us, protective and territorial, his wings tucked tight.

I let them lead me. And I promptly stopped dead in the hallway. Because this wasn’t a house. It was a damn living palace. The corridors shimmered faintly like moonlight trapped in stone. Vines crawled along archways, and blooming flowers opened as I passed. The air smelled like rain and clean earth and something older than time. Even the torches weren’t torches, they were glowing stones that pulsed like heartbeats.

My jaw dropped. “Is this all mine?”