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She knew such things went on, but as a rule the
    gods of dreams didn't betray each other like that—especially now that their emotions were gone. There
    had been a few over the centuries, but not many, and they had been an exception who had been hunted
    down and killed.
    Aidan narrowed his eyes on her, "Now tell me again how you can be trusted when you just walked
    through my door."
    She held her hands up in surrender. "You're right. You can't trust me or anyone else. Never in my life
    have I understood why people betray others. I don't guess I ever will."
    He scoffed at her words. "Like you've never betrayed anyone."
    Leta quickly countered with a simple question. "Have you?"
    "Hell, no," he roared as if the very thought sickened him. "My mama taught me better."
    "And so did mine." She paused before she added, "Actually, that's not true. My brother taught me better.
    And when we were under fire, he did his best to protect me no matter the cost to himself."
    "Then you're lucky. My brother sits in jail for his attempt to take my life."
    That unexpected bit hit her hard. "What?"
    "You heard me." His voice broke even though she saw no emotion except anger in his expression. "Didn't
    you read about it in the papers? For six months, I couldn't watch TV without seeing his face staring at me
    from his mug shot."
    Since she couldn't explain why she hadn't heard it, she simply shook her head "I don't understand. Why
    did he try to kill you?"
    He gave a dark laugh. "Oh, killing me would have been far kinder than what he did. He wanted to take
    everything in this world that I'd built. He was trying to blackmail me."
    "Over what?"
    "Nothing more than his own willingness to lie and people's gullibility to believe it. He said he'd make up
    everything from I was a pedophile to acts of animal sacrifice to brutality against women and children. He
    even went so far as to accuse me of mocking my fans and attacking the reputations of other actors,
    producers, and agents. No part of my life was spared from his lies and he didn't hesitate to forge
    documents or to lie to the courts or the police. Thank God, McCarthy-ism is dead or I'm sure I'd have
    been blacklisted and imprisoned."
    That didn't make sense to her. "But that's just stupid. Who would believe such ridiculous lies?"
    "Everyone who's ever been jealous because it's my face in the magazines and not theirs. Every person
    who can't believe or accept that someone can reach my level of success without being a total prick. Trust
    me, it's not the lies that hurt people. It's the willingness of everyone else to believe them. And then there
    are those who come out of the woodwork to back your accuser because it gives them the spotlight for
    three seconds. They can't stand the fact that you've risen above your past and that they have no excuse
    for never rising above theirs. In their minds, you need to be taken down a notch and they need to be
    raised a few, off the lies they tell about you. Because in the end, they know you, they've seen the real
    you, and by backing your accusers, they make other people think that maybe they were close to you—at
    least that's what they claim. It's a sick world and I'm disgusted with it."
    She flinched at the fury and hurt that bled from every part of him.
    He was right; there was no way she could argue with him. Life could be cruel and people were even
    more so. There was so much agony inside him that she should be grateful for the strength it gave her.
    But honestly, she wasn't. His emotions were so potent that they were feeding her even in this realm.
    And those emotions made her want to weep for him and the hard layer of ice that encased his heart. No
    one deserved such isolation. No one.
    Wanting to comfort him, she reached out and took his hand in hers.
    Aidan closed his eyes at the softness of her skin on his. It burned him to his core. It'd been so long since
    someone had reached out to him in kindness that he wanted to savor the sensation of her