"No. No, she doesn't. She doesn't hate you, Cole, she doesn't." Zahra clutched at his shoulders, then before she entirely realized what she was doing she'd twined her arms around him, face turned into his chest.
"She's the one who told me to save you," she whispered. "Cole, your mother wants you to come with me. She wants you to get away from this awful place."
It felt strange to say that with the familiar sounds of her home oasis wrapping pleasantly around her, but she knew that was just the dream. The real world where she and the drow lay was a horror.
"That's- that's why I've been asking you to come with me," she murmured. If he'd been awake, she could have been afraid to tell him of Kyandria's request. As it was, she felt like she had to. "I think- I think she loves you as best she can," she whispered. "She wants you to have a real life, Cole, away from them."
She pulled back and reached up to cup his face in her hands, her eyes searching his. "You're not your father. You are nothing like him, do you hear me? Even I can see that, and I've known you all of less than a week."
With a small sigh, she leaned into him, just craving the comfort of closeness, just for a few moments. "We could go to Serendipity," she whispered. "You- you could show me all that green..."