Page 53 of Avelina

I considered that. It made sense that he would be the dragon in the poem, even though I still thought of him as Bear Guy. And I couldn’t deny that Linorra and Lina were very similar names. “Okay, maybe she is me, but what if the point of that was to trick Seleca? That’s why Seleca didn’t know about my Protection because the book keeps saying how Connection is her ‘greatest gift.’ Maybe that’s what she means by ‘don’t misread’?”

“She probably just needed to buy us time,” Aaron said. “Seleca absorbed Precognition from your unfortunate friend, so my mother’s reservoir isn’t going to help us much anymore, but it bought us time for you to learn how to use Protection.”

“But that can’t be all,” I insisted. “I learned how to make the shield only seconds before I needed it. There must be something else that we’re missing.”

Aaron closed the last viewing panel and sat down next to me, reading the poem again. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe you’re the key in the poem.” He looked up sharply, remembering something. “Yes, I remember my mother saying that you were the key to helping me find my way back to my family.”

“I was definitely covered in mud and blood,” I agreed, cringing at how gross I had been. “And I helped you face your enemy earlier today, and then I sent Spirit out to search the empty house.”

“But if you wait and don’t misread, you may avoid a slaughter,” Aaron read. “So, if we wait here, then our families will be safe?”

I reread the poem a few more times, wondering if that was the only part of the book that applied to us. We had come upon an empty house and were trying to decide what to do. I had to think Aaron’s mother would have known that.

The rest of the book seemed designed to trick Seleca into thinking I only had a Connection reservoir, but now that she had Precognition, too, I doubted it would work. I worried our previous advantage, foresight, was now a moot point. I hoped that Aaron’s mother had a plan for that, but I didn’t know how she possibly could. At best, her gift would bring us to a draw. It was up to us now.

I put the book away and lay down on the bed, groaning as I stretched out on my belly. My feet and my back were killing me.

Aaron set the oil lamp down on a little table next to the bed, then sat on the bed next to me.

“Lina,” he said.

“Hm?” I was already drifting off. I was so tired I thought I might pass out before he finished his sentence.

“Lina,” he said again, a little louder.

I lifted my head, cracking one eye open to look at him. “Yeah?”

“I don’t want you to drift out of your body again.”

“Neither do I.” I set my head down and closed my eyes again. “But I’m hoping that was partly an effect of the jarring weed.”

“That may be,” he said, “but I think I should sleep in the bed with you so I can stay connected to you and make sure you’re still in there.”

I suppressed a grin. I’m sure he really was worried about me, but I had already assumed he would sleep in the bed with me. He didn’t need an excuse. “That does make sense,” I said. “You are very wise.”

Chapter Sixteen

Though neither knew it, Linorra and Syndeth had bonded in the way of their ancestors, before the dragons of Hartha had mysteriously disappeared. The more time they spent together, the more their souls intertwined like fibers spun into yarn.

I scooched over to one side of the mattress, then pulled the blanket out from under myself and kicked it down to the bottom of the bed so he could climb in. His warm body slid in next to mine smoothly. There were two other pillows, but they were both flat, so he stacked them behind his head as if he had done it a million times.

When he’d settled himself, he leaned over to place a metal plate on the oil lamp, then pulled the blanket over us as the light dwindled and went out. He stretched his arm behind me, and I turned to lie on my side so I could melt into him, resting my head on his shoulder. His incredible scent made me think about things I could be doing other than sleeping. I placed my hand on his chest, and he curled his warm hand over mine, connecting.

I had thought it would be pitch-black without the lamp, but the two moons shone down through the oculus, casting a pale red spotlight onto the floor next to the bed. There was enough light in the room that I could see Aaron’s chest rising and falling. I closed my eyes, wanting to just feel him.

My awareness slid into him easily now, and the moment it happened, I was nearly overwhelmed by how aroused he was. He wanted to suppress it, but his heart raced, and he had to fight to control his breathing. He felt me notice and realized, with embarrassment, that he couldn’t suppress anything with me right there in his arms. He was so hard that he would have to go masturbate somewhere or face another night of no sleep.

Sorry, he thought to me. I can move over to the other side of the bed.

Don’t. It isn’t bothering me. I liked it, in fact. I didn’t send him that thought directly, but I suspected he knew. What I really wanted to do was run my hand down the length of his body and find out for myself how hard he was. I smiled, pleased that I could make his body react that way.

He took a deep breath in and out, then lifted his head a little to smell my hair.

“You smell so good,” he whispered.

“I do?”

“Yes,” he said, a little growl in his voice. He took another breath in and out. It’s too bad about the shirt, he thought. I could feel the heat radiating from him as he thought about me in that shirt. I had to stick one leg out of the blanket to regulate my temperature, and he looked at it, swallowing hard. I resisted the urge to slide my leg on top of him and instead concentrated on relaxing every muscle in my body, one by one.

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