Page 148 of Barbi and the Villain

I squeak aloud as I scramble away. But just as I’m about to fall, he catches me, pulling me on top of his body and cradling me to his chest. The beats of his heart are loud and clear. I hold my breath for a moment, and our heartbeats are fully aligned.

We beat to the same rhythm.

“You are so small,” he murmurs in my hair. “You fit perfectly to my side.”

“Is that your way of trying to charm me, Nykander?” I raise a brow as I roll onto my belly. Still on his chest, I place my hands under my chin and watch him with a silly smile on my face.

“Is it working?”

“I don’t know. Is it?” I ask mischievously.

“Hmm, what if I try this?” he muses as he leans in, brushing his lips against my forehead.

“I think you need to try more,” I murmur breathlessly.

“This?” he asks, kissing my nose.

I giggle at the ticklish feeling, squirming around until I fall to the side. But he wastes no time in pulling me closer to him.

“Did you sleep well while I was gone?”

My brows furrow. Fragments of my unsettling dream come back to me.

“I had a strange dream,” I mention.

“Another?”

“This one was even weirder. I was there, but no one could see me. Well, no one except this lady that said ‘You should not be here’ in an outraged tone.”

“What sort of dream was that, Barbi?”

“I honestly don’t know.” I take a deep breath. “There were two women in the dream. One was named Lispera and one Herwa.”

His body freezes.

“Did you say Lispera?”

I nod. “Do you know who that is?”

“Was,” he corrects, his eyes wide with shock. “She was the Aperite Supreme who sealed off Tartareia seven thousand years ago.”

“But… How would I know about that?”

He shakes his head.

“Precisely. How would you know about it?”

“And Herwa?”

“I am not familiar with that name. But Lispera is infamous; or famous, depending on who you ask. She was one of the strongest if not the strongest Supreme in generations.”

“Did she have kids?”

“Not that I know of. She was unmarried, and Aperites frown upon children born out of wedlock. She was betrothed to another Supreme at some point, though.”

“Oh. I wonder why I would dream about her of all things.”

“Maybe it is a message.”

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