Page 90 of Cryptic Dreams

Oh god. “Then you…”

“I predicted my parents’ death almost one hundred years before it happened.”

“Zephyr, my love, I am so sorry that you have carried such a burden for so long.”

My mate gifts me with another soft smile as she stretches her fingers to caress my cheek. “It is what it is. I’ve dealt with this my entire life, the burden of seeing people’s pasts and predicting their future. I’ve just tried to do everything I can to stop it, even though it’s proven to be relatively pointless.”

“My sweet mate.” I lean into her touch, my gaze lingering over her face. To think she was a warrior before learning this was accurate, but now it is an ironclad fact.

I imagine very few have taken kindly to what I’m sure Zephyr voiced out of concern, and I now have a better understanding of why my mate led such a lonely and isolated existence for so long. To be burdened with such a gift—a gift of sight that is even more acute than my own—has made living rather difficult and unpleasant for her, I’m sure, and I can more clearly see how it shaped her into the female Zephyr ultimately became.

My beautiful mate felt as though she was undeserving and unworthy because she had been shunned for something she had absolutely no control over. Zephyr has had no choice in anything ,and she simply accepted it as the way things would remain.

“Until you.” She smiles. “You gave me a choice, helped me find my voice, and you showed me that my gifts are what makes me who I am.”

“You give me far too much credit, my love. I merely pushed so hard that the only thing you could do was push back.”

“You are not wrong.”

I lower her hand to the bed and begin tracing that lovely design in her palm, my eyes and fingers following it over and over again. “And you really see nothing when we touch?”

Zephyr sighs. “Nothing at all.”

“Not even when I’m balls deep inside of your delicious cunt?”

“Not even then.” She giggles softly. “But I’ve never seen my own future, not in any clear cut way, and since we share a life bond, I’m assuming that’s why I don’t see anything from your centuries of life.”

Which does make sense.

Our futures, our paths are so closely intertwined, woven together in such a deep and unbreakable way that any glimpse of my past with the possibility of seeing my future would indeed mean Zephyr would see her own. And since the Gods of Old are just as ominous and twisted as they were when they created Kadoc, I’m sure this was intentional and not some oversight on their part.

Cheeky bastards.

“When Atticus touched me…” Zephyr begins smoothing her thumb over my jaw the second it clenches. “His life hit so hard and so fast that I couldn’t actually see anything clearly, but it’s all there. Every horrible thing he’s done, every negative feeling or thought he’s ever had about you, and once I can make sense of it, I know I’ll be able to see what his plans are. Or at least what they’ve been up until this point.”

Which of course, has a bit of an evil scheme taking shape in my mind already, but it will wait. And it will only happen if my love agrees to it, because I will not use her or her gifts against her will, will not even ask my mate to do any such thing if she has even the slightest hesitation over it.

“Way ahead of you, honey.”

My eyes find her smiling ones and I blow out a breath. “I’m used to being able to read everyone else’s thoughts, but I fear it will take some getting used to now that you are able to read mine.”

“Lots of adjusting.”

“Indeed.”

“He really hates you, you know.”

I nod with a grunt. “I do, and it is mutual. There is absolutely no love lost between my sire and I, my mother either for that matter, and I must apologize for the way it will carry to you by default.”

“Oh well.” Zephyr shrugs. “I already hated them for what happened to my parents and it’s only more intense because of what they’ve done and are trying to do to you. You’re my mate, we’re in this together, hate and all.”

I smile a bit as I look over her face, my love clearly exhausted but more radiant than ever. “You truly are exceptional, my love. Exceptional and magnificent. A treasure I shall never take for granted.”

“And you, my wicked prince, are hoping I bounce back quicker by buttering me up so you can lay claim to me after being panic stricken the last few hours.”

With a chuckle, I place a kiss to her palm and sit up a little straighter. “While you are not wrong, my words are true. I never expected the gift of my fated one to come at all let alone so late in life, and not only did the Gods surprise the hell out of me with that, they also did by giving me you. I will never be worthy of a mate such as magnificent as you.”

Zephyr smiles again, one full of love as well as a hint ofyou’re laying it on pretty thickbefore she yawns. “You’ll get there.”

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