Page 100 of Cursed Dreams
Thalia swallowed against the lump in her throat, blinking back unexpected tears.
“You make me feel like I was never truly alive before now,” he said, his thumb tracing the curve of her cheek. “Like I’ve spent centuries just waiting for this. For you.”
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Caelum caught it with his lips; a kiss so tender it made her breath catch. She buried her face in his shoulder, breathing him in, the scent of forest and storm, uniquely his. Her hand drifted over his side, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest, the smoothness of his skin, the strength beneath it.
“I didn’t know…” she began, then faltered. “I didn’t know it could feel like this. Like… more than just my body. Like you touched something inside me.”
Caelum pulled her closer, rolling slightly so she was half-curled on top of him, her body moulded against his.
“I know,” he whispered. “Because you touched the same place in me.”
They lay like that for what felt like a stolen eternity, no words needed as fingers brushed and lingered, as hearts calmed and breathing evened. Every touch grew languid, tender, an intimate exploration of what had just bloomed between them.
Thalia lifted her head at last, gazing down at him, her fingertips brushing along the line of his jaw. “Caelum,” she whispered. He looked up at her, eyes glowing with something ancient and infinite.
But before she could speak the question pressing at her lips, the world around them began to shift. The edges of the forest flickered, like a flame in wind. The air grew colder. Thalia's heart lurched.
“No,” she shook her head, panic rising. “Not yet…”
“No,” Thalia whispered again, her voice trembling. “Please—please not yet.”
The forest around them began to flicker, dimming at the edges like twilight seeping through paper. The light between the trees thinned, curling like smoke. Caelum’s arms tightened around her as if he could hold her here by sheer will alone.
“I have to tell you—” she blurted, her voice rising in panic. “I found something. A passage in the old texts. About a place, aboutKek. The temple.”
Caelum’s expression turned grave. “What did it say?”
“It said his temple was buried, destroyed—but not lost,” she said, breathless. “That it once housed relics and knowledge of things that predated even the gods. I think it’s connected toyou,to how I can help you.”
He nodded slowly, his pale blue eyes burning into her. “Then listen closely, Thalia. If you truly wish to find the answers,if you truly wish to find me,you must go to the Forgotten Forest.”
“The Forgotten Forest?” she repeated, committing the name to memory.
“There is something waiting for you there,” he said. “Something the world was never meant to forget. But you must be careful—”
His words broke, his face suddenly twisting in alarm. Thalia felt it, too. The temperature around them plummeted. The flickeringedges of her vision turnedblack. And then she saw it, just behind Caelum. A shadow in the trees. Tall. Broad. Familiar. A silhouette of white hair and molten gold eyes.
Vaelith.
Her heart stopped.
Caelum turned, his entire body emanating with rage. The blue of his eyes flared white-hot as he stepped forward, shielding her behind him.
“No,” he snarled, voice guttural, feral. “Get away from her!”
Thalia reached for him, “Caelum!”
But the shadows surged.
The forest splintered.
Caelum’s roar echoed through her soul as he twisted toward her, “Thalia, beware—!”
He was gone.
The dreamrippedaway.
Chapter 23
