Page 86 of Cursed Dreams
“I would wait another thousand years just to hold you like this again.”
She closed her eyes. The music swelled, the wind catching her hair, the warmth of him anchoring her like gravity. For the firsttime in weeks, she wasn’t spiralling. She wasn’t questioning. She was just… his.
They danced in silence for a while. The crowd around them thinned as the song came to an end, replaced by a more jubilant tune that sent other couples spinning away in faster circles. Caelum didn’t move.
“Would you… walk with me?” he asked again, quieter this time, like it mattered more now.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He kept her hand in his as they slipped away from the dancing crowds, into the side streets where soft lights and enchanted orbs lit the cobblestones. Flowering vines crawled up the walls. Magic hung in the air like dew.
Thalia realized, as they walked in peaceful silence, that her shoulders weren’t tight. Her thoughts weren’t racing. She felt… safe. Like nothing outside this moment could touch her.
He glanced down at her with a half-smile. “You looked less like a healer apprentice tonight and more like someone about to conquer the world.”
She snorted. “That’s because Marand picked out my outfit. I feel like if I breathe too hard, the whole thing will fall off.”
His grin widened. “Then I’ll do my best to keep things very serious and entirely uneventful.”
She shot him a look. “That’d be a first.”
“Oh, cruel.”
They reached a quiet courtyard lit by floating lanterns, the breeze warm and scented with sweet citrus and smoke. Thalia paused beneath one of the trees, gazing up at the lanterns above.
Caelum leaned against the low stone wall beside her. “So You’re smart, stubborn, beautiful, and brave. Tell me something unimpressive about you.”
She laughed. “I’m not impressive at all. I once got lost trying to find the back door of my own house. And I talk to my cat like she’s an old, grumpy aunt.”
“You have a cat?”
“Tansy. She’s opinionated and judgmental, and I’m fairly sure she thinks I’m her servant.”
Caelum grinned. “A true queen.”
“She’d agree.”
“I’d like to meet her,” he said softly.
That made her chest tighten. Gods, what is this? she thought. He wasn’t hers. Couldn’t be. He wasn’t even real in the way the rest of the world was. Yet she wanted him to meet her cat. She wanted to show him her world.
“You’re not what I expected,” she said suddenly.
“Disappointed?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “Not even a little.”
Caelum’s gaze lingered on her for a long moment, the quiet between them stretching but never uncomfortable. His expression softened, the playful spark dimming to something more thoughtful.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, tilting her head.
“That this may be the first time in centuries I’ve felt… normal,” he murmured.
“Normal?” she echoed with a faint smile. “That’s a pretty low bar.”
He chuckled, but it faded quickly. “When you’ve been alone as long as I have, even a moment of normality feels extraordinary.”
Thalia looked down, her fingers brushing over the stone wall’s edge. “Do you ever get used to it? Being trapped?”
