Page 69 of Cursed Dreams
His tone was neutral. “I’ve lived a long time. I’ve learned not to put too much faith in the word extinct”
Her brow furrowed “Are you saying there's hope?”
“I’m saying,” he said with quiet conviction, “you should not give up”
Her heart clenched. She wanted to believe him. She needed to.
She opened her mouth to ask more, but the golden light around them pulsed brighter – sharper, like a rising tide.
He drew closer “You’re waking”
“No,” she breathed panic flaring.
“Not yet” “Please”
The ache in her chest was unbearable. “I don’t want to leave. I don't understand any of this and I need-”
Caelum’s hand rose again, cradling her face. “You will understand. In time”
“I don’t want to go” she whispered “I don't know why, but you ... you feel like ...” she couldn’t find the right words.
“You feel familiar to me,” she said not entirely understanding the words as she spoke them.
“I don’t know why, but when you’re near, everything else quiets”
Caelum’s eyes softened. He raised his hand once more brushing his knuckles gently along her cheek.
“I will find you again, Thalia” he purred “In your dreams”
He leaned in so close she could feel the warmth of him, the brush of his breath, and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. A warmth bloomed inside her, radiant and tender.
“I’ll be waiting” he whispered.
Darkness began to swirl around the edges of her vision.
Thalia woke to the sharp crackling of embers and the soft rustle of robes.
The chanting was gone. The warmth of the light had vanished. She blinked against the darkness of the temple, her breath catching as the reality of the waking world returned.
The temple was nearly empty.
Only a few priestesses remained, their hooded figures moving like shadows between the glowing braziers. The scent of incense still lingered, but fainter now smoky and fading, like a dream already slipping through her fingers.
A dream. It had to have been a dream she tried to reason with herself.
She sat still for a long moment, the stone bench beneath her hard and cold, the memory of Caelum’s fingers on her cheek still lingering like heat after flame.
Her heart twisted.
Everything she had learned in the dream came rushing to the forefront of her mind , his name, his title, the Forgotten Fae Realms, the impossibility of his words. Yet she had felt his heartbeat as real as her own .She pressed her hand to her chest, where her heartbeat pounded steadily beneath her palm.
How did he know my name? Why did he feel so... familiar? So real?
Her mind filled with questions, try as she might she could not shake the feeling that it really was more than just a dream.There was a connection, she couldn't explain it, not just attraction, but something deeper, older. As though she'd known him in another life… or was always meant to.
Dream Walking.
Thalia shook her head, standing slowly, trying to shake the thoughts loose.
