Page 120 of Riftborne
“I want you,” Fia assured, her hands digging into my hair, using it to guide me to her center. That was all the confirmation I needed.
Like a man starved, I dove into her heat and rolled my tongue. She was divine. A guttural moan escaped my throat that?—
Woke me up.I was awake.
What…. was that?
My body was shaking and flushed as I frantically searched my surroundings only to find that Laryk was also wide awake. His eyes were locked on me from across the dying embers of the fire. He looked as disheveled and riled as I felt.
“I think I was… were you just… dreaming about me?” I whispered with a shaky breath.
His eyes flared in the darkness before icing over, opening his mouth but closing it just as quickly. Even in the shadows, I could see his chest rising and falling rapidly, in rhythm with my own.
He said nothing, but his eyes told me it was true.
I had been inside his dream.
My thoughts began to spiral. I swallowed hard, knowing that the same questions were racing through both of our minds.
“General, we need to depart soon to stay on schedule,” a guard called from outside the tent. Laryk broke eye contact first, grabbing his bag and storming out.
I guess sparring practice was canceled.
CHAPTER 43
We startedtowards the West as the rising sun began to cast a glow through the valley. Frost spattered the colorful leaves, refracting the early morning rays. I breathed deeply, inhaling the crisp taste of winter air.
Formations changed this morning. Three guards were positioned at the rear of the unit, and three were in the front. Laryk was amongst the latter.
I couldn't even glance in his direction as we mounted the horses. Now that his back was to me, I could finally breathe.
I had entered another person's mind…
Had this happened before?
The dreams that had plagued me for the last year rushed in, and the realization dawned that none of them were from my perspective. It’d seemed innocuous at the time, but now, seeing them from a collective point of view… the pattern was certainly there.
In the dream that took place at the river, I was looking down at my friends from the top of the bridge, but when the event actually occurred, I was on the river’s edge with Osta, both of us momentsaway from jumping in ourselves. Was I seeing it from the perspective of the second guard? Did that mean I was seeing a memory? A dream of a memory? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
The settings of my dreams were often places I had never seen or even imagined during my waking hours. The darkened landscape of the falling dream, the fiendish blacksmith–were these real places? Real people?
Heat rushed over my body again. The dream from last night was certainly real. And I knewthatwasn’t a memory. Even still… I had felt his passion through the connection.
Hadn’t I?
I couldn’t help but wonder how the mind really worked in a dream state. At this point I was questioning everything. Most people couldn’t control their dreams, but that had to have come from somewhere in his mind, right? It couldn’t have sparked from nothing…
Or perhaps it all was random. Perhaps he was just as surprised by the content. Embarrassment flooded me. That was probably the last thing he ever wanted me to see. Albeit unintentionally, I had completely invaded his private thoughts, whether there was any merit to them or not.
I sighed, wondering if we would ever talk about it, or if we would pretend it never happened.
My head snapped up as I heard the sound of a horse approaching. Suddenly, I felt like he was readingmymind. Laryk’s face was relaxed, collected, his posture stoic. Any walls he had taken down had clearly been reconstructed. I tore my attention away, focusing on the mountains in the north. It hurt to look at him.
I stayed silent as his horse fell in step beside mine. I could almost feel the chill radiating off him.
“Another gift from your focus, I presume?” he said casually. I swallowed hard. Why did I feel so uncomfortable?
“I honestly have no idea.” I nearly choked on the words.
