Page 18 of To Sway a Prince
Tilting the jar a little, I watched the sand slide along its side. The flecks were beautiful too. Those subtle changes in color. It smelled a little like Ramiel, the cedar stronger than the frosted silver. Warmth tightened in my chest and core. His scent was…far more pleasant than I wanted to admit. Sorcerer princes should smell like…brimstone and body odor and no sunshine. That had to be a rule somewhere.
My cheeks burning, I put my back to the wall, slid to the ground, and set the vial of blue sand next to me. There really was something soothing about it. Looking at it up close, I admired all the deep shades of blue, ranging from cobalt to the deepest shade of blue violet I'd ever seen. It reminded me of the sands in the hourglass my parents kept in the study. Dark green, made of little gemstone chips. Father said he'd made it after saving all the chips and dust from carving his first two thousand runestones. Mother always teased that he had chosen emeralds and malachite as his stones because they were considered the hardest for fashioning usable runestones. He loved thechallenge. And whenever she said that, he flashed her a special smile that he saved just for her and said that's what made him fall for her.
Setting the jar down, I fixed my eyes on it, pretending that the gemstone sand was shifting like it did through my father's hourglass. A few tears slid down my cheeks. Something about this tower had me thinking so much about family.
I closed my eyes tight and drew in as deep a breath as I could manage. I missed them. My parents. My siblings. My cousins. Their faces flashed through my mind. Emotion built within me, longing and sorrow. Then Zephyrus appeared in my thought.
My heart clenched, breaths shallowing. What was I going to do? Even with all the unanswered questions, I knew that some part of Zephyrus wanted to be with these other dragons. He'd given me so many years. This binding spell…I pressed my hand over my chest. I'd figure out a solution. I had to. Even if that did mean letting him go.
Darkness surrounded me. I didn't know precisely when I fell asleep, only a vague awareness that I had. It started like always with a general sense of unease creeping up my spine. As I sat there with my back to the stone and my head to my knees, I reminded myself it was a dream. Just a dream. Nothing but a dream.
Still my heart raced faster.
Only a dream and yet it felt so real. A dream that could never be controlled or avoided.
That creeping, crawling dread crept through the darkness to swallow me whole or strangle me.
Dark clouds formed around me in rough shapes. Some human. Some dragon. Some creatures I couldn't even describe. Mockeries of the people I loved and connections long lost.
Yes. I was alone.
My heart ached as if it had been pierced.
It would pass. It always did.
This was only a dream.
A dream from which I'd eventually wake.
I would.
Please, let me wake.
Threads dark as drying blood shot out from the darkness and coiled around me. Oil and mud sucked at my feet as I sunk.
There was a thread in that darkness. A double-coiled thread with runes etched into it. The runes lit up, and I put out my hand.
I always did.
The thread shot around me, spinning over me as if I were a spindle. My soul wrenched, and I tried so hard to cry out. But it just tightened—tightened—tightened.
Closing my eyes, I pushed out my aura and my arms. Neither responded. There was nothing—nothing but thread and darkness. No consciousness. No will. Only silence. Silence and crushing pressure.
And I was…alone.
Something gripped my shoulders. I gasped, my eyes flying open as I found myself staring into a now familiar violet gaze.
"Astraia?"
Tears formed along the backs of my eyes, stinging. Awareness stabbed through me. A dozen thoughts tried to surface at once. My shoulder ached beneath the scar, throbbing as it usually did after these nightmares. I rubbed it, willing it to stop. Then I realized Ramiel was holding out his hand.
Tentatively, I accepted it. As I stood, I realized I was cradling the jar of blue sand. "I'm sorry." Though embarrassment wasn't usually something I suffered from, an unpleasant heat and shame stole over me.
"Are you all right?" He guided me up. His gaze drifted to the jar in the crook of my arm, but he did not seem angry or eventroubled. Just…concerned. "Did the guest room not appeal to you?"
I wasn't sure how to respond. "Y-yes." I shook my head, my mouth dry. I moistened my lips. "No, I'm sure the guest room is fine. I'm all right. Just…fell asleep in here."
"I gave you my word I would not harm you," he said, the chiding in his voice far gentler than what I expected or even deserved. His hand lingered for a moment longer, his thumb half stroking or accidentally brushing against mine. Everything in me tightened, and I felt the cold all the more as soon as he released my hand. "Are you afraid of me, Astraia?"
