Restless, the stardust shifted before her, and she grew weak from the reverberations filling the air, making the water tremble.
The stardust stretched out, no longer an amorphous mass, but taking the silhouette of a human-like shape.
Luella stumbled back and fell into the water. It softened her fall, droplets splashing up against her face and wetting the tips of her hair and?—
She gasped, reaching behind her.
She didn’t have her wings.
That realization pressed into her mind, making her head throb, like she shouldn’t know that here. Forbidden.
The female silhouette leaned over Luella, a hand reaching for her. She cowered, but did not feel fear. The hand touched her brow, forcing a deep ache into her brain. Swelling, growing, too much. It was too much?—
Luella’s jaw cracked as she released a scream, and the booming echo buzzed in her bones. Her face was wet with tears, and she thrashed in the water.
And Luella was ripped away from the pain, from the noise, from the ache.
Her eyes shot open, and she struggled against whatever held her down.
"Luella! It was just a dream—wake up.Wake up!"
Hands held her shoulders, and she hit against a hard chest. "Make it stop! Stop?—"
Familiar palms gripped her cheeks, forcing her thrashing head to still.
Her lips were parted with harsh exhales, and a face came into focus above her.
Eyes like lapis lazuli. A scar carved into a face that was currently etched with fear. Dark feathered wings blocked out the ceiling.
"Graves," she said raggedly.
Graves’s forehead fell to hers as he cupped her cheeks. "I’m here. It was just a dream."
Luella’s mind struggled to understand. "A d-dream?" Her voice wavered.
"A dream," he echoed. "A nightmare."
She pushed against him, wanting to be let up; though, the weight and warmth of him helped break her from her daze.
They both sat up, and she wrapped a hand around the stone of her amulet. It was scorching hot. She dropped it with a low hiss, and it burned her chest. Graves placed his hand between her skin and the stone to protect her flesh.
"You will get burned," she warned.
He shook his head, his dark hair ruffled as if he’d been sleeping. "Better me than you."
Graves held his hand like that, even as she curled her knees up to her chest. She kept trembling—couldn’t quite get herself to stop.
"Why did you come?" Luella finally asked.
"I heard you scream. Of course, I would come to you. I thought—" He swallowed. "I thought someone was hurting you, trying to take you again."
Hadn’t someone hurt her, though? Vividly, she remembered the silhouette touching her head. The buzz that vibrated the water. The pain.
Her wings shifted beneath her, and she sighed, her fingers brushing over the tips. No, it had merely been a dream. Graves’s eyes tracked the motion, and they grew dark with heat.
It had been a few days since she’d felt pleasure. As if her body had grown wired to crave it, she felt the inside of her thighs grow damp.
Graves’s nostrils flared, and the back of his hand on her chest slipped lower.
