“You could have just come to fetch me,” he says before he lets me in. I set my bowl down on his desk, though I can’t help but notice the remnants of his picked-over lunch. Apparently he wasn’t as hungry as he claimed after our ride.
“I had a feeling you weren’t in the mood for a crowd,” I say before I offer him the bowl in my hand.
He gives me a wan smile as he takes it before sitting on the edge of his bed. “You’re not wrong.”
I take the seat at his desk before I break the small loaf of bread in half. Dom pokes aimlessly at his bowl, and I can tell that whatever caused his mood to shift so suddenly during our ride still lingers.
“Are you alright?” I ask gently.
Dom sighs, his eyes flicking up to me. It used to be I could almost read his mind with how often our thoughts aligned, but now, it’s like trying to read a wall. Whatever happened has shut him up tight.
“I hate to say that my good mood’s vanished,” he admits.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He shakes his head and says, “You’ll find out tomorrow night. Just... more bad news.”
I study him, hating that I have no idea what he needs. “Do you still want company?”
Dom’s look is almost pleading. “Would you read to me?”
The request makes me smile. Ever since Dom discovered the spell records in the library, we’ve been digging through some old journals that were donated for posterity. The one we’re reading now belonged to a wizard named Solena. She was a student of Eroland Lockheart, and she had a flair for the written word. It’s been a delight reviewing her experiences at the Crux.
“I would love to.”
We eat in relative silence, though after some delay, Dom actually finishes his bowl. Once he’s done, he strips down to his underthings, and I follow his lead before I grab Solena’s journal from his desk and slide into his bed with him. As I start to read out loud, his head rests against my chest.
His fingers gently trace over my hip and stomach as I recount an assignment Solena and a few others undertook. Opening up the land bridge between the ocean and Aeris Bay was nothing short of a magical marvel, and it’s fascinating reading a firsthand account of the feat. I’m so sucked into the theory of the transmutations they used to accomplish it that I don’t realize Dom’s finger has stilled until he gives a tell-tale jerk.
“I’m awake,” he says groggily, and I chuckle as I close Solena’s journal. I tilt his face up before catching his lips in a gentle kiss. His eyes droop, a contented sigh escaping him before he nuzzles back down against my chest. “Keep going.”
“Not a chance,” I say through a smile. “Sleep, love.”
Yet as I go to extract myself from his bed, his arms tighten around me. “Will you stay with me tonight? It... helped a lot yesterday.”
The request fills me with warmth. Before the Tower, it was a rare night we didn’t share a bed. In the aftermath, I respected his wish to sleep alone, but hearing him ask me to stay for the second night in a row feels like... maybe something is healing. I scoot down until we’re face to face before pressing another kiss to his lips. “Of course I will.”
I reach over to set the journal on his bedside table before I dim the glow globe with a touch.
“Thank you,” Dom says, and there’s something so endearing about the sleepy slur in his voice.
He curls against my side, and I stroke my fingers through his hair until his breathing deepens. Only then do I carefully roll and close my own eyes. Last night was a late night for me as well, and even though it’s still relatively early, I drift off easily.
I’m not sure how long I’m asleep before a quiet groan draws me out of it. The sound is as familiar as it is disheartening, and I know before I’ve fully woken up that Dom’s having another nightmare. Guess we couldn’t get lucky two nights in a row.
I shift, turning to face him. The sky outside is still dark, but the moon gives me enough light to see Dom’s brow pinched together, his lips parted as another distressed sound escapes him.
“Hush, love,” I murmur groggily. “You’re safe.”
Dom tenses, body jerking as he fights against the grip of sleep. Yesterday when he was laughing with us on our ride, he almost seemed like himself again. But seeing him now makes me realize just how good he’s gotten at hiding.
I reach up to gently cup his cheek, but the second I touch him, Dom’s eyes fly open. They’re wide and unseeing as he grabs my wrists.
Pain sears through me, hot and unexpected. It jolts me fully awake, and I shout, pulling my arms out of Dom’s grip as I jerk away. I scramble out of the bed, bringing the quilt with me, clutching it to my chest like a shield.
My ears ring, and I’m vaguely aware of Dom jolting upright on the bed. Yet I’m too busy looking at the burns circling my wrists. They’re in the perfect shape of his hands, the skin red and angry. Blisters are already raising as if Dom’s fingertips left fiery prints behind.
He must have released a spell in his sleep.
