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1
CERRI
Iknew that what I was doing wasn’t right, but I couldn’t give him up yet.
The sun streamed in the floor to ceiling windows of my apartment. The golden rays kissed the planes of Rhoan’s serene face as he lifted his coffee mug to his lips. He caught me watching and lifted a curious look in my direction. His soft slurp of coffee as he made direct eye contact almost made me laugh.
Almost.
I tore my gaze away and watched the sun dance in the beams of light before settling on the shelves of old relics and knickknacks. The breeze through the open window stirred the tapestries hanging from the walls. Though it was my apartment, it looked as though Rhoan had moved in and made it home.
The thought tightened my chest. Tears burned my eyes.
“Princess.” Rhoan’s voice cracked with concern as he put down his mug and reached for me.
I let him put a hand on my forearm even though I should have pulled away. This wasn’t healthy. Coming back time and time again like this was destroying my own sense of reality. A part of me knew that this wasn’t real, but I couldn’t help the desire to stay and never wake up.
Against my better judgement, I stood and stretched my arms over my head like a tired cat. I gave Rhoan a sultry look and informed him that I was going back to bed. A growl rumbled inside his chest as I sauntered back to the bedroom and parted the curtain of flowers still hanging over the door.
The blossoms here weren’t touched with the blood red stain that coated everything in my life. Here, my magic was as it had been before Beryl cursed me. The pale pink petals of wisteria flowers drifted to the floor in a gentle rain. I watched it from the bed while I waited for Rhoan to give in and follow me.
It didn’t take long before he rushed through the flower curtain and launched himself onto the mattress. He held himself aloft over my body so that only his silky black hair grazed my skin. My breath hitched at the sight of him over me. His eyes glimmered with violet light, not a hint of darkness anywhere in those sweet depths.
I reached up to cup his face, but somehow found my hand curling around the back of his neck so that I could pull him down to me. His lips crashed into mine. The crushing kiss sparked a fire in my chest that I wished would burn like the summer sun, but it couldn’t quite reach those dazzling heights.
And so, I kissed him harder, as if that would somehow stoke the flames inside me when I knew that wasn’t the problem. I ran my hands down his broad chest and reached up to thread my fingers in his hair, undoing the braids he took so much time to do earlier.
It wouldn’t matter. When this dream fell apart and the next one took its place, his hair would return to how he remembered it, perfectly plaited.
If only we could have had this before Faust’s curse took him from me. The weight of Rhoan’s body against mine felt so right. I wanted to have him atop me like this every morning and every night. His touch soothed the ache of yearning gnawing at my heart for so long.
Here, I could breathe.
Rhoan buried his face in the crook of my neck and breathed deep. A growl vibrated his body. I savored the sensation and let it warm my core all over again. Hungry for more, I spread my legs and wrapped them around his hips. He took the opportunity to grind against me.
“Why does this feel so indulgent?” Rhoan asked into my skin. “Why doe this feel like something I never thought I would have?”
His grip on my waist tightened like I might dissolve and float away on the wind. He thrust his hips into mine once more and brought a moan from my lips as he nuzzled my throat. Peppering my skin with kisses, he started to sprinkle in a few nibbles as well.
I dug my nails into his back and held on. The bit of pain made him arch into me.
“I need you,” Rhoan growled.
“I need you, too.” My voice almost broke.
Eyes on the ceiling, I couldn’t bear to look at him because I knew the dream was about to break. We never got this far. Every dream ended before either of us could get what we really wanted:union.
A part of me knew that it was Faust’s curse. It’d taken Rhoan from me in the waking world and kept him at an arm’s length even in our dreams. Faust was the king of nightmares, after all.
One way or another, I would dethrone him.
“Cerridwen,” Rhoan said.
I expected a whine, a moan, anything other than the flat tone that left his lips. It snapped me out of my sorrow. I jerked back and looked to him, but Rhoan’s face was gone.
“Cerridwen,” another male voice said from the bedroom doorway.
I slid an annoyed glare over to Taliesin. He stood in the doorway with his hands clasped behind his back. His blank expression was telling enough. The man knew what I was doing, and he didn’t approve.
