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It was of a small girl with chubby cheeks and chin-length black hair. She was no more than three or four. A joyful expression was on her face as she raced down a pebbled path towards someone, her little arms outstretched.
There was silence in the cottage.
Finally, Draven spoke. “Nimue. Or how I imagined she might have looked at that age.”
Tears filled my eyes for a second time that night.
“Oh, Draven. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have teased.”
He rose out of the chair and came over to me. “No. It’s all right. I’m glad you recognized it.” He leaned over me and kissed the top of my head. “It says something, the fact that you knew, doesn’t it?”
I felt as if I were looking at something infinitely private and precious as I stared at the drawing of the little girl.
Draven’s dream daughter.
“She should have lived. Both of them should have.”
“But then I wouldn’t have you,” he said quietly. With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that?”
“I... don’t know.” My voice sounded very small. “I could understand if you wished things could be different. If you wished you could have them back.”
I felt him shake his head slightly. “I wish they were both alive, yes. But... Maybe it’s terrible to say, but Nodori and I were never suited, Morgan. She would have made a wonderful mother. I cherished her as a friend. But we were never going to be... mates.”
“I wish I could have met her. Is that strange? If she was your true friend.”
“You would have liked her. She would have liked you. She hadn’t a jealous bone in her body.” He tensed. “And Nimue. Sometimes I wish I could hold her, just for a moment.”
“You were cheated. Horribly cheated of being a father. Your brother...” I felt my throat closing up. “What sort of man could harm a baby?”
“One past all sense of right and wrong,” Draven replied.
“Do you think...” I hesitated. “Do you think you’ll ever see them again?”
Beliefs about the afterlife were radically different across Eskira. I assumed the same was true in Myntra.
“If the gods are real. If such things exist.” Draven leaned his head against mine. “In Myntra, some say there is a glade. Others a forest. Either way, it’s a beautiful place. Peaceful, full of trees and green meadows. Souls arrive there, but then they create what they wish to see. Time is a distant memory, and there is no pain. Others say the world beyond is a celestial court, where the gods of this world rule over a starry palace and the souls of the dead attend feasts and celebrations alongside the divine.”
“I prefer the forest,” I said with a shiver. I’d had enough of courts for one lifetime. I certainly didn’t want to spend my afterlife there. Then I had a thought. “A glade of trees where the departed can conjure up anything they wish to see? You mean, like this place? The place we are now?”
Draven sounded curious when he spoke. “Are you saying you think...what? That we’re in the world of the dead right now?”
“I don’t know. But we have to besomewhere, right? Somewhere real. Somewhere our minds go to find each other when we sleep.” I paused. “Or our... souls.”
“Sounds like a question for the temple, not for me,” Draven said mildly. “Does it matter?”
“I suppose not. But I’ve wondered...”
“Yes?”
“Well, are we the only ones in this place?”
I felt Draven stiffen. “You mean you think we’re not alone here?”
“I’m not saying that for certain. I have no idea. I just... wondered. We haven’t exactly explored very much,” I said. I turned to him and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “We’ve been...busy.”
“Yes, very busy.” He kissed my lips, then my throat, nuzzling my neck, then nipping lightly with his teeth. “There are few true dreamers, Morgan. If this plane holds all of us somehow, well, then I’m sure they’re off having dreams of their own. I doubt they’re interested in us or this little cottage. For all we know, this place is infinite.”
“That’s true,” I admitted. And I wanted him to be right. The thought of stumbling across another person in this place—our place—was vastly unsettling.
