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A shudder rippled down his spine. “It’s old,” he muttered. “Had it since I was a kid. When I was fourteen, Kev put a spell on me. Talked me into a trance every night. They finally eased off.” He tried to swallow. A diamond hard lump lacerated where his throat was. “Now they’re back.”
“What’s the dream about?”
He shrugged. “Fighting. I’m in a white virtual space, like a video game. Monsters come at me. And I fight them.”
She harrumphed. “Scary.”
“Oh, yeah.” The words exploded out of him. “Because it’s not like other nightmares. I wake up feeling…” He trailed off. It was too weird.
“Like what?” she prodded. “Come on, Bruno.”
“Like it’s real,” he concluded, feeling ashamed. “I mean, physically real. Like I’d really been fighting. Pulled muscles, sweat, bruising. Sprains, even. Maybe because I hit stuff while I flop around. I end up on the floor sometimes, like now. I don’t fucking know.”
“Wow,” she murmured. “What kind of monsters?”
“My mom’s boyfriend. The one who murdered her.”
Her soft cheek pressed his shoulder. “That’s so horrible.”
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “But he was not what particularly sucked about tonight’s dream, believe it or not.”
She nudged him after a few moments. “So? What is, then?”
“You,” he said. “You were there. Everybody in costume. Medieval armor, like a goddamn Arthurian pageant. You wore a fancy white gown. You were bound to a stake. And they held me down while Rudy…” His throat closed up. “He stuck a burning branch into the wood.”
“Don’t tell me, let me guess,” she said. “That was the moment when I tried to wake you up, right?”
“Yeah.” He waited for more. She just hugged him. “So, uh…” He cleared his throat. “I gather you are not as freaked out by this as I am.”
“My threshold for freak-outs has gotten higher lately.” Lily said. “I can only be scared of so much at one time, and I’m sorry, but your dreams just don’t make the cut.”
“Oh,” he muttered, vaguely embarrassed. “Gee.”
“Don’t take it personally,” she urged. “It’s, like, a triage thing. I just don’t have the juice. I know it must be really awful for you.”
“Whatever.” He felt an urge to laugh, but that was too close to sobbing. “What the fuck were the crusading knight outfits about? Ye olde Renaissance fair from hell? My subconscious decided the dream needed dressing up? What’s next, flamenco outfits?”
“No,” she said quietly. “It’s about saving the princess.”
He went still. Her words reverberated in his head. “Come again?”
“It’s a classic theme, right? In fairy tales, in movies. Video games you played as a kid. Didn’t you ever play ‘save the princess?’”
“Yeah, but…” His voice trailed off. He was unnerved. It was true, it was a game he’d played in video arcades as a really young kid. But after the dreams started, he’d stopped. He hated video games.
Lily draped herself over him so that his head was tucked under her chin, her gorgeous, mouthwatering tits were right in his face, in all their succulent, springy softness. Right up there to distract him.
“You really are my champion,” she said. “Even in your dreams. Like you were this morning.”
“I, ah…but I—”
“I’ve never had one before,” she said. “I always had to fight alone. It feels nice. Thank you.”
“Hello. Lily,” he said, his voice vibrating with tension. “I failed. In the dream. They torched you. It wasn’t nice.”
She tilted his head back. Her eyes shimmered with tears. “They didn’t get me this morning,” she said. She ran her finger across his brow, then through his hair. “And you tried. I could see you were trying. Heart and soul. That’s enough for me. That’s more than I’ve ever had.”
His arms clamped around her. She melted into his embrace.
