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I was sure I knew why now.
When Ash and I had been at the pool beneath the House of Haides, he’d admitted to checking in on me in the past. I realized now that it had been him all those years ago. There wasn’t a single part of me that doubted it.
Chest squeezing, I dropped my chin to my knees. Gods, I missed him, and I was so damn worried about him. What if my dream had given me some insight into his condition, and he was in stasis? That would heal his wounds, but he’d be completely vulnerable.
I needed to get him out of there.
Closing my eyes, I decided it was time to try my hand at being more reassuring. Instead of stressing myself out to the point where I wanted to either scream or throw myself face-first at the bars, I pictured Ash free. Of course, I skipped over exactly how I’d manage to free myself from the cage and Dalos and, well…everything else. I went right to the good stuff. Seeing Ash. Feeling his arms around me. Hearing his voice. For real. No dreams.
We wouldn’t have long together before Kolis came for us, but I would take the time to make Ash swear he wouldn’t blame himself for my death. That once he Ascended and took care of Kolis, he’d find a way to restore his kardia.
The back of my throat burned as I buried my face in my knees. I would make Ash promise to live—to really live. And that meant eventually opening himself to learning what love felt like and being loved in return, as much as it made me want to set fire to the entire realm.
Because I wasn’t that good of a person. I already hated the unknown individual who would one day have the honor of loving and being loved by Ash. I absolutely loathed them.
But I still wanted that for him.
I suppose love made you capable of that: wanting happiness for another, even if it meant them finding it with someone else.
When I opened my eyes again, it was to the sound of rushing water and the feel of cool, damp grass against the length of my body.
Immediately, I knew I was dreaming.
Besides the obvious fact that I wasn’t capable of shadowstepping myself free of somewhere deep within Dalos to the mortal realm, something was off. Something that had nothing to do with there not being a stitch of clothing on me.
I wasn’t swimming.
In the last couple of dreams I remembered, I was always swimming while the wolf watched me.
Dark waters spilled off the cliffs of the Elysium Peaks. It was my lake, and like my dreams before, no stifling heat clung to the air, but it was different.
While the lake was always dark due to one of the biggest deposits of shadowstone found in the mortal realm, there was no movement. The water was utterly still and smooth, like a black mirror, even where the waterfall poured from high above. My lake had never been like this in my dreams.
I looked down to where my fingers splayed against grass the color of midnight. I lifted my gaze, looking past sweeping elms full of onyx-hued leaves, and branches the color of shadowstone, to the sky that was neither completely night nor day. Vivid and intense stars cast radiant light down on the lake and me. I searched the sky, finding no sign of the moon.
It reminded me of the Shadowlands, but there were no lakes there. Not anymore.
My fingers curled around the blades of grass. I could feel the ground beneath me, cool and prickly. I felt the faint breeze drifting over my legs and glancing off my cheek. There was none of the fuzziness that clung to dreams, even when I swam. Everything was sharp and clear, from the stars above to the rich scent of the damp soil.
This didn’t feel like a dream.
As I stared at the star-kissed sky, a humming warmth suddenly came alive in the center of my chest. My skin pimpled. Slowly, I became aware of heat against my back, someone behind me when there had been nothing there upon me opening my eyes.
I wasn’t alone.
A hand came over the flare of my hip, warm and heavy in a deliciously familiar way. My stomach started spinning. I breathed in deeply. A fresh, citrusy scent I’d recognize anywhere surrounded me.
My breath snagged as my entire body locked into place. I couldn’t move, too afraid that my mind was about to trick me.
A soft touch against the nape of my neck startled me. A silkier sensation followed. Lips brushed the curve of my shoulder, sending hot, tight shivers coursing down the length of my body.
“Liessa.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
That voice, the shadowy whisper of midnight that never failed to send a myriad of shivers through me, was all his.
Ash’s.
