His bellowed laugh burrowed right into her. “Maybe someday you won’t sound so terrified of the prospect. Now…” He shifted to his knees and gripped her ankles, tugging her flat and laying her body out before him. “As I said before, I’m still starving. And when I’m done with mymeal,we’re going out to the practice ground.”
Her body writhed, responding to the gravelly promise in his voice. “We are?”
Brand sobered a little, his look fierce. “The Elder Council will never touch you, Lunara, I swear it—whether it’s my hand that defends you or your own. I would give you that peace of mind. So yes, every morning and every night, that’s where we’ll be.”
“Okay,” she rasped, eyes pricking again.
“Where were we again? Ah yes.” He dove in, hands plastered against her thighs as he licked long and slow up the center of her. “Hands up, little moon,” he rumbled against her, “and leave them there.”
That night wasthe first Brand slept in days, and he dreamt.
Not the usual faff bending the mind in strange ways. Instead, a sense he’d seen it before but couldn’t placewherefollowed him throughout. It almost felt like a memory.
The only problem was that, in the dream, he slipped Pet’s guard and used his power to scale the Imperial mesa with no one the wiser—something he was positive he’d never done.
He’d thought about doing it, though. Constantly. When he should have been paying attention to lessons and instructors, he’d planned all the ways he could escape the responsibility and incessant public scrutiny. How he’d build a small home for himself somewhere secluded and pretend he’d never heard the wordsImperial SonorHigh Ambassador.
Maybe that’s why he found himself trailing an eight- or nine-year-old version of the child he used to be through back alleys of the Weeping City, the Palace of Argoph shrinking away in the distance behind him.
It made an odd sense that he would manifest his wildest childhood dream right after the one he’d carried through adulthood had become a reality. Two days spent making love to the exquisite creature of his fantasies, merging their souls, was bound to call other desires to the surface—even long-lost ones he’d let go of in order to grow up.
Brand was somehow aware he could have followed the Montriver to reach his destination, but it was too likely he’d bespotted and recognized by other Demons coming to drink from its rapids, even so late at night. That it was better to use the shadows to his advantage.
Except, a glow surrounded him, sparkling on grey stone and verdant vines. Brand looked down at his hands as he walked to find himself made entirely of Luna’s prismatic light, and a smile teased the corners of his mouth knowing she was with him even in sleep.
The tall buildings shrank as he moved with himself—less and less stories, fewer and farther between—until he reached the outermost edge of the city proper. Trees rose up to take their place, and he dove in, aiming for the roar of rushing water ahead.
Excited, he left himself behind. His legs were so much longer now, and he didn’t need the guidance. His mind and body knew exactly where to go and what he’d find when he reached the clearing.
Countless stars stood watch overhead as he emerged from the tree line onto a grassy bank, the twin moons looming among them. The odd thought slipped in that it didn’t matter if they knew his secrets because they could share them only with each other. A warm comfort. His parents would be livid if they found out what he was doing.
A rocky outcropping came into view, rising from the sandy riverbed and jutting nearly halfway across the Montriver. Beneath it, the water hurtled its way to his Blessing realm, the thundering sound so loud he could barely hear himself think.
Maybe that was the point.
The tension eased away from his shoulders, stress he hadn’t realized was there melting away with every step closer. The peace blanketing him felt familiar. The sense that, if he just kept walking, he could make his grand escape and no one would beable to find him. Sometimes the knowledge that hecouldwas enough, even if he never actually did it. Even on the worst days.
A little stone seat came into view. It crowned the outcropping, perched on its furthest tip and facing his eventual home. Though far too small for him now, his limbs remembered exactly how it had felt. Knew that this washisspot. One he’d made for himself.
“I’m still wondering if you’re ever going to make a place for me to sit as well.”
Brand jolted at the deep, but distinctly feminine voice. It husked in all the wrong ways, skittering down his spine in warning as he turned, no idea what he would?—
The scene warped and he was staring down at his younger self once more, settled in his river throne. Infinite droplets landed on his skin and hair, the mist soaking him—a perfect match to the little boy at his feet, with dripping, auburn waves and a ruined tunic, stoically staring into the wild darkness.
“Pardon any offense, madam, but I come here to be alone. Another seat would rather defeat the purpose, wouldn’t you say?”
Burning Solyrian. The detached tone hit him right in the gut, those very adult words falling from lips far too young to be so proper already—like all the other words he’d been required to say with courtesy and composure while he’d screamed and screamed inside.
The shadows shifted beside the boy, chuckling softly. “You say that every time.”
How could I say that every time if this is the first time?
The thought rang through his mind in his own, adolescent voice as Brand watched himself adjust, lungs clenching in tandem through the outward, awkward silence.
“Forgive me, madam. I do not wish to be rude. I only?—”
“I know, Brandir. This was a hard day for you.”
