“You had a dream about me?” Terena interrupted, unable to stop the smile growing on her face.
He frowned and nodded. “Aye, Terena. That’s why I brought it up. I dreamt about you that night. But it wasn’t the first time.”
It took a second for his words to sink in. Terena’s pulse stuttered, then raced and her eyes widened. “What?”
“When I was twenty, a bear terrorized a village nearby and our instructor thought it would be an excellent test of us in the Agoge, our training. Five of us went to that village, but I was the only one who made it back. The bear attacked us while we were bedding down for the night. The bear,” Daris dropped his head back, his mouth open as if recalling. “That beast was unnatural. It was the biggest monster I’d ever seen, then or now. Well… Melanos might be the same size.
“We’d made spears out of branches and attacked it, but it killed three of our brothers-in-arms. We managed to hurt it bad enough we thought we had it. When one of my brothers, Artagos, went in for the kill, it roared and swiped him across the middle, opening him up.”
Terena was chilled by his recollections, her heart hurting for these boys, barely men, having to endure this in order to become soldiers inthe Spartan army. She approached Daris, but he remained lost in his memories.
“They were all dead within minutes and I stood there in shock, trembling, afraid as it stalked toward me.” He looked over at Terena, his expression haunted. “I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up with this,” he pointed to the three scars on the left side of his face by his ear. “I had gashes, too, on my shoulder and legs, and I lay on the ground knowing I was dying when I saw this woman walking toward me. She knelt at my side and whispered.”
When he didn’t continue, Terena asked, “What did she say?”
Daris’s expression hardened as he stared at her. “Eudaemon.”
Terena’s skin sizzled at the word. It was an unlocking of sorts, her soul opening its eye in recognition. She dared not say anything.
“Aye. I knew before we got here I was Eudaemon, but I did not know what that meant. I’d only ever heard it that one time until Melanos said it again when we were in Ibros. I told Jason and Michael the story while you were recovering from the encounter with Bethana. It explained so much about why I’d been wounded in countless battles, some mortally, and yet I survived.”
“Didn’t you tell your instructor or anyone else about that encounter? Or ask about what she meant?”
Daris shook his head. “I thought it a hallucination from blood loss. I didn’t say a word about it to anyone.” He looked up at her. “When I went to sleep that night, I dreamt of you.”
Terena’s mouth dropped open.
“It’s true,” Daris said ruefully. “I saw you, clear as you are standing before me.”
“What… were we…,” she coughed and shook her head, trying to appear unflustered. “What was I doing?”
“You were dancing,” he whispered, his voice a caress, his good eye heated as he took a step toward her. “I dreamt of you dancing, holding hands with people on either side of you, and you looked up at me and you smiled and I… I swear my heart stopped. That was my dream.”
Terena’s chin trembled, tears filling her eyes. She quickly blinked them away.
“Daris…”
“But it wasn’t a dream,” he said softy, taking another step closer, now less than a foot away, his head tilted down to her. His eye was on her mouth as he lifted a hand, the pads of his fingers stroking over the line of her jaw. “Seven years later, you smiled at me while dancing that night in Sparta.”
So many thoughts chased each other for dominance in her mind, she was stupid with the flood of them.
“When I saw you in Aurora, that’s what I was feeling—recognition. Attraction. But then I dismissed it because, of course, I was attracted to you. Look at you. I didn’t stand a chance. Then in Sparta, when I saw you dancing,” he finally looked into her eyes, his smile resigned, “that was it for me. I was yours. Iamyours.”
A flood exploded inside her chest and she leaned up, her hands clutching his forearms as she pressed her mouth to his. She sensed him stiffen, then instantly coiled his arms around her, bending to pull her closer as he slanted his mouth over hers. She begged for entrance with her tongue across his lips and he opened with a groan, his tongue dancing with hers, tasting her mouth, her lips, teeth clashing, biting.
Daris pulled away, his breath hot on her face, his chest rising and falling against hers. He stared down at her, mouth open. Terena pulled his head back down but after a brief kiss he pulled back with a shake of his head.
“Not here,” he whispered, dropping a quick kiss to her nose. Daris stepped away and slipped his hand into hers. Terena’s stride lengthened to keep up with him. She didn’t bother to look at the curious soldiers watching as they passed.
When they were inside Daris’s tent, he turned. For a moment, he looked embarrassed and tried to step away.
“What is it?” Terena whispered as she clutched at his waist to keep him close.
“I don’t,” he cleared his throat as his face flushed. “I don’t have anything to prevent?—”
Terena grinned. “What? You don’t want babies with me?”
If possible, Daris’s face became a deeper scarlet. Terena laughed and decided to go easy on him.
