I dressed quickly and got into bed. There was little chance of me falling asleep before he joined me.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long. He came out dressed and walked toward me, his hair still damp. My heart thumped loudly as I wondered what he would do next. He gestured toward the floor. “I should probably sleep here tonight.”
I sighed. “Please don’t. We have to get up early tomorrow, and if you sleep there, then so will I, and I don’t want to sleep on the floor. You wouldn’t want me to get a poor night’s sleep, would you?”
“You’ll be sleeping outside on the ground soon enough.”
“But tonight we don’t have to,” I said as I held out my hand to him.
“I see. You’re trying to lure me with your feminine wiles,” he teased as he walked toward me.
“I’ll use whatever I have if it means I don’t have to sleep on the floor.”
When he reached the bed, he said, “Will my virtue be safe with you?”
“Yes,” I said, sighing at his silliness. “I’ll behave.”
I let my hand drop and pulled the blanket back so that he could join me. After a moment’s hesitation, he did so.
“Turn over,” he said. I did, and he pulled me to him, my back to his front.
“Isn’t this so much better than the floor?” I asked.
“You’re such a princess,” he said into the top of my head.
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Close enough,” I said. I thought of how we might have always been this way with each other—teasing, fun, soft—if our circumstances had been different.
He held me so tight that I almost couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t say anything. I wanted this. I had so many more things to ask and talk about but I held still, not willing to break the spell of this moment.
“You know that I wouldn’t let you die,” he said. “If I had to fight the god of death to bring you back, I would.”
Tears suddenly welled in my eyes while a glowing warmth spread through me. “I know.”
I also knew that despite what he thought, not even Xander could stop a prophecy from being fulfilled.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I was in a cavern, swimming at the top of a long, dark tunnel. A gate closed above me, trapping me in the tunnel while water rushed up and out all around me. I could barely keep my face above the water, struggling to breathe. I put my hands on the metal bars but didn’t push. I accepted my fate.
Something waited for me at the bottom of this shaft, and I knew I had to reach it. It didn’t stop the terror I felt.
Down, down, down I went. Feeling like the walls were closing in on me, no light, my lungs aching and begging me to return to the surface so that I could breathe.
But I couldn’t do that. I had to keep going.
The water crushed me, my head became hazy, dizzy, and my limbs shook, but I kept swimming. Kept going.
I felt like I was about to burst. I couldn’t help it. I struggled and fought, but I opened my mouth to call for help and the water rushed in.
“I won’t let you drown.” I woke up to Xander pulling me into his arms. “You must have rolled away from me. You won’t drown.”
He had me flush against him, his arms holding me tight. I sighed happily, letting the nightmare recede so that I could enjoy where I currently was.
“I like this better without clothes,” I told him.
