Her voice was still full of sleep, but his heart leaped in his chest as she pressed her body closer to his, looping her leg over his.
“Missed what, exactly?”
“Missed hearing you call me ‘my star’. It hurt every time you said Auraelia, but it hurt more to hear that. I didn’t feel like I deserved it anymore. That you deserved more—deserved better.”
“And now?” Daemon asked, hope filling his chest.
She still seemed to be half asleep, but he’d take her uninhibited thoughts over the ones she constantly turned over in her head, any day. When she didn’t answer, he nudged her gently. “Auraelia?”
“Hmmm?”
Daemon chuckled and changed the subject. “What were you dreaming about?”
His question seemed to bring her further into consciousness. Pulling out of his arms, Auraelia slowly pushed up on the bed into a kneeling position and wiped the sleep from her eyes, yawning as she said, “It—um. It was nothing.”
Daemon matched her position, his knees brushing against hers as he tilted her chin up so that he could look her in the eyes. “It wasn’t nothing, Auraelia. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what it was.”
“You do?” she asked, raising her brow as her head canted to the side.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’ve been having strange dreams. Ones that feel more like memories. Am I close?”
Her eyes widened at his words, her head slowly bobbing up and down in confirmation.
“I have them, too. Ijusthad one, actually, and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t too pleasant of a memory.”
“Memory? I thought it was just a dream.”
Daemon shook his head and took her hands in his. “They’re memories, Auraelia. Ones from five hundred years ago, when our ancestors were…involved. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
When she nodded, Daemon waited patiently for her to continue.
“I—shewas in the ballroom here in the castle. People were all around, everyone watching the man in front of her. It was an engagement party. He’d just asked her to marry him, and she’d said yes.” Auraelia’s nose wrinkled as if she were the one marrying the man in her dream, and the thought was repulsive. Which when he thought about it, in a way, shehadmarried that man.
“Anyway,” she continued after blowing out a breath. “Shortly after she said yes, she excused herself from the party. I could feel everything she did, and everything about it feltwrong.She didn’t want to marry him but felt like she had to for her people. Then, as she was walking down the hall toward her chambers, a man…Killian…appeared from the shadows.
“He kissed her, and I remember her being shocked that he was there. He wasn’t supposed to be; she didn’twanthim there to see her get engaged. Told him to stay away. But as soon as his lips were on hers, everything felt right. Like the stars aligned, and everything was as it should be.”
At the small smile on her lips, Daemon interrupted her story. “I think I know how the rest went.”
“Really? How?”
Daemon stroked her cheek, his gaze soft as he stared into the swirling storm of her eyes. “Because mine started where Killian showed up in yours.”
Auraelia’s eyes widened, and he could see the wheels spinning in her mind, trying to piece together—and make sense of—everything that had just happened. Her brow was scrunched in confusion, her head shaking slowly from side to side as she tried to process everything. “But—why? How? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Doesn’t it?” he asked, imploring her to see beyond the surface to the meaning behind the memories. He wanted her to come to the realization on her own. Didn’t want to burden her with yet another secret. But, then again, it was another secret being kept from her, and he hated that it was onehewas keeping.
When she didn’t answer, Daemon released a breath. “Auraelia—”
He’d barely gotten her name past his lips when there was a pounding on the door outside her suite, both of their heads swiving toward the noise. Before Auraelia could voice them to enter, Piper barreled into the room. Her eyes were wide, and she breathed heavily as she leaned against the doorframe.
“Your Majesty. Auraelia—” she said between pants. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve got to go. Davina is going to attack the city.”
Chapter Seventeen
Auraelia
Shooting up from where she was kneeling on the bed, Auraelia sprinted to her closet and grabbed whatever garments she could get her hands on. While she slipped into her leather trousers, she could hear Daemon scrambling around her chambers, trying to ready himself as well—all while Piper explained her vision.
