Not that he was trying to trick her. If she’d responded differently, he would have happily given her everything.
But his hunch that she was more tired than even she realized seems to have proven true.
Hopefully, it means nothing. She worked hard yesterday, both in the real world and in the heartlanding. His heat flares at the memory.
As stars appear in the sky, his own drowsiness grows. The rain stopped when she fell asleep, but dampness still covers them. It seems he’ll need to get used to being damp, at least if he wants to share more intimate moments with her like the one they experienced last night. Which obviously he does.
He’s about to drift off when that familiar pull tugs at him. The pull of reality dragging him out of the heartlanding.
Not again.
He groans and reaches for Elowyn’s hand, but she slumbers on.
“I’ll see you again as soon as I can, love. Don’t stop fighting,” he whispers.
The pebbled beach and starry sky fade, along with the crash of ocean waves, and he closes his eyes against the dizziness that’s sure to follow.
Will Arisanna be there again? Tharios? His parents?
He waits for someone to speak, but no one does. Eventually, he opens his eyes to the familiar hotel room in Feressa, but no one hovers over him. It’s dim, though light shines around the curtains, signaling that it’s daytime in the real world. He struggles to focus as he searches for some sign of life. Someone dozes in a chair near Elowyn’s side of the bed, but otherwise, the room seems empty.
It’s Elowyn’s father.
Where did everyone else go? And what dragged Rominy from the heartlanding?
“King Lorial?” he says quietly, though he probably doesn’t need to whisper.
“Rominy?” Elowyn’s father straightens in the chair, his face coming into focus as he yawns. “Call me Lorial. Or Pera. Or anything you wish that doesn’t leave a gulf of formality between us.”
Rominy nods. “Did you wake me?”
“I believe you woke on your own, young one.” He rises to check on Elowyn, and Rominy almost falls off the bed when her fingers tighten around his.
“Pera?” she whispers. “Rominy?”
She sounds more lucid than she did yesterday or whatever day it was she last woke.
“I’m here, my elfling,” Lorial says as he takes her other hand. “But I need to fetch Tharios. I’ll return in a moment. You just rest here with Rominy.”
She nods, and Rominy struggles against the wetness filling his eyes as he clings to her hand.
She must have awakened them from the heartlanding on her own.
“I’m here, love,” he whispers as Lorial slips out of the room.
“Water. My throat...”
“In a few minutes, all right? After Tharios gets here.”
She nods again, and the door swings back open. That was fast. Tharios must have been in the hallway. Cerian and Arisanna stream in behind him.
“Welcome back.” Tharios probes Elowyn, and she doesn’t fight him this time.
“She asked for water,” Rominy says, and Tharios nods.
“Soon. Can you see if the kitchen has ice, Cer?”
Cerian gulps and clutches Arisanna’s hand, but he drags her to the door and out into the corridor.
