Dove
Waking, I find myself…Hmmm,not on my shitty bedroom floor.Eyes wide open, I groan loudly, discovering a familiar dark corner of my mind. A place only accessible by a choice few, except one. The one who makes himself known no matter what.
I find him sitting on a boulder, a sleeping black dragon lies in front of him on the rocky ground. A sooty, fresh fire aroma fills my nostrils.
This winged man has been visiting me since before I can remember. Truth be told, I think he’s just another apparition of my slightly warped mind, or really mylargelywarped mind. Any normal person would have just one voice that talks to them (or none), but I have a deadsister and a dark winged creature with horns—a daemon.
“Goddess, what do you want?”
Jumping down from his perch, his black feathered wings fluff out behind him as he goes to land. “Is that anyway to speak to your elders?”
“As far as I know, you’re not even real,” I grunt.
He lifts a single white eyebrow. “Quiet prickly tonight, aren’t you, pet?”
“Argh!” If he keeps calling me that stupid nickname during our little visits, I’m going to knee him in the balls. And if I’m projecting onto this winged daemon who calls me pet, I need to seriously question my name choices.
Crunching gravel comes my way and I look up just in time to be encased in black wings and onyx eyes. “Please, don’t,” I push at a solid immovable chest.
He ignores me, “Tell me what is troubling you, pet?”
I feel like he should know considering he’s in my head, in this dream, but I find myself wanting to explain, regardless.
Exhaling loudly, I let it all out, “Castor—he’s marrying one of the priestesses.”
Rumbling starts from the naked, chiselled chest I’m cocooned in. “Pet, he is beneath you. How many times must I tell you this? He is scum on your boots.”
I have to admire my consciousness for trying to cheer me up, but that feels like the furthest thing from the truth.
Strong hands push me back and eyes so dark they remind me of faraway places stare down at me. He props one of his hands under my chinand keeps our eyes locked. “Find your way to me Pet and I’ll show you what a real man of power is capable of.”
At his words and his touch, a shutter shimmies through my bones.
I push back at him. “Stop.”
A crooked smirk overtakes sharp cheekbones as he takes a step towards me, wings once again surrounding my whole body in safety. Black lips touch my ear. “One day soon, pet, one day soon.” His velvet whisper tickles my ear going straight for my swooping stomach. “Now sleep.” The words are a command as I feel lips graze my forehead before the darkness takes me whole.
“Doooovve…”
“Doovve…”a familiar voice trickles like smooth honey through my mind.
“I’m not in the mood, Wren,” I say to the room, my voice roughened after crying myself to sleep.
“Wake up, lazy bones.”I swear, the feeling of a slight nudge jerks my body to roll off my blankets, but my sister is just as real as the horned man I dreamed up last night—incorporeal.
Before cracking my eyes, a memory of fluid ebony feathers hugs my peripherals. But all is soon forgotten when my vision starts to adjustto the soft glow emanating from beside me. Another night, another strange dream, another day in my prison. Maybe leaving isn’t such a bad idea? But what would I do? Where would I go? This is all I've ever known. My chest clenches at the thought reminding myself why I stay in this temple.
“Fine.” I sit up, stretching out my muscles. The floor isn’t the greatest resting place, my back and neck protesting.
My stomach rumbles, reminding me of the little food I ate last turn due to my nerves around the high priestess’sannouncement. Turns out, I was right to be nervous. Sure, Castor barely knew I existed, but now he is sure to never enter my stratosphere. And Kestrel… Well, that is a hard blow I am not fully willing to accept, my poor heart hoping that I still have one friend.
Rubbing my hands along my weary face, I mumble, “You don’t have friends, Dove.”
“Stop wallowing, Little Dove. There’s work to be done,”Wren commands.
It is times like these that I want to claw my brain out.
Standing up, I ask aloud, “What is your will?”
