His darkness trailed after him, straining and reaching. He was too worried about finding her to even try to rein it back in fully. He still had some measure of control, but there was no subduing it fully. Not when he was furious with Razik. The male had no business telling her anything about him. Then again, the male didn’t understand sacrificing for something or someone other than himself. He wouldn’t expect him to understand why he’d done things the way he had, which is why he hadn’t bothered offering an explanation. If he hadn’t been concerned with tracking down Kailia, he would have gone straight to Tybalt and ordered Razik away from Kailia and out of Avonleya for good.
That would come, but she was more important right now.
Despite it being pointless, he did one more sweep of all their rooms, calling out for Kailia again. Of course, she didn’t answer. It was probably for the best. He didn’t want to have this conversation here anyway. He didn’t know how much Razik had told her. From their brief conversation, it was strictly about his ability to dream-walk, but the male had just figured out that Cethin had been keeping Kailia from moving through her magic. He had no doubt he’d be eager to tell Kailia that information as well. The fucker may as well have laid all the kingdom’s secrets before her. Things he planned to tell her eventually, but nothing that should have been shared yet. She wasn’t where he needed her to be yet. This information was too soon for her to learn, and now everything was likely fucked.
Taking a deep breath that did absolutely nothing, he sent a message with his magic. It was simple and direct. Something she’d understand.
Wife-
Come to me. Your ashes know the way. I’ll be waiting.
Traveling once more, he slipped his shoes off and slipped his hands into his pockets while he waited. Not even the gentle roll of the waves meeting the shore was enough to bring him the peace they usually provided. Instead, his darkness twisted and rolled around him, a dense fog slowly taking over the beach while he stared out at the sea. The sea he used to stare at for hours and hours, willing a single ship to appear.
The water was warming up, but it was still a shock of cold as it rolled over his toes. It did nothing to assuage the chaos pulling at his soul. Wanting to strike out, wound, destroy. Wanting totake and feast, waiting for Kailia to show up as anxiously as he was.
The Summer Solstice Festival was in two days, daylight stretching on longer than the night. His people anticipated the Winter Solstice far more. He huffed a humorless laugh to himself. How fitting that all his secrets seemed to be coming to light as the longest day of the year neared.
In the end, it took her longer than he’d expected for her to answer his summons. He’d known she wouldn’t come right away. She was trying to process what she’d learned, and she’d prefer to do that on her own. Get her feelings sorted and emotions under control before she sought him out.
He was debating using other methods to track her down when he felt her.
Felt the surge of power flicker in and out until a swirl of smoke and ashes deposited her on the beach next to him. The sun was nearing the horizon, pinks and oranges overtaking the sky as the night slowly crept in to claim its territory once more.
Cethin turned, hands still in his pockets as he looked down at her. She’d pushed herself onto her knees, the surf breaking around her and soaking her dress. Her face was down, staring at the sand where he stood a foot or so away. Her black hair was a mess of knots and tangles, hanging limply around her shoulders, and her hands were flat on her thighs, fingers of her left hand on the hilt of her dagger.
She didn’t move, and for a long moment neither did he. Not until he said, “Look at me, tiny fiend.”
When she didn’t, he took a step closer, lowering to a crouch before her. He didn’t warn her with his magic. Not as he reached out and placed a fingertip beneath her chin, forcing her head up, but she didn’t pull back from his touch like he’d expected. Smoke and ashes swirled violently in amber eyes. Eyes he still couldn’t read, her face a mask of the same disposition. It was because ofthis he’d had to resort to stalking her dreams. How else was he to learn about her when she kept herself so closed off?
Ashes and smoke drifted around her, and his own magic chased it, trying to swirl and wind among her power. Wanting to coax it and lull it and subdue it. Cethin couldn’t tell if she was affected by any of it.
“Kailia?” he ventured, her name sharper than he’d intended. “What did Razik tell you?”
“What is dream-walking?” she asked, her voice too calm.
He ground his molars, wanting an answer to his own question rather than the give and take this was obviously going to be.
“I can enter people’s dreams. Not control them, but be present. Interact if I choose,” he answered, watching her carefully for any hint of a reaction as he pulled his hand back.
“You can do this to anyone?”
“It’s easier if I have a connection of some sort. A point of contact. Be touching someone, for example.”
Something hardened in her eyes. The first hint of any emotion. “You were in my dreams while I slept alone. You weren’t touching me then.”
“The day I proposed my bargain and escorted you through the gardens, I ran my fingers along your hair and let a thread of my magic cling to it. A single point of contact is all I need,” he said again.
“To make sure I understand, you’ve been watching me in my dreams?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“This entire time.”
“Since that day in the gardens.”
She nodded. Her next words were quiet and soft, murmuring more to herself than to him. She turned her arm over, running her fingers along her bare forearm as she studied it. “Dreams aresupposed to be safe. I’m supposed to be safe there. That was the whole point…”
“You are safe, Kailia. I made a promise to protect you. That’s what I was doing,” he tried, attempting to pull his magic back to himself.
