Kailia planted her feet, conjuring two daggers from her magic. Briefly she debated attempting to move through her power, but when she’d tried last time, she’d still been stuck. Unable to drift and find the freedom she loved. Moreover, this was all a dream, a memory that could serve. She could learn something here. That was what she’d discovered over the centuries. Dreams were teachers if you let them. Dreams were places to conquer memories. Dreams could be paralyzing or freeing, depending on one’s willingness to surrender to them.
The first person rushed at her, a female with bright orange hair and fire at her mercy. Kailia cocked her arm back, sending her dagger flying. It struck true, the female dropping before she could do anything more and flames winked out.
A male came next, his water winding up Kailia’s legs and torso, weighing her down as vines from another twined around her wrist, thorns sinking into her flesh. She conjured another dagger in time to block a blade as the water wielder brought a sword down. Her knee came up, connecting with his groin, and as the male groaned in pain, she struck out with her blade, sinking it deep into his gut.
The other was there, and she felt the air stir behind her. She ducked a moment before a hand would have grabbed her. Touched her. The thought alone had her spinning and swiping with her daggers in one fluid motion.
But then she couldn’t breathe as the air was pulled from her lungs. She gasped, trying to choke down any bit of oxygen.
A dream.
This was a dream.
Then the fire came, singeing along her flesh. And the burning. The burning she could feel because Ash Riders might descend from Anala, but they couldn’t wield flames. They weren’t immune to it like fire Fae were, and she couldn’t scream because she couldn’t breathe. Not as the flames seared across her middle.
Then came the hands.
The hands that were touching her and trying to drag her somewhere.
The hands that were as torturous as the flames.
With a violent twist, she tore through the vines, the thorns sinking deeper. Smoke and ashes swirled around her, chasing the flames, tearing at her clothing to erase the touch. Pain lanced through her stomach, but it was nothing compared to the fire and the touching.
Suddenly able to suck in a breath, she screamed. Not in pain, despite that agony still tormenting her, but in utter rage. Her ashes burst out from her in a radius, dragging anything and everything back to her. Daggers in hand, she couldn’t hear them, but their mouths moved, screaming and pleading.
She didn’t give a single fuck.
She dropped to a knee between the two bodies held in place by ashes. She watched them convulse and choke as her smoke swirled along their noses and mouths and eyes. And in perfect synchrony, she brought her blades down, one on either side, and sank them into their hearts.
She pushed back to her feet, everything around her muted and moving as if in slow motion. Another scream rippedfrom her throat. The scent of magic hung in the air, all of it assaulting her senses, but the fire.
The fire.
And the burning.
And the touching.
She dropped back to her knees, the daggers clattering beside her, and she clawed at her arm, desperate to see that Mark.
A dream.
A dream.
A—
“Easy, tiny fiend.”
Her head snapped up to find Cethin slowly lowering to his knees before her. He’d been in her dreams more and more lately, which made sense, but he’d never interacted with her on a dream plane.
“I’m going to take your boots off for you, okay?” Cethin said, watching her and waiting.
This was a dream, and now that she was back in the right state of mind, she could remember that. She could take control. If she could do that, she could learn what her dreams were trying to tell her.
Nodding slowly, he reached for her foot. The leather between his skin and hers, the touch wasn’t as jarring. He didn’t speak as he deftly undid the laces and buckles, sliding off one and then the other.
“Would you like to handle the socks?” he asked, silver eyes meeting hers with an expression she didn’t understand.
Wanting to test a theory, she shook her head, otherwise holding perfectly still.
