The last of her tears rolled down her cheeks. “Do you swear to stay?” she whispered.
“I will not move until the sun rises.”
Dyna scooted back to make room for him on the bed. He hesitated before lying beside her, careful to leave space between them. She lay flat on her back, and he did the same, both watching the candlelight shadows dance on the tent ceiling.
She didn’t know what came after for them. Not only because he was here for Rawn and tonight for her. What was his plan after he conquered the Realms? Before all of this, at the beginning of their journey, his goal had been something else entirely.
“Cassiel?”
“Hmm?”
“Have you given up on Mount Ida?” Dyna asked quietly. The real question she couldn’t voice was had he given up on his mother.
Cassiel was silent for a long minute, and she sensed he was sad. “I don’t know.” After another breath, he asked, “What are your nightmares about?”
Dyna shivered at the sensation of dropping through a dark chasm. “Falling…” she whispered. “They started after you left. It’s always the same. I chase you out of our room, then I fall into a void…”
Cassiel rolled over to face her. Worry swam in his gaze, but she wasn’t ready to say more, and he must have sensed that too. “Sleep,motek.I will be here.”
The tender word tickled her mind, and she wondered what it meant. Knowing him, another endearment that would only make her cry.
Dyna closed her eyes again, fighting back the tightness in her throat. After several breaths, she tentatively reached over and linked her pinky with his. She didn’t know why she did it. Maybe she simply missed touching him.
It rose above the fear of him hurting her again. Above her anger and fatigue. She simply wanted, for this one night, to feel close to him again. In the morning, she would remind herself why they were no longer together.
But for now, she needed this.
Cassiel looked down at where they touched. He gently slid his hand under hers and linked their fingers together. Soft currents of energy scattered over her skin. The heat radiating from his palm transferred into her body, and she slowly relaxed.
When her next nightmare came again, she didn’t fall. She was caught and pulled from the darkness. Dyna woke wrapped in his wings with his arm around her waist and her head tucked beneath his chin. Cassiel’s even breaths were steady in her ear as he slept.
Somewhere in the night, they had curled up together.
Dyna didn’t fight it this time. He was the only thing that brought her rest. How ironic, for he had caused the lack of it before. Yet now she didn’t have it in her to move away.
Completely warm and at peace, she fell into a dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER 64
Von
The morning fog rolling over the mountains appeared like waves crashing in the seas. Von shivered in his damp clothes and moved closer to the campfire. The skewered fish he’d caught hissed as they cooked over the flame.
Tavin slept across from him with a bandage wrapped around his head. The flash flood had hit them so fast it swept everything away, including the boy. Von had dove in after him without a second thought. He pressed against his ribs. They ached with every breath he took. He’d certainly taken a beating, but that was the worst of it.
It was a miracle they managed to make it out alive.
Dawn broke over the horizon, and birds chirped in the morning. No one had come looking for them yet. Either because no one had survived, or they were too far out in a land he knew no one in. If elves came across unescorted humans in their territory, it would be trouble.
His main concern was the boy. He had been unconscious all night, and Von was beginning to worry.
But then Tavin’s brow furrowed, and he groaned faintly. Relief swam through Von. The boy’s pale eyes blinked open, noticing him immediately.
“What happened?” He tried to sit but dropped back on Von’s coat, pressing on his head. “Ow…”
“Easy now. How are you feeling?”
Tavin winced as he pushed himself up again to sit. “As though my skull has made its acquaintance with a boulder.”
