But then the world around him shimmered, like a watercolor painting caught on the shore of a lake.
A wave blurring what had once been so bright until the colors bled together and washed out.
Until all that was left was muted shades of gray.
Kingston, what did you do?
He charged toward me, older than in my last memory. Anger screwed up his features. Fury twisted his expression like a knife in my chest. Pain?—
There was so much pain in his eyes, and I couldn’t find the light. Seconds passed too quickly, but I stood my ground as he rushed forward.
I didn’t flinch.
I would not yield.
Landon pulled to a stop at the last possible moment, his eyes wild.Feral.
I put my hand up in front of me, palm out. As if he were an animal—wild and dangerous—that needed to be steadied. His chest heaved with ragged breaths. Nostrils flaring, he spit a curse at my feet and dragged his hands through his hair.
Blood streaked across the dark strands.
He reached for me, but he wouldn’t be mine anymore.
Awareness hit me.
Even in my sleep, I recognized I was dreaming as it all played out in front of me. Reliving a nightmare that resurfaced far too many times.
All I could do was end it.
Wake up.
But our last hope, and my one chance to fix what I’d done...it had slipped away almost as quickly as his memory had faded.
The image in my mind rippled like the surface of a midnight blue lake, but it didn’t turn to gray like it always had before. My mind went blank.
I gasped for breath as something appeared. Brush strokes filled a canvas with color. Like a kaleidoscope, it was bright, vivid, and painfully real. A moment I’d never lived, but somehow felt deep within my bones.
Consciousness crept in at the edges of my new dream.
And I needed more time.
Before The Quest
I stared out the window, past the easel set in front of me. Unsure if I’d ever recreate it.
I’d been painting for hours. Trying for almost a year.
Color filled every edge of my mind and almost every inch of the canvas, but it still wasn’t right. It was still missing...
I couldn’t see it. What filled the space in the middle.
What completed the dream.
I’d searched every recess of my memory trying to find it, but the answer wouldn’t come.
And I was out of time.
I needed to let it go. Accept my fate, oversee The Quest, and resign myself to a future I never wanted.
