“Hi,” he murmured softly.
“Hi. Are you scared of me, too?” My question was a whisper as I searched his violet eyes for the truth.
Reed just chuckled, a sound that seemed to push back the shadows in my heart. “No, Pandora. I'm not scared of you.”
“But have you heard about?—”
“You devouring a soul and dark magic inside of a guy in class?” He arched a brow. “Yep.”
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip, waitingfor him to tell me he didn’t want to be around me anymore.
“I’m afraid of feeding in others’ dreams,” he admitted. “But I did it anyway. I gave Grimshaw, Hemlock, and Shadowheart nightmares in your honor.”
“You did?” My eyes widened, and I stepped closer to him, inhaling his cotton candy scent.
“They needed to pay since I’m betting you didn’t tell Darkmore about what they’ve done.” He smirked as I shook my head.
He was right.
“That was actually really sweet. Thank you.” Heat spread through my chest.
“It was the first time out of my dreamscape since my dad was murdered,” he explained. “It was scary but worth it.”
“I don’t have control.” My voice wobbled. “That doesn’t scare you?”
He held a hand out for me to take, and a blush bloomed across my cheeks as I took it. “Take a walk with me, dream girl.” He laced our fingers together and tugged me out of the building.
As we walked together under the desert sun, the tension eased from my shoulders.
We didn’t stop walking until we ended up at Odyssey Bluff, the beauty of it a balm to my problems. It was beautiful here, the sky vast and free—and the water was as clear as Iremembered. The colored rocks were pretty at the bottom.
“I like how beautiful it is here,” I murmured.
He squeezed my hand. “It gets even better. I wanted you to be able to appreciate the beauty. This place shouldn’t be tainted because of what Dreadful did to you.”
My heart swelled as we ambled onto the rickety wooden bridge leading from the lake to the looming cliff above. We crossed the lake, and the sun painted the sky in hues of oranges and pink. It cast the prettiest glow over the water.
We paused in the middle of the bridge, and I was lost in nature around us. The gentle lapping of the water mixed with the distant calls of birds, creating a sound of nature that enveloped me in its embrace.
I’d used to only ever hear the garbled cries of birds, hear the howling winds of the desert, and felt the stale air of the cellar. Being free of Mother was the best gift the Fates could’ve given me.
With a smile curving my lips, I turned to Reed. “Isn't this just incredible?”
He nodded, his gaze fixed on the lake below us, where the colored rocks lay at the bottom. “It's like something out of my dreamscape, isn’t it?”
Fates, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“It is,” I breathed out.
His tall frame was illuminated by the softlight, his dark brown ringlets bouncing in the breeze like a halo around his head.
He turned to me with a soft smile playing on his full lips, and I felt my heart flutter. His cloudy violet eyes shone in the orange glow with a depth that drew me in, like portals to his dreamscape. He wastrulyan attractive man.
“I haven’t told you how my dad died,” he murmured, the sadness soaking his voice.
I reached out instinctively, my fingers brushing against the soft spirals of his hair. His cotton candy scent enveloped my senses, filling me with a sense of comfort and warmth that I wanted to give him. “You don’t have to.”
“I think I need to.” He reached up and grabbed my wrist gently, bringing the back of my hand to his lips and pressing them softly against my skin. “I love your scent.”
