While her attention fixated on the blooms in the orchard, I slipped the book of binding curses into my stack of texts before leaving the library.
Chapter 13
Elsedora
Agleaming smile.
Long silver hair.
I tried to reach toward him, heart pounding.Let me touch him, dammit,I begged of the dream.
“You know what day tomorrow is, don’t you?” He stood in the doorway of my bedroom, leaning there with crossed arms.
“Ryn?” I rasped out.
“Not quite in the flesh.” His head tilted as he looked me over. I lay on top of the covers in nothing but a silk slip. “Oh, how I miss this view.”
Guilt gripped me with the realization that he hadn’t come to me in my sleep in years. Whenever I felt sad, instead, I ended up at the bedside of a sleeping King and rested easier.
“You’re here.” I tried to sit up but couldn’t.
“You know why,” he answered.
My limbs felt weak, and I couldn’t swing my legs out of bed. Stuck there, I hoped he would cross the room and come to me. “I…”
“You will not make the same mistakes again, will you?” he asked, finally stalking over to my bedside.
I frowned and shook my head, still not understanding.
He shot a devastating smirk down at me. “Quit sulking.”
“I’m not s—” My breath caught, and my words died. I reached out toward him, but my hand went right through his torso.
“I loved you, El. You could never say it back, though, could you?” His tone grew harsher, lashing my chest open, challenging me to face my error.
I loved you, too;I tried to scream it. Only garbled sounds escaped me.
He deserved to hear the words thousands of times.
I loved you.
I loved you.
Nothing left my lips.
Ryn’s pale white cheeks cracked.No, not again.Wanting to scream, I attempted to thrash but still couldn’t move.
“Don’t wait until it’s too late.” Then he disintegrated into nothing more than a pile of dust on the wood floor of my bedchamber.
Gasping, I shot awake.
I could almost smell the spice of Ryn’s cologne lingering in the air.
Pressing my palms to my eyes, I groaned. Those types of dreams once had racked me every night.
This one felt so pointed.
Peeling myself from bed, I threw a robe on and tied it. Judging by the pitch-black of the windows, it was the middle of the night.
