Calathus

Chapter 29 - Nata's Grace

Sianna was dreaming.

She saw a woman walking in waist-high water with her back toward her. Long, sleek hair floated around her in black tendrils. The woman stopped and stared at something in the sky, but Sianna couldn't see what it was. Everything around them was pure white. When a figure cut through the fog, Sianna was absolutely sure it was a male despite the blur that followed his movements as if censoring his existence from her.

"...., .... ... ... .....?" he said.

Sianna frowned. She heard his voice, knew five words were spoken, but couldn't understand them.

The woman turned, revealing she was nude. She beamed in a way that outshone her golden eyes. ". .... ...... .. .... ."

Again, Sianna counted five words but didn't know what they were. The scene changed, and all she could see now was the couple. The dark-haired woman was on the white ground with the fuzzy arms of the man around her.

"I don't want it," she said.

That, Sianna understood.

She woke up, her eyes focusing on the glowing crystals above. She sat, curious that she had fallen asleep while on her back. And that the dream was still fresh in her mind. Last time she recalled one so vividly was when she dreamt about a lavish banquet. She was the sole guest sitting at the head of a long table, watching and listening as her mother sang songs while standing on top of a burning altar.

Sianna shivered, unable to figure out which of the two dreams was more disturbing. She looked around to see she was the only one awake which made her guess she hadn't been asleep for long. Reth was on the other side of their camp, the first time ever he slept so far away from her. The sight of him filled her stomach with a bundle of nerves.

No. He never said that, and knowing Reth's devotion, the words might as well have been lost to the wind.

Ugh. Bad comparison.

She bit her lip.

But damn if he didn't give me the best orgasm of my life.

His body had been warm, his breath on her skin as hot as she had felt. There was a gentleness in his touch that held something else, and it took her sleeping on it to figure out what it was. Genuineness. He had opened a connection that invited her to a bond beyond the physical.

No shit. He said he loved you.

No. No, he didn't.

But it wasn't just that. It was...it was...

Trust.

What the hell am I thinking?

Of course she trusted him. In battle. But now, she trusted him. Truly and genuinely as she now understood he always did with her. It only took her a little oral sex to realize it. She chuckled as she laid back down and waited for whatever it was they were waiting for.

Hours later when everyone else had awakened, it appeared as a tiny, domed hut. A brown blemish against the brilliant landscape of shimmering crystals. Towering behind it was a dead black tree that clawed at the rooftop. Its trunk was twisted like a wrung out cloth. At the base of the building was a carpet of green mist, rolling out as if infinite. There was a sense of decay and misery in the sickly sway of the branches and ominous swirl of the mist. Despite that, they all gathered around it, their desperate desire to go home motivating their steps.

"It is never simple, is it?" Aldermeck said.

"Then it wouldn't be fun." Deneck grinned.

She jabbed him. "You almost died."