Chapter 9
IN OUR DREAMS
Seryn
The tunnel was carved out of the most luminescent moonstone I’d ever seen, so dazzling that even Morpheus’ palace paled in comparison.
My fingertips grazed the walls, chasing the ripples of citrus-hued flashes that shimmered and vanished as I moved. Golden motes hung in the air, catching the wall’s shifting gleam and scattering ethereal patterns across the passage.
What is this place?
A glimmer of light shivered along the wall, as if it were alive, beckoning me forward. My linen kirtle scratched against my skin; I didn’t recall changing into it.
But memory unraveled in dreams. And I … I was certain I was dreaming. It made sense that they’d returned now that my father was free. Did I recognize this as one because his blood ran through me?
Everything I’d been through in recent days tumbled through my mind. What I wouldn’t give for a carefree day … or even just a warm bath.
The thought barely formed before the air thickened. The moonstone’s inner fire illuminated; lemon, mandarin, and chartreuse twisting until time itself seemed to bend. My senses slipped through my grasp like water between my fingers.
I blinked, and the tunnel dissolved.
In its place, an otherworldly pool stretched before me, its surface liquid gold beneath a veil of vapor. Tiny gilt sparkles danced in the mist. Moonstone stalactites dripped from the cavern’s ceiling like melting stars, their fractured rainbows reflecting across the water.
My feet were bare now. The pool’s edge warmed my soles, guiding me forward. I descended the first three steps into the spring, the warm water lapping at my knees. I inhaled deeply, steam filling my lungs. Somehow, I now wore a silken chemise, and my fingers curled into the golden fabric at my hips.
Gavrel’s voice flitted through my mind. How my name spilled off his lips when something I said amused him. The moments he called me Asteria when his emotions were high.
I would find him.
It wasn’t a choice. It was a fact. Something I would do or die trying.
Because he was my forever, even if that meant haunting the nightmare realm in search of him for the rest of eternity.
Closing my eyes, I skimmed my palms along my sides, across my belly. Tingles followed in their wake, but in my mind, they weren’t my own hands—they were Gavrel’s, strong and reverent—cupping my breasts, unyielding, claiming the desire that ached within me.
A solid warmth pressed against my back. Long, thick fingers closed around my waist.
My eyes flew open.
“No need to stop on my account, Asteria.” Gavrel’s voice rasped low, roughened with want and something laced in remorse. His exhale grazed my cheek; his body anchored mine.
My heart somersaulted. Relief and lust tangled together. “Gavrel,” I whispered, leaning against his chest. “You … you’re here.”
“I am. I’ll always find you. Even in our dreams.”
I choked on my next words. “You left me.”
Slowly, his hands moved over my stomach, folding me into him. He kissed my temple, breathing me in as if I were his only source of air.
“It was the only way. She wouldn’t have stopped. Forgive me.”
I ran my thumb over the top of his hand.
He nuzzled my curls. “I … I thought I’d lost you.” The words shuddered from him.
Steam cloaked us; the pool glittered against our legs.
“Never.” I turned in his arms, his thumbs pressed into the slope above my backside, his fingers splayed across the round cheeks. I cupped his jaw, his stubble scraping against my skin. “You’ll never lose me. I am yours. And you are mine. Until Khaos takes us all.”
His emerald gaze traveled over me—my loose strands, the curve of my mouth, the fluttering pulse in my neck, and the necklace hanging between my breasts.
The tip of his tongue wet his bottom lip before he dragged his teeth over it. A shiver raced along my spine.
My hands slid down his neck, over broad shoulders, digging into the dark tunic stretched across his chest.
He descended another step, forcing me deeper; the water licked our waists and soaked the fabric clinging to our skin.
His right hand curved around my nape, his left squeezing my hip as he leaned close. “That’s where you’re wrong, Little Star.”
His whisper brushed against my lips. Goosebumps raced over my flesh.
“Not even Khaos can take you from me. Because you’re mine,” he growled.
His lips crashed into mine, stealing my next breath. His tongue pushed into my mouth, tangling with my own as we devoured one another. Our kiss was rough and desperate and wild.
This was real. This had to be real.
I never wanted this dream to end; waking was an impossible, horrid thing.
I buried my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer still. His hands were all over me, squeezing, kneading.
Claiming me.
Heat pooled in my core, around me, through me as molten gold splashed around us. Steam caressed our heated flesh.
His grip tightened before his mouth pulled away. He nibbled and licked his way down my throat. My head fell back, the ends of my curls dipping into the water, and he bit the side of my neck. I whimpered, and his tongue ran over the sting, tasting me.
His hardness pushed against my stomach. I clawed at his tunic, tearing it off him. He yanked his soaked breeches down, cursing under his breath as the clingy fabric resisted him, then shoved them away and let them sink into the depths.
Gilded droplets trickled down his tanned muscles, slipping along the chiseled lines. I traced the rivulets down to the V that disappeared into the water, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.
A low rumble reverberated in his chest, and he ran his thumb over my rune talisman. “You look like you came from this golden pool. A dream. A siren I can’t resist.”
“Then don’t.”
All at once, he dropped my necklace and tore the front of my chemise, and I gasped. The fabric fluttered away and sank as if it did indeed come from the liquid depths. He grabbed my bottom, and I jumped, wrapping my legs around his waist. His cock bobbed against me.
Hurriedly, he carried us to a flat moonstone boulder jutting out from the pool’s edge. Spongy, lavender moss tufts scattered over the surface.
Our mouths met and retreated, tongues clashing, teeth nipping.
I needed him. Wanted him to ruin me before this dream ended.
He lifted me out of the water, placing me on the edge of the rock, legs hanging open on either side of his hips. Roughly, he gripped the tops of my thighs, pushing them wider and eyeing my slick center.
“Fuck, Seryn. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
I shuddered, leaning back on my elbows, the flora soft against my skin. He wet his lips, leaning down and blowing warm breath over my clit.
My head dropped back. His left hand trailed up my hip, my ribs. Until he found my breast and palmed it, his thumb and forefinger pinching my aching nipple.
Pleasure rocketed through my sex, and as a moan spilled from me, his mouth covered the throbbing bundle at my apex and sucked.
My chest pitched upward, but his palm splayed across my sternum, pushing me down before returning to my breast, toying with it as his tongue swirled around my clit.
“Gavrel,” I groaned, tugging his hair. Anchoring myself in this steam-drenched moment.
“So delicious, and all for me. Only for me.” His words vibrated against me as his right hand slid between my legs.
“Only for you,” I agreed.
He rewarded me by slipping two fingers inside my wet heat while his lips and tongue worked my needy bud. Tingles pooled at the base of my spine, electric sparks shooting through my core.
It was too much.
I loved him too much.
Wanted him.
Needed him.
His mouth left me, and he nipped my inner thigh as his fingers pumped into me, his thumb flicking my clit.
I reared up again, and he let me, eyes boring into mine as my face twisted into a silent scream, air trapped in my lungs.
He leaned into me, sucking my other nipple into his hot mouth, left hand claiming my waist.
My hands flew to his shoulders as his right hand worked me, my need coating his fingers and my sex.
“Gav, I … I …”
“Let go, my star,” he demanded, voice rough.
My desire condensed, everything in me stilling, my pulse, my breath. And with one final, firm brush of his thumb against my clit, I came undone. I screamed his name, and it echoed through the cave like a prayer.
“Fucking void. Come all over me, Asteria.”
I convulsed, my center clenching in spasms, my fingernails digging into his biceps. Primal awe swept over his features as he watched me.
I was made of the glittering gold whirling in the heated mist.
And I was still ravenous.
I ran my hands over his chest. “I need you.”
His damp lips parted, chest heaving. We were too far gone, and he was too tightly wound to be gentle.
Our time was too short.
We both knew we could wake at any moment. Such was the nature of dreams.
Without hesitation, he pulled his fingers from me, my core grasping at the loss as he gripped my waist and yanked me into the water. He kissed me hard once and then flipped me around, pushing between my shoulder blades until my cheek pressed into the warm stone and pillowy moss.
His palm glided down my spine before he grabbed my hips and tugged them up, positioning himself between my thighs.
“Hold on to something,” he rasped. But his demand barely had time to land before he slammed himself to the hilt, driving a ragged moan from me.
My fingers scrambled to find purchase in the moss as my chest jerked forward, breasts bouncing as he pumped into my wet core.
Liquid gold splashed riotously around us as we moved, his front slapping into my bottom with each thrust, fingers digging into my hips.
From this angle, I felt every delicious inch of his erection. It was deeper, thicker. He reached one hand around and rubbed my clit as he moved within me. My nipples glided back and forth against the polished moonstone, and the hot spring water splattered relentlessly over my thighs and back.
Something coiled within my core as I felt the slick slide of his cock.
In and out.
My breasts were heavy; each brush of moss against them had my eyes rolling back.
His fingers swirled and tapped my sensitive bud.
“You. Are. Everything.” Each thrust punctuated his words.
The sound of our slapping skin and splashing water sent jolts of lust prickling over my spine.
My mind spun, vision blurring in a dizzying array of prismatic colors and shapes.
Crackling ember flared around me, and his tattoo burst into life, our combined radiance lighting up the whole cavern like a supernova.
My center convulsed, and tingles shot down my spine.
He slammed into me over and over, groaning my name.
“Come undone. I want to feel you come apart.”
And I did. I arched my back, rising as my core quaked. The orgasm scorched through me, and I flung my arms around his neck so I wouldn’t sink into the water.
His cock jerked, swelling and throbbing before he spent himself inside me, groaning. His fingers jerked clumsily over my clit.
Tensing with aftershocks, he gathered me close before his muscles loosened and his head dropped to the side of my neck.
He kissed below my ear. “We’ll find one another, Asteria. Stay alive until then.”
I could feel my dream slipping from me. So could he. His embrace tightened.
“To the Nether Void and beyond,” I breathed, my face turning to his.
“To the Nether Void and beyond,” he echoed before placing a gentle kiss on my waiting lips.
My eyes fluttered closed, and we let ourselves drift into that unknowable elsewhere we so often promised one another.