Chapter 13
“Runa.”
My eyes snapped open to the dream world I’d become accustomed to. I groaned. I did not want to converse with him right now. I pinched my eyes closed, begging for a dreamless sleep while simultaneously realizing it was too late for that.
“Runa, you’re going the wrong way.”
My brow furrowed as I realized it wasn’t Otho in the dream world. No, it was Signa. She stood across from me, much taller in this plane than she was in the real world. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her blue eyes clear.
“You can see here,” I breathed.
“Of course I can. This place is a different plane than the one we live on.” Her voice was snarky, and I could tell her patience with me was running thin.
I frowned at her words, thinking of my more recent visits to the strange, silent forest that Otho claimed went on forever.
“But that’s not important now. You must turn around and head to my cottage outside of Ralheim.”
Even the mention of the town I grew up in had me wincing. I hadn’t thought of Milo in a while, and that pinched. I also felt something in my chest, something pulling me in the direction Ena was leading us. “I don’t think I can, Signa.”
She shook her head, her dismay obvious. “You have to, Runa.”
I looked around the dream world, searching for something—well, someone, who wasn’t there. “There is something else I have to do first.”
“If you must,” Signa snapped, disappearing the instant she finished speaking.
The dream world was eerily silent at her departure, and I realized this was the first time I’d been here alone—been the last to leave.
I leaned on the boulder behind me, the one that was always there. Closing my eyes, I tried to sleep, hoping I would wake in the real world, but when I opened my eyes again, nothing had shifted. It was the same ethereal forest.
Climbing to my feet, I figured I might as well explore, especially if I was going to be visiting as much as I had been—see what exactly the dream forest had to offer. I took a step toward the trees.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
It was the deep voice this time, the one I would know anywhere. My heart tugged, and I knew the potion I’d been taking had worn off. I reached for my powers only to find nothing.
Meaning I’d learned something new. The weighted relationship was different than magic.
I realized I hadn’t answered Otho yet, the faint sound of his foot tapping on the hard-packed dirt breaking through my thoughts. “Why does it matter to you?” I asked without turning around. I didn’t want to see him—didn’t want to be convinced into revealing anything I wasn’t ready to reveal.
I didn’t want to be convinced into trusting him again. My destiny was ahead; I knew it.
“It’s a dream plane. There’s no ending or beginning, you will just wander forever,” he stated with a sigh, and my eyes flickered over my shoulder of their own accord. He was dressed in his uniform, but the sleeves were rolled up enough for me to spot the tattoos encircling his wrist.
It was hard not to find him attractive, and I had to coax my mind into remembering my anger at him. I turned away again and laid my hand on the nearest tree, resting my head on the back. “How long have you been here?”
“Long enough.”
“You saw Signa then?”
“Yes.”
My mind spun. “How many people can come here, and what are the restrictions? Like, can anyone I’ve ever known come here?
” I lost my resolve, turning as I finished my question, to find Otho leaning up against a closer tree than before, the dark circles under his eyes drawing my focus. The plan must not have gone well.
I was oddly smug at that thought.
“I don’t know,” he admitted at last, crossing his arms. “I don’t have much more knowledge than you. But I’ve seen others here before, and I know I can call you here.”
I repressed my smirk and the urge to run up to him. I definitely knew more than him now, but I was never one to brag. That, and his last sentence was bothering me. “Who have you seen here before?”
His gaze finally met mine, his gray eyes holding me captive in their unending depths. “I see Friar here sometimes. I’ve also seen your cousin.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I took a step closer. “Did you speak with her when she was here?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know exactly how it works. I think, somehow, the magic knows to drop you near the people you’re thinking of, because this place is vast and I can’t see any other way one would ever find anyone they knew here.”
I took a step closer, my hand rising to brush my thumb on one of the dark circles under Otho’s eyes.
He leaned into my touch, and the tension left my shoulders.
I hated that merely touching him affected me this way, but at the same time, it felt so good to brush his skin with my thumb, even if it was just a dream.
“How are you so tired if you’re currently asleep? ”
“I’m not asleep.” He breathed. “You can also arrive here by meditation.” He closed his eyes, and I swore there was the glimmer of a tear. “Why didn’t you stay in the keep? Why didn’t you wait for me?” His words were hoarse, like it was a struggle for him to say them.
His words broke the spell, and I stepped back, dropping my arm back to my side. “I feel drawn to you, Otho, I can’t deny that. But . . .” I debated whether to tell him the truth, my mind flashing to the last two times I’d seen him here. “But there is something else I am being called to do.”
He shook his head, his denial obvious. “I’m coming for you, Runa.”
It wasn’t a lie, and my heart ripped in two at my indecision, but my skin still crawled with the feeling of Leif, and I knew it wouldn’t dissipate anytime soon. Not without space. “I need some time on my own, Otho. Please, grant me that.”
His hand clutched at his shirt, over his heart. “The pain will only grow the further we are apart. That’s what it means to be weighted.”
“I understand,” I said with the dip of my chin. “But please let me do what I need to do first.”
“I want to say yes, Runa, and you know I would do anything for you.” He winced with those words. “But the further you move from me, the more we will be drawn together. That’s how this works. I will try to delay the inevitable, but we will meet soon. I can’t resist the pull.”
“Even if I reject the bond?” My words were quiet, lacking the confidence I’d spoken with previously.
Otho didn’t reply.
I bit my lip, unsure what else to say, my own indecision tearing me in two.
But despite my indecision about what Otho wanted from me, and Signa too, I knew I needed to see the king.
I needed to ensure he would step in to bring Heimland back into balance—preventing a war between the Seid from blooming.
“Where did you learn about rejecting the bond?” Otho’s words were strained.
I hadn’t, but he just confirmed what I’d been wondering.
“Please, can I kiss you?” His voice was low and breathy.
My head snapped up, my eyes connecting with his once more.
I shook my head.
I jolted awake, breathing heavily. My hand clutched at my chest and the slight pull I felt there, like someone had tied a rope around me and was attempting to draw me forward.
“Quite some dream you must’ve had.” Ena chuckled from a few trees away, where she was inspecting a bush filled with branches that were heavy with berries.
“Have you ever visited the dream space, Ena?”
She spun, eyes wide. “You can go to the dream space?”
I nodded, rubbing the slight ache in my chest before remembering one of the potions tucked in my brassiere. I pulled it out and drank it, grimacing as it slid down my throat. Belladonna was bitter, even when mixed with moonflower.
“I . . . I heard you have to be really good at emptying your mind and focusing at the same time. I’ve never achieved it,” she mumbled, sipping from the waterskin before handing it to me. Her hand unfurled to reveal several berries. “Think these are safe to eat?”
I inspected them, mentally comparing them to the known poisons, many of which present themselves in the form of berries. “I think so.”
She divided what was in her hand between us. “We will start with these. If we still feel fine in a few moments, I’ll pick more.”
I ate them one by one.
Hopefully I didn’t lead her astray.
The words hissed through my mind like a whisper, and I did a mental double take as I realized I wasn’t the one to think them. My mind raced as I debated how to proceed. I decided honesty was the best option.
“Ena,” I breathed. “Think something about yourself I don’t know,” I demanded, fighting to remain calm.
She looked at me, eyes wide. The words drifted through an instant later. “Can she hear my thoughts?”
“I think so,” I replied. “Think something I wouldn’t ever guess.”
“I once kissed Leif.”
My mouth dropped open. Not because I was angry, but because it was true—I could hear thoughts.
I responded to her admission audibly, “I don’t care; I don’t think I loved him in the end. Not really. It was just that first exhilarating love, you know? Until you discover the real thing.”
Ena nodded. “I figured as much. I never saw you respond to him like you did Otho when he rescued us.”
My heart panged, and I steered the conversation elsewhere, not ready to confront my complicated feelings for a certain broody general.
Instead, I wondered why I could hear her thoughts now, when this was the same time I always took my potion in the mornings.
I didn’t hesitate to muse aloud. “I assume my mental wall has been damaged so when the potion wore off and the new dose hadn’t quite kicked in yet.
I think the only reason I’m able to distinguish your thoughts right now is because there’s no one else around.
” It was only a theory, but I knew there had to be some truth to it.
“Sounds like a good opportunity for you to learn to control it before we come across anyone else.”
“And before she finds out how much I like Derek.” Ena’s unspoken sentence floated through my mind.
I chuckled. “You and Derek, huh?”