Dream Magic

by Michelle Mankin

  “Seer.” A gravelly voice said sounding both embarrassed and surprised.

  I lifted my head reluctantly as Stone clattered to an inelegant landing on her balcony.

  “Stone.” She wriggled out from underneath me while I cursed the gargoyle and his terrible timing. She got off the bed and smoothed her mussed hair with a hand that visibly trembled. “The Dream Falcon was just leaving.”

  “That woman drives me to the edge of sanity!” I slammed the door from the balcony and stomped angrily inside the apartment.

  On the couch with another of Thyme’s poetry tomes in his hands, Billy raised a dark blond brow. “The oracle?” he guessed.

  Nodding, I stalked to the chair opposite him, sank down and crossed one leg over the other to unlace my boots.

  “Maybe we should switch roles. This waiting and wondering is driving me crazy. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can barely breathe without her. Why don’t you stay here and wait for word about Thyme while I go into the City of Lights tomorrow with Arla?” He laid his book on the balsa wood coffee table and ran a hand through his hair.

  “Negative,” I pronounced without hesitation, though I totally empathized. I was the one with the background in diplomacy and negotiation not him. And Arla and I were going to have to use considerable finesse in explaining how my feather came to be where it had been found tonight. Also, Billy was too weak now. Arla and I had shared our concerns about how rapidly his health seemed to be declining, hoping it wasn’t an indication of how deeply Thyme had descended into her transformation. Besides that, I wasn’t going to pass up another chance to be near Cecilia.

  “I guess you told me, huh?” He leaned forward as I dropped the other boot and my sock on the floor. He gave me a sad smile. “Thyme would make you put those boots in the closet and the socks in the hamper.

  I nodded, feeling guilty for my singular obsession with Cecilia while Thyme remained at large and my brother suffered because of it.

  “What’s going on with you two? Don’t tell me she’s tired of you and your archaic ass already.”

  I shook my head. I had kept my own counsel for too long. I needed advice from someone who had some experience in such matters. “The moment I laid eyes on her I knew. Even completely cloaked where I could only see the tiniest part of her nose and her chin, I knew without a doubt.”

  “Even when Thyme was just a shade, I knew.” He sighed commiseratively. “But this is good news. Isn’t it? Or are you disappointed in the one the magic has chosen for you?”

  “Hardly. She is beyond what I could have imagined. Beautiful. Strong. Courageous.” Foolhardy. Reckless. Defiant.

  “I sense a but in there.”

  “She has absolutely no regard for her own safety. She jumped from her gargoyle’s grasp at nearly a hundred feet from the ground tonight.”

  “Seriously?” His eyes widened. “Why would she do that?”

  “Because I was in pursuit of her?” I shifted uncomfortably.

  “She playing hard to get?” He attempted a grin.

  “You could say that, I suppose. But it has nothing to do with my desirability as a mate.”

  “No, of course not.” He made a disbelieving sound. “What could it be then?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’m all ears, Morpheus. Lay it on me.”

  “She is Phoebus’ paramour.”

  “If you say so whatever the hell that means.”

  “Suffice it to say that the Sun King is obsessed with her.” I wouldn’t divulge all the sordid details, even to Billy. I would not add to the unnecessary shame that she carried for the things that he did to her as his slave.

  “Of course he is, Morpheus. Anyone can see that she’s beautiful.”

  “True, but I suspect there is more at play than just the physical attraction. He is our mother’s brother, her twin…”

  “You think it has to do with the DNA that you share with him.”

  My face revealed my surprise at how quickly he came to that conclusion.

  “Don’t be so impressed. I have eyes in my head. I’ve seen how you look at Thyme.”

  “I would never…” I protested.

  “I know.” He held up his hand. “You didn’t let me finish. You are much too honorable to ever cross that line. It’s just an observation.” He gave me a piercing look. “Thyme also told me about the embrace in the courtyard and her reaction to your dream musk. She told me about the threatening note from Apollyon though she confided to you first. We have no secrets between us.”

  “That must be nice,” I muttered. I feared Cecilia and I had too many.

  “Don’t be discouraged, brother. It takes time to build trust. Talk to her. Show her how you feel. Making a relationship work takes lots of time, patience and dedication, but the rewards make it worth it.”

  I heard his whisper in my head, but I ignored it.

  “Cecilia,” he persisted and I sighed. I was never going to get any sleep if I didn’t acknowledge him. I lifted my dream self up from Fiori’s bed, glanced briefly back at the princess who slept blissfully on beside my physical body and turned my gaze to the Dream Falcon.

  He stood in the dreamscape, his arms crossed over his chest. His plaid shirt, the one I had worn earlier, hung untucked over his jeans. His feet were bare. Somehow those little details made our dream meeting seem even more intimate.

  I threw my dream legs over the side of the bed and crossed to him. “Why don’t you leave me alone,” I began but he folded me into his arms and silenced me with a kiss that was every bit as devastating as his real ones had been. A moan spilled from my dream mouth and echoed from my sleeping form.

  “Stop.” I broke the kiss pushing against his chest. He loosened his hold. I touched my fingers to my lips and spoke through them. “You can’t keep doing that to me.” I glanced back at Fiori.

  “I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to, mi corazón.” My heart. The sexy rumble of his voice crumbled my resolve to banish him.

  “Don’t do that stuff either,” I grumbled.

  “What stuff?” He arched an inquiring brow.

  “Speak sexy Spanish words to me in that I-know-exactly-how-to-make-you-melt voice.”

  He grinned. “I fear that is impossible, mi amor. I am powerless to resist you.” He stroked my cheek with his thumb right over Phoebus’ mark, though it was invisible in this place. Without even thinking about it I nuzzled into his touch.

  He drew me closer and made a keening hawkish sound low in his throat that sounded like contentment. His iridescent eyes glowed softly as he regarded me through heavy lids. I could fall for him so easily. That first kiss had opened the door to flood light on my denials. Feelings this strong couldn’t be contained. We were Fated.

  I had moved into Fiori’s room after Stone had escorted Morpheus away as much to avoid his return as to evade Phoebus. But the dream thing was a clever workaround, and if he kept it up, I wasn’t sure how long I could hold him off. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  “I am surprised to find you not in your own bed this night.”

  This time I lifted a brow. “Perhaps I didn’t wish to be found.”

  “You could flee to the farthest reaches of the world and I would find you. You are my other half.” He brushed a soft kiss across my lips. I glared at him when he lifted his head.

  “You enjoy it when I kiss you.” It was an arrogant statement not a question.

  “You think so? Maybe I just tolerate it.”

  “I think not. I can hear your heart race when my mouth is upon yours. I can sense your temperature rise.” His nostrils flared. “The scent of your arousal is sweet like the dew on a moonflower bloom.”

  “Santo cielo.” I was doomed. We were both doomed. “Don’t…”

  “Quiet.” He laid his finger over my lips and even that turned me on. His eyes flared. And he knew, the falcon bastard. “You will cease ordering me about, Cecilia. We are Fated. It is not something that can be undone, not that I would ever wish for
it to be. We will create something together. Something worth fighting for. Something beautiful.”

  I removed his finger from my mouth, grasping his arm by the wrist. My hand couldn’t even go halfway around it. His bones felt like steel. “How do your talons work?” He was too determined and I was too tired to argue with him anymore. Too fascinated.

  While I stared he extended them. The shiny ebony coating on their finely sharpened edges reflected the stars overhead. “Incredible.” I rocked his wrist so I could view them from different angles. I noted the scar where his parental identifier should be.

  “You’re the one who’s incredible, Cecilia.” His gaze was hot. Possessive.

  I wanted him to kiss me again. In another world, in another time I would have kissed him myself. I released his wrist. “I’ve never seen anything like them. Not even the vamps’ claws are as sharp. Your parents must be proud to have such a remarkable son.” I would guess they had been Progeny. A one of a kind immortal like him would have uncommon parentage.

  His hot gaze shuttered. “They are long dead now.”

  “I’m sorry.” So he was alone like me. The sadness I glimpsed, it grew out of shared experience, the same type of sorrows. “Who were they?” I whispered.

  “It matters not.”

  “You don’t want to tell me. We are Fated, yet you don’t trust me.” I tried to pull away from him again though I very much liked being in his arms. They were strong. Warm. I felt safe and protected in them. The way I had once felt in my rainforest all those years ago.

  “That is not so. I observe. I see how you are with your friends. You are honorable and loyal. You are brave also, and quick to sacrifice for others. It is Phoebus whom I mistrust, and until I can convince you to leave his realm and his influences, I cannot risk revealing the truth of my heritage.”

  “Alright,” I acquiesced. His points were valid, and I was a little heady from his praise. “Tell me about your work then?”

  He shrugged. “I fight for a living. I will accept a contract only if the cause is right. My services are highly sought after because I am the best at what I do.”

  “And what about your friends?”

  “Theirs is a long story,” he cautioned me.

  “I’m not tired.” I yawned. He smiled softly. “Not all that much tired. Tell me. I want to know everything.”

  I snuggled into his side for the telling. As he spun Billy and Thyme’s tale of incredible love and epic sadness, I could tell there were things he omitted. I guessed they had to do with his parents, so I didn’t press.

  I loved the sound of his voice. I savored the way he stroked my back as softly as he spoke. And though I don’t think he intended it, at least not overmuch, the details he revealed gave me a firmer picture of who he was. His befriending of Thyme when she was shunned by everyone else. His dedication to help Billy find her. How they together had stood against Apollyon. Morpheus was a real hero. He was the one who was loyal, brave and honorable. He thought he saw those same qualities in me, but if he looked hard enough he would discover that I was no heroine.

  Not yet. Not until I atoned for my sins.

  “Cecilia. Awaken. I have missed you.” I had pleaded my case but failed to convince Arla to let me accompany him into the City of Lights the next morning.

  Instead, I had stalked the apartment throughout the day counting steps from the door to the balcony where I would pause to stare longingly at the cloudless Paris sky before doing it all over again. I had driven Billy to distraction with my constant pacing. He must have been glad to see me disappear into my room as soon as the sun set. There I had resumed my pacing in the dreamscape until I finally spied her on her bed.

  “Morpheus,” she said sleepily in response to my call. “Go away. You don’t belong in my dreams.” She rolled over in her bed but I was not easily deterred.

  “Very well then. I should have known that a flight through the dreamscape sky would hold no interest for you.”

  She sat up immediately her eyes wide open. “Seriously? You promise?”

  “If you desire.” I grinned at her enthusiasm. “I would fly with you anywhere you wished to go. But tonight let us begin with this.”

  Her incorporeal form shimmering with excitement, she tiptoed barefooted across the threshold between waking and dreaming extending her hand. I took it breathing easier as soon as I had her. I slid my other hand into her soft hair curling my fingers around her nape, drawing her head to mine. I kissed her soundly before sweeping her into my arms and leaping into the dream void that I longed to share with her.

  I took her straight up to where the dream dust was concentrated most, above the velvety black of restless sleep and nightmares to a height where only the bright iridescent glow of the happiest hopes and dreams existed.

  Glancing around as I flew through them her eyes grew wide with wonder, reflecting their light like twin moons. She reached out to touch them as they passed her fingers leaving a trail of luminescent dust that sparkled like glitter.

  Her hands aglow in the residue she dug her fingers into my shirt and pressed her face into the center of my chest. She shivered. “I’m cold.” I had to confess that a large part of my enthusiasm for taking her this high rested in the hopes of holding her this closely.

  “Yes, it is always cold up here. Down below where most of the dreamers congregate is more balmy. Only the most blissful of sleepers rise to this height. “Put your hands inside my shirt. My skin will warm you.” She did and this time I shivered but from pleasure not cold. I wrapped my arms more tightly around her and reveled in her contented sigh.

  She yawned and burrowed closer. I tried not to think about how sexy she looked in her skimpy attire or how badly I wanted to make her mine. “Hold me like this till I wake, Morpheus.”

  “As you desire, mi amor.”

  “You know I haven’t had a single nightmare since I met you,” she confessed.

  “You will never have another one, if it lies within my power.” I pressed a kiss into the top of her hair. “Rest well, mi corazón. I will grant you only the very best of dreams this night.”

  The next night he came to visit me again in the dreamscape. He called and I came readily this time. How could I resist one who could shape my dreams with that voice and those wings?

  “Tell me about your life in the underground?” Eager to learn every single detail about him, I knew from experience that memories and the facts needed to recreate them were sometimes all you had left when those you cared for were gone.

  “Since my youth, it has been my home.” He shrugged. “It is a place of stark beauty and great danger. For years, I have plied my trade there building my reputation.” He dipped his head, brushed my hair to my back and trickled soft kisses that tickled down my neck and across my shoulders. He seemed as greedy for physical contact as I was for information. Not that I wasn’t enjoying his attention. In the silk chemise that I had worn to bed my nipples became tight aching points and my legs moved restlessly. But I knew that this was just a dream and that only the information we shared with each other was real.

  “How old were you when you came to be there?” I brought one of his hands to my lips closer tracing the strong tendons and veins with my fingers.

  “I was but five.”

  “So young.” My widened eyes revealed my shock.

  “Yes. But I was more advanced than the average youth in many ways.”

  “So were your parents already gone by then?”

  “Indeed.” He nodded and I saw that their deaths still haunted him even after all those years.

  “It never gets easier, does it?”

  “No. The pain of their loss still stings.”

  I let go of his hand and he moved it to my lower back where his other rested possessively. I slid my hand along his jaw and he leaned into the caress. “I wish I had been there to comfort you at least. I had Millie to share the burden of my parents’ deaths. You had no one. That makes me so sad.”

  His eyes became
a liquid kaleidoscope of colors as if my words of sympathy meant a lot to him. “Tell me of your sister.”

  “She was like a bright moonbeam. Everyone who ever met her loved her.” I had to swallow before I could continue. “She was everything I am not. Devoted. Unselfish. Pretty. She was my better half.”

  “You might feel that way, mi corazón. But I would have to respectfully disagree. To me you are all those things and more. I feel confident saying that your friends would count you as loving, generous and beautiful, as well.”

  I looked away. He took my chin and turned me back to face him. He brushed a soft kiss across my lips and slid a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I wish I had been there to help ease the grief of your sister’s passing. I find that I am comfortable sharing my feelings with you which is no small thing for one who is more accustomed to burying them. But let us talk of happier things. When I have you in my arms I feel like anything is possible.”

  I framed his handsome face with both hands and searched his eyes seeing that he spoke the truth and feeling his sincerity deep within my soul. Remembering the feather I had held onto for so many years, I recalled the peace I had felt with his wings around me in Amelia’s Grove. Savoring the moment, I wanted to say I believed in a future for us. But I had lived with my hate for too long. Only it was solid and reliable. The fleeting moments of happiness we had shared together seemed destined to slip away, like dreams at the dawn.

  Pretending once more to be the humbled servant the next morning, I swayed tiredly on my feet as I stood at Bacchus’ right shoulder during his breakfast meeting with Phoebus. Even when the dreamscape had begun to fade I still had been reluctant to let Cecilia return to her bed.