Forgive them? What were they going to … I screamed as I felt something moving in me as they began to speak. Their words were hard to understand. I didn’t hear them with my ears but in my mind as something wove into my body, beneath my skin. Far beyond the recesses of my mind, I heard a door slam. Was that real or was it my imagination?
Everything grew heavy. My limbs. My eyelids. Darkness encroached. A weight landed on my chest, and suddenly my mother’s arms fell away and I descended into a dark oblivion.
“Cress?” a voice called out to me in the darkness. “Cress, are you there, sweetheart?” I recognized the sound. It was someone I knew. Someone I cared for. Who? Where was I?
Two strong arms came around me, lifting me back out of the shadows, and I gasped as my eyes popped open. Orion’s face appeared over me and as I sat up and looked around, I realized my memory had faded. No longer was I in the forest with the man and woman. I was sitting in a stone room, not unlike my cell except there was no furniture and no door. None of that mattered right then because Orion was there!
“Orion!” I launched myself into his arms, clinging tightly. He returned my embrace without reserve, his arms banding around me as he squeezed me right back. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” I whispered thickly against his chest.
“Of course I’m here,” he said after a moment. “I’ll always come for you when you need me.”
I let myself have a few more moments with him, but when I realized that this wasn’t exactly reality either and it wasn’t possible for Orion to be locked in a stone room with no entrance with me, I pulled back. “What’s going on?” I asked. “What are you—”
“Cress.” He stopped me, his dark eyes looking down at me through even darker lashes.
I didn’t need to say it, but I did nonetheless. “This isn’t real,” I whispered. “Is it?”
He shook his head. “This is merely a dream. I’m here because we’re searching for you, Sorrell, Roan, and I. I need you to give me some information about where you are. Anything can help. Do you remember—”
“I know where I am,” I interrupted him quickly.
His brows rose in surprise as if he hadn’t expected that. “You do?”
I nodded. “I’m in Amnestia,” I said, and then with a sharp inhale, I told him the next part. “I’m in the King’s prison tower,” I admitted. “Tyr’s working with King Felix. The King has no idea that he’s a Fae. Orion, it’s bad. Tyr’s planning to let the humans and Fae destroy each other. I don’t know how long he’s been planning this, but there’s going to be a battle—”
“Shhhhh.” Orion’s heavy hand stroked down the side of my face as he quieted me. “It’s going to be okay.” His eyes were sharp when they connected with mine. “Go slow. Tell me everything, and then when you wake, know that we are coming for you.”
“He’s going to execute me,” I said, my lips trembling. I hadn’t wanted to admit it before, but sitting here, in Orion’s lap, my fear was impossible to disguise. I couldn’t deny it or hide it any longer. “On the seventh day of my imprisonment,” I continued. “At dawn. Orion … it’s coming soon.”
“No,” he growled the word, palming the back of my head and bringing me closer until his forehead pressed to mine. “We will not let that happen.”
“But—” He didn’t let me finish. Orion’s lips crashed down hard on mine and he swallowed my words, draining my fear with his mouth. His tongue moved against mine and I felt myself caving to his ministrations. My whole body rocked into his and before I knew it, my fingers were sinking into the silky dark strands of his hair. I clambered onto his lap, sliding my legs around his waist until the familiar feel of his cock pressed against my core.
Orion pulled away long enough to emit another growl as he pushed his hips up into me, as if he couldn’t even help himself. “I’m sorry, Cress,” he said, his voice trembling. “So fucking sorry. I will find you. I will save you. Believe me, sweetheart. I will—”
“I do,” I said, cutting him off.
Orion tilted his head down, closed his eyes, and kept going as though I hadn’t spoken. “When we free you,” he said. “I’ll leave.” Ice washed through my veins and I reared back, shocked. “I’ll make sure you’re safe and then I’ll make sure I’m never the cause for something like this again.”
Anger and pain sliced into my chest. I pressed my lips together and fought back the sting of tears as water filled my eyes. “Orion.” I cupped his face. “Orion, look at me.”
His eyes opened.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pressed my lips to his in a soft, feather-light touch. And that’s where I held them as I spoke in a soft whisper. “Your brother’s actions are not yours,” I urged. “You are not your brother. This is not your fault.”
“I—”
“No,” I snapped, cutting him off. I wouldn’t let him say it again. I couldn’t bear to hear it. “Stop it. Don’t pity yourself. Don’t act the martyr. Just get off your ass and come get me because, Orion, I’m scared. I’m scared and I fucking need you. Please don’t leave me.”
His hands clenched against my sides as if he wanted to pull away, but something—hopefully words— was preventing him from doing so. “I love you.” The words were so quiet, I almost didn’t hear them. They were like the sound of a bird’s wings beating against the wind. There with each breath he took, but so natural, a person could forget its existence.
“I…” A tear broke through the surface and slid down the outside of my cheek. “I love you, too.” I pushed him back. “Now hurry up and come get me.”
He nodded, his eyes meeting mine. “I will,” he said “We will. We’re coming, Cress. Just hang on.”
Another tear slid down my opposite cheek and Orion’s eyes tracked it. “Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll wait.”
I leaned forward, just wanting one last kiss. One more to hold me until I could feel his arms around me—for real.
The kiss never came.
Chapter Seven
Orion
Lips untaken were the most delicious of fruit, and that last kiss would have been the sweetest, had I not been ripped away. Dream magic was fickle like that. It was dangerous and never quite as easy as it sounded once one was encompassed in another’s mind. The user never knew how long they had or when they'd be snapped back to their own reality.
My heart seized as I came back to myself in the present. Sweat dripped from my pores and slid against my temples. The urge to go to her was beyond anything I'd ever felt before. I counted each breath I took as I fought against those instincts.
I hadn’t gotten the chance to kiss her, but even if I had, one single kiss wouldn’t have been enough. I needed more—the weight of her in my hands, the warmth of her body pressed against mine, the scent of her filling my nose. I craved it all. Despite coming back to the world of awareness, without her, all of my senses felt dulled. But my objective had been fulfilled. We now knew where she was. The darkness that had been haunting the edges of my vision receded slightly.