Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Fordham,” she whispered.
It had worked.
It had actually worked.
She had pulled Fordham into a dream.
The perfect black-and-silver silk had been replaced with sturdy travel clothes. He even had furs about his neck. He must be somewhere far north in the mountains then. Only in northern Erewa did a person need furs all year-round.
“What is this?” he demanded uncertainly.
“A dream.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve not had a good dream in a long while, but it does not have the feel of a nightmare.”
“No, it’s not. It’s my spirit magic,” she explained. “I’ve learned how to pull others into a dream with me. As if on the spirit plane, but … well, it’s called dreamwalking.”
Finally, his shoulders relaxed. “This must be true. I don’t believe that I could invent this myself.” His eyes scanned the rocky cave and the clear blue water. “Where have you brought me?”
“Draíocht.”
His eyebrows rose sharply. “Holy lands. What are you doing here?”
She sighed. “So much has changed since you left, Fordham. It’s hard to explain.”
“I did this for you.”
Kerrigan reacted. She pushed him until he took a step backward, his worn shoes stepping into the water. “How dare you!”
She expected anger from him, but instead, he laughed.
“This isn’t funny!” she cried. “You didn’t do this for me. You did this for you.”
“It’s not. It’s not funny,” he agreed, his hand coming up to stay her anger. “But only you would find a way to reach me just so you could be mad at me.”
Kerrigan’s cheeks heated, but she released a laugh too. “Well, this is your fault. How could you leave like that? With just a letter. That’s a coward’s way out.”
He frowned at that assessment. “I did what I thought was best.”
“It wasn’t good enough! You have no idea what I’m dealing with, and you’re not there to help me. You should be at my side, or I should be at yours. We should be handling this together.”
“If I’d stayed, then you would have ended up dead, Kerrigan. I couldn’t be responsible for that.”
She wanted to rip her hair out. The same argument round and round. It was infuriating that he couldn’t see that he was causing his own curse to come to fruition.
“So, you’d rather see me married to March?”
“No,” he ground out.
“You’d rather have me face the Red Masks alone?”
“No.”
“You’d rather I deal with the refugees of your people while you disappear into the wilderness somewhere, chasing after a curse?”
“I am doing this so that I can come back and handle all of that,” he said, his voice finally rising.
“And what if you’re too late?” she demanded.
His eyes smoldered. Fury flashed across that perfect aristocratic face. He didn’t like that at all. And, gods, she didn’t like it either. He’d promised that he would fight for her. But the time to fight was right now. Not later.
“I had a vision,” she spat. “I saw my wedding, and you weren’t there, Ford. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“No,” he growled as if that was the only word he could think of at that statement.
“Tell me what to do with it!”
But he had no words. He simply seized her by the shoulders and crashed their lips together. She was tense for a matter of seconds as the anger she’d bottled up these long weeks tried to release. Then, his hands slid up her neck to cup her jaw, and everything relaxed all at once.
She melted into him, gripping the front of his shirt in her hands and dragging him closer. They had so much to figure out. In that moment, none of it existed.
All that mattered was his tongue sliding along the seam of her lips, opening her to him. The sweep of his tongue against her own. The delicious taste of him. The feel of his body, so real against her. She could almost believe that they weren’t in a dream at all. That his heat was truly pressing against her and this was reality.
She wanted nothing more than to give herself to him completely. To surrender. It would be so much easier to surrender than to fight him. After everything they’d been through, this was all she wanted.
Everything outside of this dream was so difficult. Tiresome, hard work. But Fordham, Ford was so easy.
Their lips slowed, and he pressed a kiss to her nose, then one cheek, and the other.
“I missed you,” he breathed.
“I missed you too.”
A tear fell down her cheek, and he swiped it aside with his thumb. “Don’t cry.”
“Oh, princeling,” she said, burying her face into his chest.
His arms came around her, holding her tight.
“Halfling,” he joked.
None of the bite remained in the stupid nicknames they’d given each other before they fell for one another.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“I know.”
“Can you at least tell me where you are?”
He kissed the top of her head. “If I do, you’ll follow me. I know you will.”