Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(72)

"Will you choose another, Empousa?" the woman sitting beside her asked.

"I'd like to, but I want to visit more of the other rooms tonight." For the second time that day, Mikki held her hand out to Asterius. This time there was no hesitation before he took it and helped her to her feet. When she stood, he let go of her hand, but she didn't move away from him. Instead, she placed her hand in the crook of his arm, as if he was an old-time Southern gentleman escorting her from the room. "Let's go see some of the other rooms."

"As you wish, Empousa."

His words were still formal, but there was no mistaking the way his expression softened when he spoke to her and how they leaned their bodies toward one another, sharing intimate smiles and whispers. They walked from the room, neither paying any attention to the shocked stares of the Dream Weavers.

Chapter Twenty-Five

MIKKI'S mind was a whirlwind, filled with the unbelievable beauty she'd witnessed in the dream-weaving rooms. Just when she thought she'd seen something so incredible it couldn't be topped, Asterius would lead her to another room and she would be amazed all over again. She wished her mother and grandmother could be here with her. Her mother, in particular, would love the room where women were painting tiny porcelain animals, which came alive as they floated up through the ceiling. Her grandmother would probably most like the dream weaving that had been devoted to magick, like the room where brightly colored scenes were painted on long rolls of parchment so fine it was see-through. When the scenes were finished, the filmy paper suddenly broke apart, and like dove's wings, fluttered up out of sight. Asterius had explained that the women had been creating the essence of Tarot cards. And then there was the room they'd entered where women had been using shining silver hooks to crochet diaphanous blankets ranging in color from buttercup to smoke. Moon veils, used for drawing down the moon, he had named them. And she realized that they were, indeed, all the colors of the different phases of the moon.

But her favorite room was the candle room. It had been filled, tier after tier, with thick, cream-colored pillar candles, on which women carved into the soft wax fantastic dream scenes. When a scene was finished, the candle was lit. As it burned, the dream scene was released and then carried to the waiting world on fragrant, snow-colored smoke.

"One more room," Asterius said sternly as they left the candle room. Before she could protest, he shook his head. "No, there are shadows beneath your eyes. You can continue your exploration tomorrow night."

"Is this more of your duty to care for me, or are you tired of me dragging you from room to room?"

"Neither," he said quietly as they approached the door to the next room. He cupped her face within his hands and let his thumbs trace the shadows under her eyes. "It is only that I do not like to see you looking weary, even though if I could choose, this evening would never end."

Mikki looked up at him, surprised and pleased at his words and the gentleness of his touch. She wanted to say she was sorry she had misunderstood, or thank him, or - hell! - tell she was having a wonderful time, too, but he was already opening the ornate door. Her eager attention shifted to the new room and the wonders it held.

Everything within the room looked normal. Women sat around in front of large frames of cloth, their needles flashing in and out as they created exquisite tapestries. As usual, the women greeted her, but this time they did not ignore Asterius.

"Guardian, did you bring more thread?" one of the older women said in a businesslike, no-nonsense tone of voice.

"I have none with me. This evening I have been escorting the new Empousa through the dream-weaver rooms," he said.

"Empousa, please do not think I mean any disrespect, but it is important that the Guardian collect more threads for us - tonight, if you would grant him leave to do so. While he was" - the woman paused uncomfortably for a moment before plunging on - "away from the realm, we had to make due with the threads the Elementals gathered. They sufficed but only just."

"The tapestries are becoming frayed," added a slightly younger woman with a thick mane of blond hair she had tied back in a braid. Several of the other women nodded in agreement.

Thoroughly confused - again - Mikki contained her frustrated sigh. "Of course I'll give the Guardian leave to, um, collect threads for you. We were just finishing here anyway."

"Oh! Thank you, Empousa!"

Mikki waved off their thanks and retreated from the room with Asterius close behind.

"All right, you're going to have to explain that," she said.

"Did you notice anything different about the scenes in that room?"

She frowned at him, not liking it that he answered her question with a question, but she thought about the scenes the women had been embroidering. There had been one with a mother holding a newborn child. Another had shown a man speaking in front of a huge crowd of people. Yet another had depicted a woman sitting at a writing desk chewing thoughtfully at a pencil. Mikki shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. They all seemed totally normal."

"That is because in that room the dreams woven into the tapestries are those that actually come true."

"You mean they really happen! The things those women were creating in there actually happen in the real world?"

"Always," he said.

"That's why the thread has to be different." She spoke slowly, following her intuition carefully, as if it was a dimly marked trail. "They can't get it only from the stuff that the moon flowers suck in. Dreams that come true need something else . . . something more real."