Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(73)

He looked pleased. "Exactly! Dreams that come true must be woven with threads gleaned from reality."

"And you can do that?"

He nodded. "I can."

"Will you show me?"

He started to protest that it was too late and that she was overtired, but she touched his arm gently and said, "Please, Asterius."

"Very well. Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To the rose gate," he said, leading her back along the hallway.

"We're going into the forest?" Her hand tightened on his arm.

"We must. Reality cannot be gleaned from the realm of dreams and magick." Briefly, he covered her hand with his. "Do not be afraid. I would not let anything harm you."

She smiled up at him. "I'm not afraid. Not as long as I'm with you."

MIKKI thought the huge gate made of roses looked damn creepy at night. It didn't matter that there were torches nearby and lanterns hanging from the limbs of the ancient oak. It was still dark, and the rose wall seemed like something out of a book of fairytales by the sublimely twisted British author, Tanith Lee. Mikki liked Lee's weird fairy-tale retellings, a lot actually, but she absolutely did not want to walk into one. Ever.

"You could stay here. I'll go into the forest, gather the threads and then return as quickly as I am able," he said.

"No! I'm not staying here by myself. I'm coming with you."

With Mikki's hand wrapped tightly within the crook of his arm, he took the torch planted in the ground near the gate. After speaking the command that opened the gate, the two of them walked out of the Realm of the Rose.

Mikki shivered. "It's colder out here."

He barked another command, and a royal purple palla materialized around her shoulders.

"You're really handy to have around," Mikki said, trying to cover her nerves with a smile. Then she nodded toward the dark depth of the forest. "We're going in there?"

"Do not be afraid," he told her.

"Easy for you to say; you have the claws," she muttered.

His smile flashed white in the torchlight. "My claws are at your service, my lady."

"You say the sweetest things," she said with her best Southern accent, and Asterius's chest rumbled with a deep laugh.

They entered the tree line and were instantly swallowed in a blackness that completely blocked out the silvery light of the waxing moon. Asterius's torchlight cast eerie, moving shadows against the bark of the ancient trees. Mikki thought that if she hadn't been with Asterius she would have been scared shitless. As it was, she was just creeped out and looking forward to returning to the bright safety of the palace.

"This is far enough tonight. I need only collect a few strands to satisfy the women. Tomorrow I can return for more." He stopped and shoved the torch back into the ground. Asterius glanced down at where her hand gripped his arm. "I have to have both of my arms free," he said gently.

"Oh, sorry." She loosened her death grip and took a short step away from him, glad that one good thing the darkness did was to hide her blush.

"Do not be sorry," he said gruffly. "Your touch pleases me."

She blinked in surprise. Had she heard him correctly? The words were nice, but the way he said them made him sound pissed off. It was confusing. Just like his hands were gentle, but his face always seemed to reflect something that looked almost like pain whenever he touched her. "Really?" she blurted.

His sigh was like a storm wind. "Really." Then he enveloped her shoulders with his hands and moved her a couple steps to the side. "Stand here. This won't take long."

Silently, he stretched out his hands. The firelight glinted off the claws that suddenly extended from his fingers. He closed his eyes and lifted his head, moving in a circle until he was facing into the slight breeze. Though he was half turned away from her, Mikki could see his lips moving, as if he was reciting a soundless prayer. He raised one hand and thrust it forward; it looked like he was clawing the wind. Then his hand twisted and closed in one inhumanly quick motion. And from the tips of his claws, the air began to glow, as long, thin threads suddenly took form, which he pulled, hand over hand, to pile in a glowing pool of luminous filigrees around his hooves.

Amazed, Mikki watched him work. He moved in a small circle, always staying close to her within the torchlight. But he didn't just pull the threads from the breeze. Sometimes he reached into the leaves of the ancient tree above them and plucked heretofore unseen threads from the leaves. Then he'd shift his focus and sweep his hands through the forest plants that pushed up through the verdant loam. All the while the pile of exquisite threads grew. She couldn't look directly at the threads for too long. They made her dizzy with their shifting and glowing. In the pile she thought she glimpsed the shapes of people, but they were all disjoined. It was like trying to study a Picasso through the warped glass of a carnival mirror.

So instead of the threads, Mikki watched Asterius. He moved with the grace of a warrior coupled with the strength of a big cat. Despite the horns and cloven hooves, he seemed more lion than bull-like, with his mane of hair; his dark, bottomless eyes and his feral grace. And suddenly those eyes were focused on her. He was breathing heavily, and his arms were damp with sweat.

"Of all the wonders you've shown me tonight, watching you pull the threads of reality from the darkness is what I think is the most incredible."