Summer of Frost (Forever Fae #3)(18)
“Sorcha, what’s going on? I’ve been trying to ignore the tension we have between us, but it’s becoming unbearable. Your babbling doesn’t help matters either. I don’t know what’s going on, or what the hell you’re talking about, but I can see it in your eyes that you’re keeping something from me.”
He paused to study me, and it took all I had to bite my tongue about the babbling remark. He always gave me a hard time in our dreams when I was cryptic with my comments. It was one of the things I liked to do to drive him crazy. He reached up to touch my face like he was in a trance, but then blinked and pulled back quickly, clearing his throat. Softly, he said, “It’s almost as if I’ve seen that look a million times on your face, but I don’t see how that’s possible. I don’t even know you, but I’m having these weird feelings.”
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and hung my head, hiding my smile. When I opened them and lifted my head, the Drake from my dreams was there. I almost wrapped my arms around him, but stopped myself just in time. Drake caught the movement and frowned. It was getting harder to keep my distance with the pull tugging me to him.
Sighing, I explained, “I promise all will be revealed tomorrow. You may not understand what that means, but I need you to trust me. You’ll find out everything soon enough, but for now I need to concentrate on finding Oren and Sarette without any distractions.”
“Are you always this cryptic when you talk?”
Shrugging, I laughed. That was one of the first things he asked me in our dreams many moons ago. “Pretty much. I like to keep people on their toes, and keep them guessing.”
A slow growing smile formed dangerously on his lips, and I ached to taste them like I’d done a thousand times in our dreams. When his eyes landed on my mouth, I licked my lips and wondered how much better things were going to taste and feel being outside of the dream realm. Silently, I groaned. He was such a bad influence on my body.
“These distractions you speak of … do you consider me to be one or something?”
“Oh, yes.” I sighed, feeling the flush creeping over my cheeks.
He laughed a deep, masculine laugh that sent chills down my body. “Do what you have to do, but I expect an explanation tomorrow, a real one.”
Nodding, I whispered to him, “I promise to tell you everything tomorrow. My word is my bond.” Without waiting for a reply, I walked past him and went straight to my room, breathing hard the entire way, wishing I could turn around and spend the rest of the night with him. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I had to concentrate on finding my guardian and Sarette.
Lying in my bed, thoughts of Drake seized my mind, but it didn’t take long for sleep to take me away. I’d tried to get into Oren’s head, but couldn’t get a path to him. It was as if he was purposely blocked from my mind. Instead of probing further, I tried Sarette and amazingly got right in.
“Sorcha!” Sarette screamed, running to me. Not many people knew of my dream walking abilities, but she did, which is why she didn’t look shocked to see me. “I knew you would come,” she cried, flinging her arms around me. “Please tell me Alston is with you.”
I froze in her grasp, and so did she. From that one gesture she knew what my answer was going to be. “No,” she whispered. “I saw him go down, but I knew he would get up, he had to have gotten up and gotten away. He just had to.”
She was in denial, and my heart broke for her. After a few seconds, she sagged in my arms and started to cry. “I’m so sorry, Sarette, but he’s not with me. I don’t know where he is or if he even made it out alive.” Grief consumed her, flowing in waves from her to me. Even though Alston and I had issues that brought me to hate him sometimes, I was still going to miss him. He was once my lover and friend, and would always hold a special place inside me no matter how our relationship ended.
“Sarette, I’m sorry I have to do this, but I need you to tell me where you are and what’s going on. There will be plenty of time to grieve for Alston, but right now I need answers. Is Oren okay? He’s not answering me when I speak to him.”
“He’ll be fine. He’s out of it right now, but he’ll live. His breathing is steady at least.”
“Where are you?”
She shrugged. “I know we’re near the Crystal Lake in the Mystical Forest. For the most part, I’ve been pretending to be incoherent, and keeping my head down. They think I’m you, but once they see my eyes and really get a good look at me they’re going to know I’m not. I’m afraid of what they’ll do when they find out.”
“Is the dark sorcerer there?” I asked hesitantly.
She shook her head. “No, apparently he’s not even in the Land of the Fae right now. The man who caught us is a dwarf named Brokk. He’s the one Durin’s been looking for, the same dwarf who delivered Meliantha’s arrows and the cursed cuff that was given to Finn. Anyway, I heard him talking about how he wants to trade me for power. He says that if the dark sorcerer doesn’t agree to the trade he’s going to tell the courts where to find the sacred scroll.”
My eyes went wide at that and she nodded weakly in return. I could tell that losing Alston was going to take a huge toll on her, but she was strong. I had to believe she’d get through it. Taking her by the shoulders, I made sure she was looking into my eyes when I spoke to her. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. When I wake up, I’m going to tell King Oberon and Drake everything so we can plan our attack. Whatever you do, keep your eyes hidden for as long as you can, but also try to keep tabs on the dwarf. I need to make sure we get him.”