Tempting Fate

Seven: Safe Dreams

The only place Arietta was safe was in her dreams. As if her mind was trying frantically to offer her some semblance of peace. She clutched tight to any bit of that safety she could get.

Caught somewhere between awake and dreaming, Arietta found herself in a dark room with stone walls and dim sconces inset along the edge of the floor. In the center of the room was a bed with dark sheets. One that felt like it could swallow her whole. This room was not like her current room. This room did not freeze her blood.

It warmed it.

Fingers played in her dark curls, tucking a lock behind her ear.

"Etta."

Arietta rolled over on the bed, the pillow beneath her head a perfect cushion.

Gavriel smiled softly down at her. Lazing next to her, he shifted to rest better on the elbow beneath his shoulder.

Arietta reached out automatically, something deep, deep inside her desperate to make contact. To know if, at least in this place, he was real.

"You see me," she whispered.

Dream Gavriel lost his smile. She knew it to be a dream from the moment it started, and yet she did not care.

"Of course I see you," he replied. His voice had the same ruggedness that he had in real life, as if her memory had preserved him perfectly in her brain.

"I keep thinking you're coming," she shamefully admitted to dream Gavriel. She tried to smile back at him, but it wavered. As if she no longer had the strength for even that. "I keep seeing his eyes..."

Unable to help herself, she touched a finger against the sleek muscle of his bicep. The feel of smooth skin under her finger had her tracing it over and over. Maybe when she woke, she would remember this.

"His eyes?"

"The leopard's." She trailed her finger down once more. In real life, she'd never have the courage to touch Gavriel like this. Despite wanting to. "But I know it's just a stupid fantasy. Not reality. Just like this dream. You would never come for me."

Gavriel stalled her finger by wrapping her hand in one of his. His hands were large, almost swallowing her own. "That's not true."

Arietta couldn't glance away from where their hands connected. Even in the dim room, his sun kissed skin was slightly darker than her own olive tone. "It's okay, Gavriel."

Arietta sucked in a sharp breath as Gavriel moved, his front pressing to her side like a hot brand, his hands cupping her face. "It is not alright, Arietta. I am coming for you. Do you hear me?"

Arietta only wanted to wrap herself in his warmth, to cocoon deeper into the soothing sense of safety even his imaginary presence brought her. Her fingers gripped his t-shirt, the backs of her knuckles resting against the hard muscles of his pectorals beneath the fabric. "I would've wanted something like this someday," she told him. "Eventually, I would have started to think about this."

His gaze was fire in the darkness. "It is yours. If you want it. I am yours."

She lifted her head until their foreheads touched. She took in a breath, luxuriating in his smell of clean pine. "My mind has been kind to me tonight," she said. "I guess I remember more than I thought. You even smell like him."

Pain flashed across his face. "Arietta, I—"

Something flashed across her shoulder. Sudden, white hot pain stole her senses. She whimpered.

"I—I guess it's time to wake," she said in an expelled breath. Her arm, even in her dream, turned molten, as if lava bubbled beneath the surface of her skin.