Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Warm awakening
Trace woke with a slight shiver and a wide smile on his lips. Playing in the snow with Anaisa all night had been exactly what his soul needed. No plots, no deception, just laughter and exertion of the best kind.

After the snowball fight, they’d built a snowman together. When she’d teased Trace that the round creation looked too feminine, he snapped his fingers and suddenly a beard of icicles graced the snowman’s face.

“No powers!” Anaisa had chastised, nudging him aside with her shoulder. He cherished the easy banter, giving her a glowing smile.

The pull of consciousness was unwelcome, but he couldn’t resist it forever. He woke reluctantly, but with the knowledge that he would get to see Anaisa. His smile faded as something slipped under the door next to his head.

It was not a particularly comfortable place to rest, right in front of the door to protect the princess from intruders, but this had never happened before.

He grimaced when he saw the graceful, looped handwriting across the letter, and a knot of anxiety tightened in his middle. Unfolding it gently, he read the words.

“Your work continues. This time you will give both subjects dreams of matrimony! You know whom. There should also be every attempt made to have each day’s suitor appear less than ideal. I will judge your efforts and determine whether you require further persuasion to comply. Your sister-in-law’s departure from the city has been, unfortunately, rescheduled. Proceed carefully.”

The man groaned lightly, throwing the letter to the floor and burying his head in his hands as he leaned against the door. He was afraid of something like this, but to see it in writing was quite another matter.

The written order did not carry the same weight as the verbal beat-down Trace had endured, but the threat on Katia’s life was plenty of motivation in its own right. There was no easy way out. He didn’t know what to do, and couldn’t even ask anyone because that would be revealing Oakdown’s plots in contradiction to the orders!

He shook his head. The impossibility of it all weighed on him. He wanted to take Anaisa home to the farm. To be protector, provider, and husband. To not have to worry about the kingdom or its politics ever again.

Sadly, that seemed not to be his destiny.

“Trace?” The single word floated to him and his eyes snapped up to see his wife, in the pale early morning light filtering through the window. She looked angelic, and he smiled sadly.

Was he failing her? Was his inability to get himself extricated from this blackmail a sign of his value as a spouse?

“Are you all right? I thought… you would be in a good mood today,” Anaisa’s voice shrank slightly, and Trace felt a wave of shame for causing his wife to doubt that he’d enjoyed every moment of their night together in her dream.

“That was a lot of fun,” He told her honestly. “I just… am not looking forward to today.”

“Ah, tea time with the suitors,” Anaisa smirked. “I don’t envy the two of you that responsibility.”

“Sapphira would send you in her place if she could get away with it,” Trace warned her, “and depending on how today’s suitor does, she may try to figure out a disguise good enough to fool His Majesty.”

“I should hope not,” Anaisa shook her head. “Who ever heard of a masquerade tea time?”

Trace chuckled and his wife smiled, satisfied that she had lightened his mood. She moved towards him as he stood from the floor, and then frowned suddenly.

“What’s this?” She knelt and picked up the letter before Trace could react. He hadn’t attempted–hadn’t intended–when he threw the letter on the floor, for anyone to find it. He tried to freeze himself in place, doing nothing. He wasn’t attempting anything other than staying still… at least, that’s what he told himself.

“Oh…” Anaisa paused as her eyes scanned the words. She handed the note back to Trace, He fought the urge to throw it in the fire, but as he suddenly found himself intending to use it to prove Oakdown’s handwriting, the impulse took over. It was cast into the flames.

He cursed himself. Weak. Useless. Why couldn’t he violate the stupid commands??

“If I ask you about it, will you be able to tell me anything beyond what I read?” Anaisa asked quietly.

“No,” He grumbled. “I won’t be able to.”

She stepped closer to him, next to the fire. “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?” He looked at her with a bleak expression.

“Your honesty. I… I think I understand a little. And I’m not angry.” She gave him a sad smile, and her eyes drifted back to the fire, where the last corner of the letter was turning back and crumbling to ash.

“You have every right to be angry,” He told her gently, “I wouldn’t blame you for it.”

“I have good outlets for my anger,” She shrugged. “Mainly involving cliffs and snow pits.”

Trace snorted, and Anaisa shot him a sly smile.

“I like you,” He told her. “Quite a bit, you know.”

“I’m growing rather used to you, as well,” Anaisa bit her lip and looked away. His heart stuttered at the admission, albeit a purposefully understated one.

She cared.

He reached out to take her hand, but a loud knock signaled the arrival of breakfast, and the pair leapt apart as if they’d almost been caught behaving indecently.

Trace opened the door and took the tray while Anaisa went to wake Sapphira and coax her to get ready for the day. It was hard for the young woman to get excited about another suitor, but the three of them knew how important this search was.

As he sat down to eat the simple meal with the sleepy princess and his sassy wife, he wondered how long it would be before he was able to wrest free from the constraints on him, both for himself and for the good of the kingdom.