Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 131

Chapter 131: A crumbling sky
Trace felt the cloud destabilize, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from Anaisa. Her kisses were like fire, and he was burning. Willingly, happily!

He clutched her body against his as the puffy floor beneath their feet gave out, plummeting them towards the distant earth.

Anaisa gasped and clung to him, pulling her face away for long enough that he was able to conjure a hammock to catch them. He sent a gust of wind upward to soften the landing, and held his wife gently.

“What happened?” She asked, bewildered, as she lay across his chest, still wrapped in his arms. He laughed.

“You’re destroying my world. Again. Wasn’t that your goal?” He tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear.

“I… yes, I suppose it was,” She mused faintly, coloring, “I’d forgotten…”

His smile widened, and he was preparing his reply when she interrupted him.

“Tell me,” Anaisa urged. “Tell me everything.”

A thrill rose from Trace’s belly, wanting to share all his secrets with her, but also excited that he would finally be able to—NO!

He winced. Deep down, he still wanted to expose Barnabas. To take down his plans. Wasn’t this, at least partly, an attempt in that direction?

He shoved that out of his mind. Anaisa had consumed his thoughts only a moment ago. Perhaps she could do it again. But he couldn’t tell her that outright. The words wouldn’t come. He cursed the nebulous constraints of Oakdown’s commands. It seemed they shifted as quickly as Trace’s motivations for a specific action.

“The torture’s over already?” He frowned at her comically, focusing on a purely selfish reason for the teasing.

“You didn’t seem to think it was particularly afflicting,” Anaisa complained, laying her hands one over the other across his chest and resting her chin atop them.

“I assure you, it was excruciating,” He encouraged with a grin. “I’m sure whoever works the dungeons would be fascinated by your methods.”

“Perhaps I should work there,” Anaisa tilted her head as her eyes drifted in thought. “Though I’m getting nowhere with you, perhaps it would be more effective on someone else.”

She pursed her lips seriously, and his reaction was instantaneous.

“Don’t you dare–”

His words were cut off as she brought her mouth to his again, passionately, teasingly, intensely. The rest of the sentence flew from his mind as he held Anaisa against him.

“Tell me,” She whispered against his lips before deepening the kiss. He focused on her, on making her happy. He groaned and rolled so that she was beside him on the increasingly unstable surface he’d created. Why had he made this adventure in the sky instead of somewhere more solid?

She clung to him, her lips trailing from his mouth across his cheek. Her breath against his ear seemed to make his soul ignite as she whispered again.

“Tell me.”

“I–” His voice died away as he struggled. Wanted to tell her everything. Couldn’t manage to get the words out. Another part of his world cracked and broke below.

“Please, won’t you tell me, Trace?” She pulled back and searched his eyes.

“I want to. I can’t.” He sighed in misery. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t completely put away his desire to thwart Oakdown’s plans.

“Can you… tell me if I’m wrong?” She swallowed. “I can guess enough for your silence to confirm.”

“I can’t even attempt to tell you,” He flopped to his back in self-loathing, and also instantly hating the space it put between them.

“Can you take me to someone else’s dream?” She changed the subject so quickly that he became confused.

“Um… I’m not sure,” He blinked at her. Bringing her to his own world had been a spur of the moment attempt. There was no telling if he could take her with him into someone else’s dreams.

“Let’s try,” She took his hand, and her eyes became pleading. “Please?”

“I’m told it’s terribly rude to go into others’ dreams without permission,” He chided hypocritically.

“I’m sure it will be fine. Take me, please.” Anaisa widened her eyes like Scruffles did whenever she wanted something.

“We can try,” He stared at her as she tugged on his hand with eagerness in her face. “Whose did you have in mind?”

“Sanders’.” She smiled, but narrowed her eyes slightly as she processed his reactions. “He and I had the most interesting conversation yesterday about marriage, and I would very much like to continue it. I think he would be able to, if I’m correct, speak a little more freely in his dreams, without other people in the palace around to overhear.”

Trace hesitated. He’d thought of that idea himself several times, but bringing her there so that he and Sanders could work together to try to convey what the plot was, in his mind, very clearly attempting to get around the constraints Oakdown set on him.

Still, right now she wanted to go, ostensibly for some sort of conversation about marriage, which intrigued Trace quite a bit.

“We can try,” He offered. Even if Oakdown’s command wouldn’t prevent it, he wasn’t even sure it was possible. It took effort to go to other people’s dreams, and effort to bring Anaisa here. He simply wasn’t entirely certain he could manage to bring her with him.

And if he could, it certainly wouldn’t be for very long.

With a short burst of wind from beneath, he launched them both into a standing position. Anaisa swayed, and he kept an arm wrapped around her waist to steady her. She leaned into him and his chest tightened.

He loved her, more than anything, more than anyone. If she asked him to leave with her and abandon the whole kingdom to whatever fate awaited it… well, she never would, and so he wouldn’t ever find out what he would do.

Pulling her with him to the edge of his world, he stepped out into the void with his wife by his side. It felt right to have her with him.

Trace was able to move towards Sanders’ tenuous dream bubble without problems, but as soon as he got close, he began to feel the restraints of the command.

“This isn’t going to work,” He lamented.

“Don’t worry,” Anaisa brought her free hand up to his face. “You’ll find another way to get a message to me. I know you will.”

He pressed his lips together, wanting so badly to confess everything, but the best he could do was smile and offer a slight nod.