Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 326

Chapter 326: Holding hands
Mia tried to contain the humiliation that was bubbling up inside. In her exhaustion, she’d stopped caring about what anyone thought. She had to know. And now she knew, for certain, that holding his hand made the secondary pull disappear.

It also, strangely and unrelated to her magic, made her feel calmer. Or maybe that was just a side effect of her powers not being drained.

“I’m willing to do what is needed to help us along the journey,” Ford responded diplomatically. She hoped that it was just for her father’s sake. Surely holding her hand wasn’t a chore, or he wouldn’t have given up so much sleep for it.

“Well, now we just need to figure out exactly what that is,” Anaisa responded warmly. “Mia, what is it, precisely, that you need?”

“I need the drain on my magic to not be so strong and constant,” Mia gulped, realizing her words walked right up to the line of discussion on what Ford meant to her. What his presence or absence meant.

“And… Ford holding your hand stems the drain of your magic? Is that an extension of his power?”

It was an incredibly graceful explanation out of the situation, but Mia couldn’t justify lying to her family to make herself feel less awkward.

“I don’t think so. Everything… started before Ford got his powers.” Mia looked away.

“Everything?” Anaisa’s questions were soft, and kind.

“After… after the memories of the cave returned, I began having nightmares,” Mia grimaced, but Anaisa nodded. Of course, having shared a tent, the woman knew how restless Mia usually was at night. “Apparently, I was talking or crying in my sleep loudly enough to wake Ford, and eventually he figured out that holding my hand made it stop.”

“Me holding your hand did not have as strong an effect,” Anaisa tilted her head, staving off Seth’s reaction to Mia’s retelling of the story.

“Right. The nightmares keep me from sleeping well. I’m always searching for something.” Mia scrunched her nose and just spit out the truth, ready to not be keeping it to herself anymore. “Ever since I met Ford, even just before I met him, my magic pulled me in his direction. It’s always there, behind what I’m actually looking for, consciously. I can’t make it stop. The only time it’s gone is when I’m holding onto him or he’s using his magic to be hidden.”

Anaisa paused for only a moment before seeming to take it in stride.

“Wonderful, thank you for explaining it to me, Mia. That’s a lot of information to work with. Would you say the main reason behind your exhaustion is the nightmares preventing you from sleeping, or the steady drain on your magic that Ford presents?”

Mia paused at the very logical question. “I… both, I suppose. The drain wasn’t such a problem until I began using my powers all day to search for the best trail. I’ve been so stressed that I also look for danger, for safety, for… everything really.”

“Do you have nightmares if Ford is invisible?” Anaisa asked next.

“That, I couldn’t say,” Mia shook her head. “When I’m asleep, I have no way of knowing whether he’s using his magic or not, or for how long.”

“Well,” Anaisa glanced at Seth, who had been oddly quiet, “There are a few options I can readily see. Some experimentation might be in order to find a proper combination that will both satisfy propriety as much as practicable, and keep Mia as rested as we can.”

“I’m listening,” Mia’s father ground out the two words between his teeth. She wished he would not be so disgruntled about it all.

“The option to keep them as separate as possible, would be for Ford to remain invisible as much as he is able to, for the sake of stemming the drain on Mia,” Anaisa said, “but of course, that would diminish his ability to shield the rest of us in an emergency like he did with the chimera.”

“I don’t want him invisible,” Seth said firmly, surprising Mia a little. “I want to know where he is and what he is doing, all the time.”

“All the time?” Ford raised his eyebrows mockingly before flinching and lowering his gaze. Mia suppressed a grin, glad to see that his old sarcasm wasn’t lost entirely.

“Well, the next option,” Anaisa interrupted the back and forth, “would be for them to hold hands during the day, while we travel. It wouldn’t help with the nightmares, but the drain on Mia’s magic should be lessened.”

Mia cringed away from her father as his face hardened.

“No.”

“Or he could hold her hand while she sleeps,” Anaisa lifted a delicate eyebrow.

“Absolutely not.”

“Perhaps you should have listened to all the proposed options before handing down judgments,” The redhead seemed calm, but bemused.

“You’re going to lecture me right now?” Seth glared at his sister-in-law.

“Shouldn’t I get a say?” Mia cut in. “Or Ford? Since this whole mess is all about me, and involves him?”

“A wise observation,” Anaisa smiled.

“My foot,” Seth groused. “I’m her father, I’ll decide who touches her and when.”

“But not who she touches?” Ford asked. “As I recall, you had me promise not to touch her, unless she touched me first, implying she is free to do so?”

Mia’s eyes widened at Ford’s boldness, though his delivery was understated. Anaisa covered her mouth with one hand, her sharp gaze taking in the reactions of the group. A vein was sticking out in Seth’s forehead.

“Papa,” Mia tried a soothing tone to calm him down, and withdrew her hand from Ford’s. “If you want me to, if you truly want me to continue as I have been these past few days, I will try.”

Mia had by far been the most compliant of her siblings, for all her life. The rule-follower, the obedient one. Her father’s bewilderment at how she’d been acting since Ford came into their lives was understandable.

Seth sighed deeply. “I wish your mother were here.”

“I wish we were all home with her,” Mia countered with a little smile.

Her father’s eyes softened.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try something to help you be more rested…” He began, but his voice trailed off as he eyed Ford once more.

Mia hoped this journey would come to its end sooner. She wasn’t sure how much of this she could take.