Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 431

Chapter 431: Onward and inward
Anaisa chewed her lip, waiting. Walking back and forth along a broad stretch of sand next to a sea.

The waves kept time for her, if time had any meaning here.

Growing restless, she stopped her pacing and looked out over the water. Fake water, of course, conjured by her own mind. Modeled after the sea of Trace’s dreamworld.

But not nearly as pretty as his.

Oh, his dreams were wonderful! Gorgeous!

Whereas hers began anew each night, from some model of her subconscious attempting to process the day or her feelings in an odd way, his was steadfast, eternal.

She wanted to go back.

But first, they had much to do. Plenty to accomplish.

A vacation to Trace’s dream world could be her reward to look forward to at the end of it all.

Another wave crashed upon the sand, larger than the one before. The sound swept over her like an irritated huff.

Patience was not one of her stronger virtues.

For all she knew, she could have been asleep hours or seconds. But wait, she would, and Trace would come to get her.

She just had to pass the time until then.

Glancing to her left, she made a little collection of rocks appear, and formed them into a triangular shape of a solitary game, jumping one over another, trying to make it so that there would only be one left.

Seven rounds later, a sound behind her made her jump to her feet.

“Been that bored without me?” Trace asked with mild amusement, looking down at the rocks.

“The world is dull and grey without you by my side,” Anaisa’s eyes shined up at him, and she brightened the sun and the water, even the color of the sand! “See? Everything’s more colorful now that you’re here.”

Trace chuckled, and pulled her into a hug. Squeezing him around the waist, she pulled away too soon.

“Let’s get this all done.”

“You think we can? Really?” He looked at her with a tempest in his gaze. “I can’t help but feel–”

“No. No feelings. We’ll get this done and go home to our sons. End of story,” She told him sternly. “But first, a kiss.”

“That sounds wonderful to me, but it does rather negate the instructions of ‘no feelings’,” He whispered as their lips touched.

The sensation would never fail to make her heart fly. Their first kiss was in a dream… and their second, perhaps third… she lost count of their second romantic interlude’s kisses. It was intense, anyway.

So, although real kisses were much more satisfying, here in dreams she had a special nostalgic fondness for her husband’s touch. The kiss couldn’t linger, for they had much to do, but she held him a second longer.

“All right, one thing down on the checklist,” She announced.

“You didn’t put kissing me on your diplomacy checklist,” He shook his head. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

“It’s a very thorough checklist!” She shot back. “It has absolutely everything on it! Nothing left out!”

“Is that so?” He challenged. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh, you want a copy?” She made a piece of paper appear in her hand, facing away from him. He reached out to snatch it from her, but she quickly made it disappear once more. “No time. Showing you the checklist was not part of the checklist.”

“Convenient,” He arched an eyebrow, but turned serious and took her hand. “Time to go. I may be able to stay asleep a bit longer than is natural, but you and Ben are subject to being woken without warning.”

“Fine,” She closed her eyes for a second to channel a more serious demeanor. Flirting with her husband was more tantalizing than negotiating with a terrible monster of an Emperor who wanted to destroy the world, but… duty called.

It was quicker to snap Ben out of his dreamy mindset this time, and the three stood at the edge of the Emperor’s imagined realm in no time.

It felt like being on the precipice of the end of the world.

“Mia gave me precise directions while you two were falling asleep,” Trace advised, “so it won’t take as long to get to him as before, when we had to search… that doesn’t mean it will be easy.”

“I don’t expect anything to be easy,” Anaisa responded wryly. “Where would the fun be in that?”

“This is fun for you?” Ben leaned forward to stare at her face for a moment. She pursed her lips.

“No. But I can pretend it is so it doesn’t seem so daunting,” Anaisa made a face. Ben shook his head.

“I sometimes think that between you and my wife, you are the less sarcastic one, but I might need to reevaluate that determination.” The prince murmured.

Trace laughed, and Anaisa looked at him sharply.

“Thanks for that. I needed it.” The Dreamwalker said. “All right. Same rules as before. Stay close, obey orders immediately. Anaisa, wake up if I say so, and then get Ben up as quickly as you can.”

All three of them were sleeping in close enough proximity that if an emergency arose, a sprint wouldn’t be necessary to effectuate an escape.

“And if he’s found some way to keep us prisoner?” Ben posited the unnerving scenario. “He kept us from leaving the borders last time. If there’s no way to wake up?”

“Then we’ll have to deal with that as it comes,” Trace frowned, and Anaisa suppressed a shudder.

Trapped forever in a whirlwind of the Emperor’s dreams is not how she wanted to spend her life… if he let her live much of it, that was.

She stared through the translucent barrier and into the dream beyond.

A lake, and a tentacled monster reaching out of it and snatching the unflattering caricatures of humans, who were too busy stealing from one another to fight off the threat.

“All right. Onward,” Trace said, pulling them through the jellylike border of the dream. It squelched slightly, making Anaisa gag, but as she stepped through to the other side, the scene around them went perfectly still.