Kissing Death

Chapter 4: Dreams Become Reality

Chapter 4

Benedict

            Once I finished looking over papers in my office I came back into the room to see Caroline already fast asleep.  I smiled at the image of her curled around the sheets.  I slowly slid under the covers and watched her.

            She was so beautiful, but best of all she was completely and entirely mine.  I sighed and moved closer to her, pulling her tight against my chest.  I watched as her face contorted and she began to quiver in my embrace.  “No… no…. Don’t touch me!” She shouted, covering her ears and sitting upright.

            I reached out to console her but she waved me off.  “Care, it was only a dream,” I whispered, sitting up and wrapping my arms around her waist.  “Let us get some sleep for tomorrow,” I mumbled into the nape of her neck, trailing the back of her neck with soft kisses.

            “It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered.  “It was a memory,” she breathed, looking up at me.  In that moment I could see the vulnerability and terror in her eyes.  “I remember what happened to me.”

            I froze, studying her as she wrapped her arms around her waist.  “Caroline, you can tell me,” I whispered.  “You can tell me anything.”

            She shook her head and looked at me with the saddest eyes I’d ever seen on such a beautiful face.  “I-I can’t,” she whispered as her body quivered, crushing me in her embrace.  “I can’t repeat it, Benedict.”

            “Okay,” I whispered, making circular patterns on her back with my finger tips.  “We don’t need to talk about it then.”

            She nodded her head as I lay back against the pillows, holding her close to me.  “Someone tried to murder me,” she whispered as crystal tears ran down her cheeks.  “I wish I were dead,” she breathed, sobbing as she tightened her arms around me.  “I’d be safer.”

            I was too stunned to reply to her.  I lay awake next to her and let my imagination consume me until the morning.

-

            I woke up with Caroline pressed against me with her fingers laced in mine.  She was already awake, looking out the window when I kissed her forehead.  “Good morning, love,” I said groggily.

            “Good morning,” she yawned.

            “Didn’t get much sleep last night?” I asked, letting my fingers trace her petite frame.

            “Barely any at all,” she whispered.  “Every time I closed my eyes another terrorizing scene came back to me.”

            “Are you ready to tell me?” I asked, brushing a loose curl from her eyes.

            “Not yet,” she sighed, kissing the inside of my palm and resting my hand on her cheek.  “I just need to find a way to explain all that has happened without leaving out any details.”

            “I’ll wait as long as you need me to.”

            “Thank you, for understanding I mean,” she whispered kissing the tip of my nose.

            “Anytime,” I mumbled, burying my face in the back of her shoulder.

            There was a knock on the door and Caroline shooed me off, sitting up in the bed and calling for the maid to enter.  “Lady Wells, Monsieur Madden has requested to meet you and Lord Wells tonight here at the castle.  Should I send for him?” She asked, smiling at us.