In Your Dreams

Chapter 21

As soon as those words left her mouth, it was like everything around me faded away, and I was left with the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. I had a feeling that Eretria had something to with what's been happening to me, but I wasn't sure, until now. Celine's answer confirmed it for me.

"Why do you ask?"  Celine's voice cut through my trance, concerned.

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and blinked a few times.

Was Eretria causing me to have these dreams?

Do I tell Celine?

The King's words echoed in my head.

I'm going to ask the both of you to not discuss this with anyone.

I quickly composed myself. I didn't want to say something I wasn't supposed to say. "Erm... I was just curious.  I think I read something about dreams being associated with astral projection,"  I lied, horribly.

Thankfully, Celine didn't see through my lie. "Oh, how interesting.  You'll have to tell me about it sometime when we get together again.   I hear Julian coming."

Right on cue, Julian stepped through the door, and I was relieved. His eyes immediately found mine, and one eyebrow shot up as he noticed Celine right next to me.

"Well, I see no dead bodies or blood, so I assume everything went okay in here."

We both laughed and Celine said, "Funny, Julian. We were actually just getting to know each other. Did you know Claire hasn't kissed a boy at nineteen?!  I didn't realize how conservative humans are."

I sucked in a breath of air, and I knew my pale complexion was turning pink with embarrassment. The moment Julian's lips quirked up, I knew I was in trouble.

"Oh, really?  Is that so?"

Oh my god.  Make it stop.

Julian's smile widened and a mischievious glint twinkled in his eyes. He was reading my mind again and looked like he was going to make me want to crawl in a corner and die.

"What else have you learned, Celine?  Don't leave out any details," Julian prodded, with a boyish look on his face. 

Before Celine could open her mouth, I interjected, "Celine has an appointment with Olivia for a clothes fitting. Isn't that right?"  I gave her a glare, and she looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Oh!  I'm going to be late!  Thanks for the reminder, Claire. I actually had fun today. We should do it again!" She quickly hugged me and left the room.

"Not fair," Julian complained like a toddler while crossing his arms and giving me a hurt expression.

"Oh, shush. You could probably read my mind and find all kinds of things in there."

"True, but it's fun to see your face resemble a tomato." He teased with a sly grin.

Julian stalked towards me and with every step, I felt as if my heart was going to explode.  Before I knew it, he was right in front of me, and he was so close that my face was only centimeters from his. I shut my eyes and held my breathe, trying to not think of our close proximity or Julian would have a field day with my thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?"

His words were surprising, and I looked up to find his intense gaze on me.

"What do you mean?  You're the one who could read minds," I mumbled and looked down.

"You weren't thinking anything for a moment.  It's the first time I had no idea what's going on inside your head," he answered, lifting my chin up to look back at him.