Thought

Chapter Nineteen

Word Count: 1637

~Luella

Thought and I now sit together on a couch, facing each other.

My anxiety has lessened, although I'm still wary. I've accepted to some degree that I'm trapped here until Thought relents, and by the sound of what he has been describing to me for the past half hour, I'm not jumping to leave yet. In fact, leaving this dream-state seems terrifying. As alluring as all Thought's power may outwardly seem, I know that I would never be able to handle it.

"I know how miserable my powers make me," Thought tells me, gazing absently off at the window behind me. There's nothing beyond that window but a swirling cloud of darkness. It's a harsh reminder that beyond this pleasant room full to the brim with books, nothing exists. "I would never want to inflict that on you."

"So how long are we staying here?" I say, loosening a deep breath. The haze of the dream has seemed to lift, as my consciousness adjusts to the state around me.

Please don't say forever. Not again.

"Until you trust me. Until I find out how to protect you," he offers. An unswallowable lump in my throat forms, making my mouth dry. Trusting him, seems like the biggest issue right now. Do I trust him? No, of course I don't. Not after everything he's kept from me all these years, that he never should have been involved in. And with Della too...

But thinking I can avoid him is like avoiding fate. And not the immortal. I'm stuck here, so I might as well make the best of it and hope we can find a way to rid of this curse, or at least avoid it. I just can't let myself get close to him, or let this mate bond grow any more than it already is beginning to.

"How do we entertain ourselves here?" I ask him. If we are stuck in this small, although cosy room, then it's going to be near impossible to avoid him.

"I can bring you anything you like here. Any room, environment or even family member," he offers. He's hinting at Della, no doubt, but I'm not having that. Not after the way he manipulated her to get close to me. I make a mental reminder to ask him if they ever did anything together...I know she said they didn't, but that could just be him hiding his tracks.

No, me assuming these things will not help my case.

I shift uncomfortably on the couch, the arm chair jabbing into my back. I would rather that pain than to move forward and be any closer to him. Already, from here, I can feel the buzz between us and the scent he emits consistently. "Is it really that easy for you?"

"The conscious mind is very impressionable," he replies. I hate when he reminds me of how easy it would be for him to manipulate me to do as he pleases.

"So, you can make me do bad things to..." I echo my thoughts, drawing off before I blush. I feel terrible having these thoughts about him, when he has done nothing to suggest he would ever put me through that. "You know what I mean?"

His eyes flash. "Bad things to me?"

"I want a cabin, at the top of a really high mountain in the snow," I say suddenly. Changing the subject might not be the best way to avoid the conversation entirely, but it's the best way for me to pretend like it never happened. Standing up, I face away from him, hoping he doesn't catch a sight of the blush on my cheeks.

I can hear Thought stand from behind me. "Close your eyes."

Obliging him, I wait until I hear his confirmation to open them again. No difference seems to occur around me, at least in terms of atmosphere. That is, until warmth hits my bare skin and the sound of a fire crackling behind me has my eyes fluttering open immediately. I'm stunned, as everything around me has completely changed, as if I've been transported elsewhere, even if this is just a simulation.