Dream Eater (m|m)

Chapter 10

I dream, but it's not a nightmare.

At least, not at first.

I stand in the garden outside the inn, but it's not dead and overgrown. Instead, it brims with early spring flowers. Snowdrops, crocus, daffodils, iris, hellebore, and primrose fill every space with an abundance of white, yellow, pale pink, and purple blooms. I breathe the scent of a fresh spring-rain on the air, and feel a deep sense of joy.

Turning, I see that the inn looks charming and pristine, and the door gleams with a fresh coat of dark green paint. Damien--no, Dantalian--is standing before it. He steps towards me and takes my hands in his.

"What do you think, Sakariel? Will it do?"

I glance at the quaint house and the garden and nod. "It'll do for us," I say.

We've taken physical bodies to exist on this plane, and Dantalian's appearance is different from what I'm used to seeing. It doesn't matter, and I feel that I'd recognize him in any form.

Leading me inside, he brings me to a small room, plainly furnished but comfortable. He takes me by the shoulders and turns me to face him.

"Well?" he asks, uncertainty in his eyes.

"It's perfect," I say.

He kisses me and walks me backward until my legs collide with the edge of the bed and I fall back.

He falls with me, and together we tumble onto the soft mattress.

"I love you." He brushes his lips against mine, and his eyes are black with desire.

It's a sin, we're told, but I don't believe it. There's nothing sinful in this feeling, and nothing sinful in what it leads us to do. It's just love, and the desire to be loved in return, and the joy of knowing that we are. Nothing is more divine.

"I love you, too," I smile against his mouth, and then I kiss him, long and slow and deep.

"What do you want?" he breathes against my ear.

My breath catches.

"Make me yours," I say. "All of me."

Now it's his turn to catch his breath. "You're certain?" he asks.

"Yes." I've never been more certain of anything.

When he takes me, it's with a careful, gentle pleasure that teaches me all the reasons I love him. I gasp and shiver beneath his touch, move against his body, revel in the union of our physical forms.

He takes his time, and when at last he brings us to fulfillment, I lose myself in an ecstasy more intense than any I've known before.

Afterward, we lie together in a haze of quiet contentment, and I think that if Heaven exists, this may be it.

Then the dream shifts, and I'm somewhere else: a clearing in a forest, surrounded by trees crowned by bright new leaves. Dantalian stands before me, but now fear and despair have replaced the happiness in his eyes.

"They're coming," he says. "I don't know how they found us, but they did. There's nowhere else to run."

"It's not your fault," I say, pain twisting my heart. "None of this is your fault."

"I wish that were true," he returns. His eyes hold an ocean of grief, and I wish I could take it from him, spare him this torment, but I can't. And I'm about to make it worse.

"Dantalian," I say, touching his face. "There's still a way out for you. It's not too late. They'll forgive you if you recant, if you--"

He catches my hand. "No. Please, don't ask it of me. Anything but that."