Good Night Read online

  Text Copyright © 2019 L. R. W. Lee

  Cover Copyright © 2019 Charlie Bowater

  All rights reserved.

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1790577866

  eBook ISBN: 978-0463954027

  Woodgate Publishing

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, consult the website at www.lrwlee.com.

  Table of Contents

  Part I: Nightmare

  Part II: Wake

  Part III: Dream

  Part IV: Night Terror

  Map of Wake Realm

  Map of Dream Realm

  Map of Lemnos Island

  Part I: Nightmare

  Lullaby And Good Night

  By Johannes Brahms

  Deutschland Wake Realm

  Lullaby, and good night, in the skies stars are bright.

  May the moon's silvery beams bring you sweet dreams.

  Close your eyes now and rest, may these hours be blessed.

  'Til the sky's bright with dawn, when you wake with a yawn.

  Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight.

  I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms.

  Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you.

  Guardian angels are near, so sleep without fear.

  Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight.

  Lilies o'er head, lay thee down in thy bed.

  Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight.

  I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms.

  Lullaby, and sleep tight, my darling sleeping.

  On sheets white as cream, with a head full of dreams.

  Sleepyhead, close your eyes, I'm right beside you.

  Lay thee down now and rest, may your slumber be blessed.

  I flailed, fighting the firm, muscled arms that bound me.

  “Ali, it’s okay. You’re okay. It’s just a dream, another bad dream.”

  Kovis’s quick words shattered the terror of Father scraping his claws across my mind, and I stilled. He released me then rose on an elbow and brushed sweat-slicked hair away from my face.

  In the flickering light of what remained of the campfire, I saw worry crease his brow. The ink of the tattoo on his sculpted chest shown brown—brown meant heaviness but quietly supportive, if I remembered correctly. Accurate. Too much so.

  I hadn’t dreamed before coming to Wake. Ever. I’d been enchanted with my new ability when I first arrived, but at this rate, I’d willingly give it up. Various renditions of the same terror had haunted my sleep every night since we’d fled Flumen.

  If reliving the agony of Father’s torment wasn’t bad enough, Father had somehow possessed Kennan, the one person who meant something to both Kovis and me, and used him to try to convince me to return to Dream. He denied it, but I knew going back would kill me.

  Kovis thought Father’s scheme to use Kennan was a brilliant strategic move—I shook my head. Only a male would possibly think that. The reality of it was that possessing his twin wouldn’t have been possible without help from Alfreda, my older sister and Kennan’s sand maiden. Father had done something to her. It was the only way. I shuddered to think what, because I knew Alfreda. Like me, she wouldn’t have let Father do anything to her charge, not willingly. From my recent experience, I knew standing in Father’s way of attaining something he’d set his heart on produced only pain and suffering—I’d felt his claws scrape across my mind, cried out and panted as he’d overwhelmed me. What torment could Alfreda possibly be enduring at his hands to allow Father such liberties with her charge? My stomach tensed.

  And then Kennan, what was he bearing up under? While Father and I had experimented with Kovis, making him move his arms, scratch an itch, rub his stomach and more in his sleep, never had I made Kovis walk, much less had Father talk through him. How much did Kennan know of what was happening to him? I prayed sleep blunted any understanding of what he was being made to do.

  My throat constricted, and I couldn’t stop my mind from going into an all-out sprint through the possibilities. If Kennan was aware, was Father torturing him with unspeakable pain if he didn’t comply? Had Father figured out a way around needing Alfreda to control Kennan? He’d always needed me, and even then hadn’t managed both Kovis’s mind and movements at the same time. Although, he’d controlled the rebels during the attack on the capital—controlled multiple humans all at the same time, their cloudy eyes evidence of it. How was that even possible? Unless he knew more than he let on. Had he already mastered controlling a human without a sand person bending him or her to his will? But if he could, what would it mean? There were so many awful possibilities. My breathing turned ragged.

  And then there was Velma. She’d been the one to send me to Wake. I knew nothing about her situation but feared the worst based upon what was happening to Kennan and Alfreda. I couldn’t see Father not finding out how I’d escaped. And when he did… I shuddered. I couldn’t think about it. He would bellow and rage. But what more would he do to her?

  I’d retch if I didn’t calm myself. Kovis must have sensed it too, because he leaned forward and brushed my cheek with soft kisses. It was just one way he coped with his struggle to help me when there was nothing he could do to make things better. I’d told him many times that his being here, holding me in his arms, loving me, not having to endure this torment alone was enough. But he always tried to do more because he understood, thoroughly, what the mind could do in times like this. And perhaps that’s what comforted me the most. He was no novice to pain. I’d certainly woven enough dreams for him over the annums, trying to soothe and comfort him. I was in good hands.

  “A kindness for a kindness,” he whispered—he’d never forgotten the night I told him the truth of all I’d done for him from Dream realm over the annums. It had sunk deeply into his soul and he’d wept. He’d thought he’d been utterly and completely alone.

  He lay back down and wrapped his arms around me once more, pulling me against his naked body. “I love you, Ali. We’re going to get them back.”

  I nodded against his arm that doubled as my pillow. If only I could share his certainty.

  I listened to Kovis’s breathing as it slowed once more, but the evenness didn’t return sleep to me. A few rogue flames from our fire danced in the pit a stride away and brought to mind a lullaby. So I sang myself the soundless tune.

  Come and play as the wild fairies play

  In a magical circle, a fairy ring

  You won't want to leave and forever you'll stay

  Where the vision is bright as spring

  Come and dance the wild fairy dance

  Spin in a circle as fast as light

  Once you begin you are caught in a trance

  And the world can grow old in a single night

  As the tune continued playing in my thoughts, I looked up through the opening in the canopy of leaves that our clearing had created. Stars twinkled in all their glory. The Canyon’s lights didn’t reach this far, and without that distraction, they looked like a blanket of precious gems spread across the night sky—they’d glistened since before time began, so much older than me. I’d never paid much attention to them in Dream. But I suppose with the length of my days now numbered, I felt a connection with their immortal presence. Sometimes I wondered if they looked down and smiled or frowned at what they saw, grinned at mortals’ weak attempts to cope with our fragile lives, or felt pity for our frailties, bad dreams and all.

  Stargazing and lullabies must have worked because the sky had pinked when I next saw it. I listened to Kovis’s breathing,
still slow and deep, his exhales brushing the top of my head. I wouldn’t wake him, so I lay quietly, listening to the forest awakening—chittering and chirping, skittering and scampering, animals finding breakfast and doing what animals did all sun, a blessed relief to my raging thoughts.

  I knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. It never did. The worries that haunted my waking hours soon reasserted themselves. It had been a sennight, seven suns, since we’d raced off, leaving everyone sleeping under Father’s magic. It had been a sennight not knowing if he’d taken his rage at not capturing me out on everyone we loved. Filled with new ammunition, my mind took off at an easy jog. It would soon be racing full-out.

  Kovis’s nomadic hands stirred at last, circling my bare stomach where they’d spent the night. “You seemed fascinated by small forest animals before you surrendered to worries again.”

  How long had he been awake? “Listening to my thoughts through our bond again?”

  “I can’t help it. I like listening in. It helps me understand you. I’ve never been able to read a woman’s mind. Imagine if all men could. We might actually understand women.”

  I giggled. “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  “Even if you knew what we were thinking, you still wouldn’t understand us. We’d do something to thwart you. We women will never let men think you’re equal.” I flicked my brows. “It’s part of our feminine charms.”

  Kovis snorted. “Feminine wiles more like.”

  I cuffed his arm. “It’s worked on you.”

  A burst of deep, hearty laughter erupted behind me. “Until we figure out how our bond works and how to control it, I’ll read your mind and naively believe we’re equal.”

  I grinned. Kovis had mentioned trying to better understand our bond so we could use it more. We regularly spoke to each other through it, but he speculated it was significantly more powerful than we yet understood. Case in point, he’d healed me by pushing his Air magic through it. He wanted to see the entirety of what it might allow us to do since we didn’t know what we might face in the wilderness. I didn’t disagree. It could prove a valuable tool.

  He’d been experimenting on his own, but he needed my cooperation, and therein lay the rub. The idea of entering Kovis’s mind again scared me. The more I’d thought about that first experience—joining his mind by accident and seeing him, Rasa, and Kennan in his bedroom—the more the enormity of what had happened struck fear in me. I’d been human for mere suns at the time, so I’d had no idea that wasn’t normal, let alone what might have happened had I not been able to extricate myself. My life would be short enough as it was, the thought that I might make it shorter still, sent shivers through me. Perhaps because Kovis had always been mortal, he had no such reservations, but the thought that I might lose myself, stuck in his mind, never to return to my body… I squirmed just thinking about it. Only the gods had saved me the first time, I’d convinced myself of it.

  While I’d become an apprentice healer, I didn’t yet understand the intricacies of how human bodies, let alone minds, worked. That knowledge took multiple annums to acquire. So nothing Kovis said had yet instilled enough confidence for me to try again. I knew I was being unreasonable, our bond might be more powerful, but when I’d nearly lost myself….

  Kovis cleared his throat, returning my attention as he purred, “So now that I have single-handedly solved the eternal conundrum of men understanding women, I know you love the forest animals, but might you be interested in activities for creatures of our size?” He nuzzled my neck where it met my shoulder, and I sucked in air. I felt his manhood stiffen on my behind and knew he would take my breath away.

  “Perhaps.” I tried imitating his purr, but sleep clogged my voice—hardly seductive.

  “What would it take to have you say ‘yes’?” He ran a finger around my ear, and I shuddered.

  “Why don’t you try a few things and find out,” I taunted, heightening our passion.

  “That sounds like a challenge.” Kovis’s voice mirrored my teasing.

  “Perhaps.”

  And so he did. He brushed my golden locks aside and pressed kisses to my ear, then caressed my jaw with his free hand. Gooseflesh rose on my arms, and he chuckled at the sight.

  “Is it working?” he whispered.

  I laid back into his warm chest, answer enough. His lips found my nose, then my mouth. He was so gentle, and a contented sigh escaped me.

  “I love to savor every bit of you.” His eyes filled with passion.

  “And I, you, my Dreambeam.” I reached up and ran a hand along his furry jaw. Without a razor, it had become the beginnings of a beard across his strong jawline. I was still getting used to it, its scratchiness. It was so different than I’d ever seen him.

  His eyes traveled downward, and a grin eclipsed his face as he took in the hard peaks of my breasts. “You’re so beautiful, my sand maiden.” It came out a murmur as his hand found soft flesh. He groaned as he took his time fondling one then the other. He leaned in, his beard brushing the bare skin of my chest, then his lips and tongue joined, licking and stroking the pebbled tips. I moaned from the sheer pleasure of it. Oh gods. He took titillation to a whole other level.

  I ran my hands through his dark-brown locks, adding to the ruffling of sleep, then moved to his muscled shoulders—he was so strong. My nails dug into his flesh. His ministrations woke every passion in me, and I wanted him inside. Now.

  “Kovis.” It came out breathy, and I felt his lips curl in a smile against my skin.

  “Yes, my love.”

  “I need… In.”

  He shook his head. “Patience, my love.” And he continued kissing every part of my chest.

  My hips rocked as his lips reached where my navel would have been. “Oh, Kovis. Please.” I hated begging, but he was quickly bringing me to an edge that I desperately wanted to cross with him, sharing every bit of it with him.

  I felt a warm huff, a chuckle, against my stomach, and he finally looked up with those warm pools of blue, their centers hazel. I’d known I could lose myself to them one sun. I’d known it with certainty. And seeing the love and adoration that suffused them in this heartbeat, set me adrift. I’d be lost in this sea in no time, and I welcomed it.

  Eyes locked, I brought my hands up and cradled his face as he rose to his knees and straddled me. I stroked his fuzzy jaw with my thumbs as he nudged my legs apart, but didn’t yet enter me. Infinite calm, he was a sea of peace and serenity, and I wholly surrendered to him.

  I drew his lips to mine as his manhood found my center and eased into me, a little at a time. Only then did I close my eyes, savoring him as he filled me, delighting in our kisses. But wanton need rose up.

  “Kovis. All. Now,” I breathed.

  The hilt of him finally met the center of me, and I couldn’t hold back another moan. I loved him with my whole heart. I always had and always would. And joining physically… it felt as though we bound our very souls.

  My thoughts blurred, and I whimpered as Kovis pulled back, but when he thrust again, a slow, vibrating wave of euphoria erupted. It flowed into my back, then up and out the top of my head. My entire being was alive. There was no past or future. Fear and worry vanished. There was only us, surrendered deeply to each other, melting into each other, into nothingness.

  Kovis roared not long after, hushing the chittering and chirping of creatures. His pleasure left no question as to our union, and I savored the rawness and authenticity of it. He was mine, and I was his.

  He rolled to my side, sweat shining on the hard muscles of his chest. We lay panting, savoring the lingering feelings of oneness, connectedness, belonging to each other. At least that’s what fluttered about my brain, which had turned to fluff. Only now was it regaining a foothold in rational thought.

  The ring he’d placed on my finger just suns before shone in the light as thinking returned. Every time I thought about the teardrop sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds, I remembered what he’d said the night
he gave it to me: It was my mother’s. I always wanted my bride to wear it.

  Hulda’s father had fashioned the ring for the late empress. And knowing how close a bond Kovis held with his mother, despite never experiencing her love, I could never have felt more cherished.

  Bad dreams make sex all the better. I giggled at my rogue thought.

  “What’s so funny?”

  I told him, and he grinned. “I’m open to sex in the middle of the night if it would ease your suffering.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Such a male.”

  He feigned offense, drawing a hand to his chest. “What? I’m committed to helping you.”

  I swatted his arm. “That’s very big of you.”

  He looked down at his manhood, which had shrunken from exertion. “Why thank you, I’m glad you agree. Even now.”

  I burst out laughing. “Come on, oh big man, we need to eat and pack up.”

  A fortnight later, Kovis saddled Alshain and Fiona just after breakfast and helped me up into the saddle—our meager camp hadn’t taken long to gather and secure to the horses. He thought we were still in Eslor province, but said we would soon cross into Astana on our way to the hot springs in the foothills there. He’d threatened to do all manner of things to me in said hot springs, and I couldn’t wait to see what his imagination had dreamed up. My cheeks warmed at the thought.

  Kovis looked over his shoulder and flicked his brows. “I’m looking forward to it too. And yes, I’ve been putting considerable thought toward it.”

  I snickered. I had no doubt about that, even though I hadn’t navigated through our bond to see exactly what his thoughts conjured up.

  We’d been hiding, wandering the foothills of the Tuliv Mountains, continually moving, staying out of sight of all towns and villages. Not once had we chanced word of our presence getting back to Father. Kennan’s safety, his very life, hinged on it, because if Father had either of us, he wouldn’t need Kennan. I shuddered to think what he might do to either of our siblings if that happened.