Dream Two, Chapter Seven

(Anything in asterisks is supposed to be italicized.)

Pain. That's the first thing I'm aware of as I slowly gain consciousness. Pain in my shoulders and hips. Queasiness, too, in my stomach. Like it's been empty for too long and the bile in it wants to be expelled.

And...warmth. There's something warm wrapped around me, but it's too heavy to be a blanket. Maybe a weighted one?

Sensation slowly begins to return and I realize I'm lying on my stomach with my arms tucked somewhere beneath me. My ears eventually notify me of voices but I don't listen. They're muffled anyway. There's something else I'm hearing. A slow, rhythmic beating. Without giving it away that I'm starting to wake up incase this is another of Cruce's tricks, I slowly inhale...spices!

That smell is what forces me to elevate myself to a higher level of consciousness, although it isn't easy. A soft moan escapes me as I move my head just the slightest bit. Then there are fingers dancing across my cheek and tucking hair away from my face, sending sparks of electricity through me at their touch. It takes a minute for me to blink open my eyes, and another for my vision to stop being blurred. That's when I see a black shirt and my eyes travel upwards and I see the most beautiful face in the world.

"Jericho!" my voices croaks as I grin and tuck my head into the hollow of his neck, nuzzling up against him because I'm too tightly wrapped in what I realize are blankets and his arms to hug him. "It wasn't a dream! You found me!"

"Was there ever any doubt I would?" I hear his voice through his neck and it's somehow deeper that way. "O ye of—"

"No, not this time," I tell him as I pull my face away from the warmth of his skin and look up at him, my eyes glowing proudly. "I never gave up hope you'd find me, no matter what Cruce said. I knew you'd never give up searching until you found me. My only fear was that I would have completely lost it before you did, but I knew you'd find a way to fuck me back to my senses if that happened. I never lost faith in you, Jericho. Not for a second." His mouth is hot and hungry on mine the moment I finish talking.

He's exultant when he pulls away and he sends along our connection, *Finally, woman.*

I laugh and nuzzle back into him, the pain in my throat slowly dissipating as my body heals itself, still feeling incredibly weak and tired but I'm unbelievably happy because—

My thoughts are interrupted when someone softly clears their throat. I look up at him and he nods to someone behind me. I turn my head and my face lights up as Dani's bright red hair and gamine grin pop into view. Then she's crawling on top of us in order to hug me. I'm laughing and groaning because I ache all over but I've missed her so much. She plants a kiss on my cheek before she climbs off.

There's a flash of movement and Ryodan's standing over us, his arms extended all the way out as his hands hold onto the arms of a struggling Shazam. "Shazam. What did Dani tell you."

"Specify. Yi-yi has many bofflscating rules."

"What did she tell you before coming here."

"No eating lemurs."

"And."

"No kidnapping lemurs for mating." Barrons snorts out a laugh. Ryodan shoots us a look that says we don't want to know.

"And." I'm amazed at the level of patience he's displaying. He's never that patient with me. That's when Shazam starts crying. He's not the prettiest cryer, but neither is Dani.

"Shouldn't be in trouble! Did nothing wrong!" he wails as tears drop down into his fur.

"And no pouncing on Mac while she's recovering."

"Yi-yi!" He starts to flail about in Ryodan's iron grip.

"Ryodan, enough!" Dani says as she snatches Shazam from him. "He's right, Shazam. I told you no pouncing on Mac. She's hurt."

"It's because I'm fat!" the Hel-Cat wails, his hands in his paws.

"You're not fat."

"Lies! You pounced on Queen!"

"Wrong. Hugging is not pouncing."

He looks up at her and stops crying. Then he's out of her arms and on the foot of the bed, cautiously crawling up towards my head. Ryodan moves to grab him again, but Dani's immediately in his way, her arms crossed. I can tell they're having a mental conversation like Barrons and I do. Her eyes narrow at him before he finally exhales and sits down in a chair next to my bed. That's when I finally realize I'm in my bedroom on the fourth floor of my bookstore.

Shazam's paws perch on Barrons's arm and his furry face is real close to mine. He didn't like me the first time we met. My feelings for him aren't nearly as strong and intense as Dani's, but he kept my girl alive during the five and a half years she was lost in the Silvers. I will always love him for that.

His eyes bore into mine for a while, and for a moment I think I see the immense ancientness of the Hunter Y'rill. Then he sits up, turns to Dani, announces, "Queen will recover," and vanishes.

I look past where he had just been sitting to see Ryodan studying me. It takes a moment but I manage to extract a hand from my wrappings and hold it out to him, doing my best not to move or extend my shoulder in the process. He leans forward and takes it.

As I give it a squeeze, I tell him, "Thank you for putting me back together."

He gently squeezes back and nods serenely. As I look into his cool, silver eyes, I could have sworn I saw affection blooming in them.

"Okay, that's long enough," Dani says as she moves in behind him and wraps her arms around his neck.

"Agreed," Barrons growls as he gently tucks my arm back into the blankets. Ryodan arches his head back and kisses her as Barrons holds me tighter.

"Why were you in a dungeon, Mac," Ryodan asks a moment later.

"Cruce has learned. Sort of," I sigh. I lift my head and look up at Barrons. "Do you remember when you had him against a wall after he revealed he was my fourth rapist and I told you he was mine to kill or let live and that you know I mean it when I say 'no'?"

He inclines his head, a little bit of crimson appearing in his eyes.

"He decided that was the difference between the two of you and wanted me to choose between the two of you instead of somehow forcing me to be with him. I told him I needed to think about it. He tried flattery, gifts, impressing me with his creations. I was able to explain away most of my escape attempts, but I eventually pushed him too far. He told me he was still respecting my right to choose but was going to have to encourage my decision making. I got furious and immediately told him I chose you and listed the ways you're better than him." Amusement glitters in his eyes and I know he would have loved to have seen and heard that. "That's when he decided he would give me time to change my mind. As much time as it took. Each time he came down, it was to 'entice' me to change it." I laid my head back down on Barrons's chest, facing Ryodan and Dani. "I lost track of the days once I was down there. How long have I been gone?"

"Only a week," Barrons murmurs.

"No, it was definitely longer than that," I say with a frown. "I was in his castle for three days before he threw me in the dungeon. And I was in the dungeon for weeks if not months." Ryodan and Barrons exchange dark looks. "What?"

"The dungeon. It must be in one of those seven rooms where time moves differently," Barrons says.

"At least now we can tell Lyryka where that one is," Dani said, referring to Cruce's secret daughter who had come over to our side.

"Is that all he wanted." Ryodan's voice is soft. It's enough to make anyone nervous.

"No," I answer. "But it was the key to getting more of what he wants."

"What else does he want?" Dani asks. One of Ryodan's hands goes to her arm and rests there, his thumb moving across her skin. A little smile crosses my face for a moment.

"Us."

All three of them went so still it felt like time had suddenly been frozen. I could only tell it hadn't by the slow, rhythmic thud of Barrons's heart. It wasn't a sound I heard often, but I took comfort in it when I did and suddenly wished my body would heal faster because it meant he had eaten recently. The elements from the Unseelie prison Cruce had put in the dungeon had slowed down my healing.

"Sometimes he would tell me what he had planned as he tortured me. He was going to use Dani to gain control of the Hunters and further entice the Unseelie King to choose him as his successor. Shazam he would use to set examples to other worlds. He was going to bring back the black holes and destroy the earth, trapping the Nine there in limbo. Except you." I look up at Barrons. "He wants to keep you on a leash as his enforcer."

I heard the rattle in Barrons's chest and saw his fangs as crimson swirled into his eyes. It was a minute before he calmed down enough to ask, "And how was he planning on achieving that?"

"By keeping me under lock and key." My voice cracked a little. "If you stepped out of line, he'd hurt me. If you tried to kill him, he'd kill me. He figured he'd eventually break you by keeping me close by but out of your sight and reach. You'd still be able to feel me and how I felt through my brand, which is why he didn't try to scrape it off. And he wouldn't have had to worry about me because he'd already have broken me into choosing him and giving him the True Magic. He'd keep me just far enough away that I wouldn't be able to feel your presence, but you'd still feel me."

I felt his entire body go rigid beneath me as his chest rattled much louder. Fangs grazed my skin as I nuzzled against him and fabric started to rip as his beast tried to emerge. I kept myself pressed up against him as I managed to free my arms, my shoulders protesting loudly as I held in a groan of pain.

"Shhhhh," I said gently as I pushed myself closer to his face and placed my hands on his cheeks, feeling the plaits trying to elongate and broaden. "None of that's going to happen. You saved me. Nothing and no one could *ever* keep me from you." My thumbs moved gently across his skin as he struggled. "I'm here. Stay with me, Jericho. Stay with me." I plant a kiss on his forehead before leaning my own against his and close my eyes, sending him love and strength through our connection.

After a while, I feel him relax and his hand in my hair before he kisses me. He settles me back down against his chest in my blankets and I look over at Dani and Ryodan, suddenly remembering they're there. Dani's grinning at me and Ryodan looks stunned.

"Incredible," he murmurs.

"Does this mean Mac's tamed the beast?" Dani teases.

Barrons snorts and I tell her, "I'd say I've learned how to soothe the beast. Pretty sure he's untamable."

&&&

Later when Dani and Ryodan had left and Barrons was still holding me and keeping me warm, I looked up at him and said, "This might be the most deliriously happy I've ever been in my life."

He arches an eyebrow at me like I've lost it. *Why?*

"There was a moment, back when I was *Pri-ya* but wasn't and I was trying to surface and not surface, when you told me to come back. You told me I was safe and the princes could never hurt me again and we needed to leave that room."

*I remember.*

"I thought to myself then that they *could* still hurt me, which is why I was never leaving that room. In that room was something that kept the monsters away. I know I'm safe as long as I'm in your arms. I should be feeling traumatized, vengeful, furious, really anything else, but for the moment I'm just deliriously happy because I'm being held by you."