“What did they say?” His nostrils flared.
I shook my head as if I couldn’t speak any more.
He pulled me in, wrapping his arms around me tight for a moment. Kissing the top of my head, he pulled back again. “What did they say?”
I started to cry, my words struggled to get around my sobs. “’He is not coming for you… any of you.’ Then, they touched my belly and I can remember such an evil grin as they told me that you were where you belonged, and I was to forget about you and allow my children their true destiny. Then, they shoved me through the portal. I thought I saw you just as I fell through, but I don’t know. I remember falling backward then waking, calling for you.”
His jaw was set. “Did it feel like a nightmare or something else? His tone still held more authority than softness.
“It felt like I was dying inside. I didn’t know where I was going, but I don’t feel like I was going home. It felt more like I was being taken somewhere. And I didn’t know if they were eluding to you being dead… or having abandoned me.”
“I would never abandon you. Especially if you were with child… my child.”
For a moment, I wondered if it was his. What if something were happening that he wasn’t abandoning me as much as I had abandoned him and, in that moment, realizing that I’d made a mistake?
“Is there something more you have not told me?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not that I can think of.”
Letting that question sit on me for a moment, I weighed it against everything I’d felt, and it was wrong. It felt off, and I knew for sure that there’s no way that would be the case. But my stomach flopped nauseatingly at the thought that the alternative might have been correct.
He studied me, his eyes narrowing. “You say nightmare, but do you often dream in visions to come? You once had the vision of the past. Maybe I should contact Dorian.”
His reply wasn’t what I expected. It was regimented. Kane went to get out of the bed, but I gripped his arm. “Please. No.”
The focus that was on his face softened when he turned back to me. “Is one of your powers an ability to predict the future… awake or in your dreams? Have you been able to do that in the past?”
“Only a couple of times, and it was nothing of importance,” I explained.
He huffed. “But we know your powers are stronger here. And you seem to have more powers than even you know of. So, I ask again, do you feel this is a prediction?”
A part of me felt interrogated. Despite him questioning me verbally, his posture was protective, but it didn’t save me from the fear that rose in my throat. “Who is Dorian?”
“Auri…” he growled.
“Who is he?” I needed to know that it wasn’t someone about to dissect me if I do hold the ability to see the future in my dreams.
Almost as if reading my mind, Kane sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand in his. “He will not hurt you. He is the head of my armies. He leads the training of my men. And when we go to battle, he leads the battle in my absence.”
“Then why would you call him in here? What have I done? If this is a prediction, does that scare you so much that you need someone like him around to handle me?” I swallowed around the lump in my throat, slowly pulling my hand from his grip and sitting up.
He pulled back, flinching as if I’d hit him. Brows furrowed, he looked down, not reaching out for me again. “I would call on him to protect you, not harm you.”
My heart broke as I watched him stand and cross the room to the door.
“Do you want to see it?” I blurted out before he could exit the room.
He stopped, his hand on the door. “See what?”
“The nightmare. I can show you.” I didn’t know why, but something clicked in me, telling me that I could do more than transfer emotions. That since this scenario invoked so much emotion in me, I’d be able to send the images with it.
“I will. Yes. But right now, I must speak with Wulfgar and Dorian.” He walked out of the room without looking back.
The only comfort I had right then was that he hadn’t lashed out at me. But his sudden coldness sent chills through my very core. Instinctively, my hands went to my belly, and I curled up, pulling the covers back over me.
Chapter
Ten
Needing Answers
The door creaked, and heavy footfalls crossed the room. A spot next to me on the mattress compressed, and I felt a hand on my hip over the thick comforter. I knew that hand well. The pressure Kane used. The grip he held me with. I’d become familiar with it… and it hurt to feel it right then.
I didn’t know if he was alone. I didn’t know if he was sitting there to talk to me or to wake me before this Dorian took me away. But I did know that I wasn’t ready to leave his bed.
“Auri?” His voice was careful.
I didn’t come out from under the
