"Everything," he said.
She rested her arm on his chest and supported her head so she could watch him. "You're slipping out." She said, closing her eyes and feeling a slight sense of loss.
"I know." He said. There was regret in his tone. "I wish I could remain locked with you for all time."
"Me too," she agreed. "I like the feeling of our souls merged."
“Me too,” he said. "I think I like this retribution thing better and better," he teased.
She narrowed her eyes at him and lifted her other hand in order to smack him.
"Please, oh please, I would love to have you ride me like that again," he said and looked meaningfully at the table and the contents still on top of it.
Her gaze followed where his gaze landed, and she looked back at him. She lowered her hand and head to rest on his chest.
"Smart girl," he said. He caressed her head and held her close to his heart.
"Sometimes," she said with a small laugh. "You don't mind if I go to sleep on you, do you?" She stifled a yawn.
Not in the least, little one.
She smiled against his chest and closed her eyes. She didn't sleep as well after Moto left her world and she could feel the events of the last week and then some creeping upon her.
Sleep well, my Kaily. He replied and caressed her back. He covered them both with a blanket and closed his eyes.
You're tired too. She sleepily replied.
It's been a long seven days.
Yes, it has. She sighed contentedly and allowed herself to drift into the calming unconsciousness of sleep. She realized that she was home where she belonged. Somehow Moto became her home, she didn't know when it happened, but she was glad it did. As long as she was with him, she would always be home no matter whose world they resided.
Chapter Twenty-One
Moto's eyes flew open as he became awake and aware of two things: Kaily was not beside him, she was in the training room, and her night terrors returned. Cursing he gathered up a blanket and hurried to the training room. He stopped at the entrance, took calming breathes, and made his way inside. "Kaily?" She stood in the middle of the training room, naked, her back to the entrance.
She didn't answer or turn to face him.
His heart caught in his throat as the emotional pain emanating from her hit him like a blow to the stomach. He stepped up behind her, wrapped her in the blanket and pulled her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms protectively around her. "Your night terrors returned." It was not a question.
She nodded.
He turned her in his arms and titled her face up so he could look into her eyes. Tears streamed down her face. "How can I help you?"
A sob caught in her throat, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and pressed into him as if she could crawl inside his skin.
He held her tight and swayed with her in an effort to comfort her. He rubbed his hand up and down her back while her pain and sorrow poured into him. He closed his eyes. Her pain was almost unbearable, and there wasn't anything he could do to help her. He was still able to get inside her mind, for which he was eternally grateful, but the images of her night terrors were still not clear, and he didn't wake up while she was having them so he couldn't see what they were. He cursed his exhaustion and not being there when Kaily needed him the most.
She shushed him.
I didn't say anything, little one.
You're thinking too loudly. She lifted her face and her tear-filled gaze met his. "There isn't anything you could have done even if you did see what I dreamt."
"Do you remember what they were about?" He asked. He tried to brush away her tears streaming from her eyes with his thumbs.
She looked away and laid her check against his chest. "Not much, they fade so fast when I wake, and they aren't anything I want to remember." She looked at him again. "They terrify me, Moto."
"I know, little one, I know." He pressed her head back against his chest and ran his hand repeatedly through her hair, massaging the back of her head as he did. "It might help to talk about what you do remember."
She didn't say anything, but she brought the one image up in her mind that haunted her even after waking.
Moto's breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat as the image of a cloaked figure solidified in her mind.
"What is it?" She didn't lift her head.
"A Druid," Moto hissed. He glanced down at the floor and noticed for the first time a complicated rune. It was similar to the ones on the Gateway arches, but more complicated in pattern drawn into the dust layering the floor at her feet. "Kaily, what's that?"
She looked up at him and followed his gaze to where he stared. "Nothing," she said as she wiped it way with her foot. "I doodle sometimes when I wake from the, what did you call them?"
"Night terrors," he absently answered.
"That's a good word for them."
"You've had these before? Before you came to Ki, you had these night terrors?" Moto asked.
She nodded, and then shrugged. "Sort of, not like these, but when I was little and first came to live with my parents, I had nightmares. I don't remember what they were about, but I remember having them, and then I just out grew them, I guess. My parents gave me a journal to write in when I first came. I still have it, anyway, I have some in there I drew when I was little and having bad dreams. Once the nightmares went away, so did my desire to draw," she said with a shrug.
He lifted her into his arms. Are you okay in this room? He kept touching