Page 18 of This Vicious Dream

I focus on the book instead, mulling over its existence as we ride. Why would this book be so important to me? And is it the reason I woke in that forest, fully formed as an adult, but without a childhood, a family, alife?

Rolling my shoulders, I slide a glance at the woman currently swaying in her saddle, clearly fatigued. We’ll have to stop soon, somewhere away from the main road and her enemies.

Frustration slices through me, but I force myself to jerk my head, gesturing for her to follow me off the trail. This may be the closest I’ve come to vengeance, but my own instincts urge me to be careful. If I’m going to find my book—and take my revenge—I’ll have to cater to the needs of the woman being hunted by Vicana’s soldiers.

At least until she tells me where my book is.

Madinia

Calysian’s eyes are the last thing I see before I go to sleep in our small camp off the side of the road. They’re dark and shadowed.

Perhaps that’s why I dream of him.

A man stands next to a woman with long, curly blonde hair. They’re surrounded by bodies, limbs strewn carelessly across the clearing. He clamps one hand on her shoulder, and I nudge my horse.

“Let her go,” I demand.

The woman whirls. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Oh yes,” the man purrs. “I see her too.”

I raise my hand, allowing a few orange sparks to jump from my fingers. The woman gapes at me. “How…? What?”

I toss my hair over one shoulder. “I’m here to help you escape.” I make a show of wrinkling my nose at the bodies. “If you didn’t dothat, then we need to be on our way before they return.”

The man stares at me, and his eyes heat. “Well, well, well.”

I look down my nose at him and meet the woman’s eyes. “Are you well enough to sit on a horse?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

“What about your life debt?” the man asks.

The woman shrugs. “Madinia just saved my life. Give your debt to her.”

I don’t have time for this. I gesture for the woman tomove.

“You’d leave me here?” The man asks. There’s something unsettling about his dark gaze. Something that sends a shiver up my spine.

I open my mouth, but he sends me a wicked grin. “Forget it. I have some unfinished business to take care of. But I’ll see you again. In the meantime, good luck to you both.”

I jolt awake.

I knew Calysian was familiar. But who was the woman with him? We spoke as if we were…friends.

It hurts—discovering memories I carefully hid away like precious jewels.

Sitting up, I run a hand down my face. Calysian lounges next to the fire. Sudden fury engulfs me, and I itch to pour my power into those flames, sending them straight into his lying face.

“Why didn’t you tell me we knew each other?”

He raises one eyebrow. “Would you have believed me? I figured you’d come to that conclusion in your own time. What did you remember?”

“Bodies. A woman with blonde hair. You told her you owed her a life debt.”

He gives me a wry look. “Tonight wasn’t the first time you left me for dead.” There’s a hint of affront in his voice.

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