Page 174 of A Vow of Embers

“Yes. Those were terawolves?”

I nodded. This felt like the beginning of something. I didn’t know how to explain it but this didn’t feel like a random occurrence.

This is the first of many. Darkness is coming.

Did that mean I was going to have more nightmares like this one? Was it supposed to be some kind of warning? To what end?

“I should hold you,” he said, sounding confused. “When we sleep.”

Was he asking or telling me? “What? Why?”

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s like there’s a voice that sometimes whispers things to me. It usually happens in our dreams but I’m hearing it now and that’s what it said.”

If he were any other man, I would have assumed that it was a ploy to bring me closer. But Xander was not interested in us connecting that way. He’d said the words as if they’d been against his will.

“That sounds strange,” I finally said. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Temple acolytes don’t get married. ‘Strange’ might be inevitable in our unique situation.”

That was something I already knew, and I was well aware of the fact that unusual and magical things could happen between a priestess and her husband. Which made me feel guilty that I was keeping the secret of how to break the link between us.

None of us knew anything. Maybe he was right.

“We could test it,” he offered carefully.

He lay back down, bringing me with him. I curled into him and told myself that I was only participating in this experiment because I was curious. And I wanted to see if him holding me would keep the nightmares away.

Not for any other reason.

Especially not for any reason that made me feel pathetic.

“We could,” I agreed, soaking up his warmth. “Just to see.”

“Just to see,” he agreed as his arms tightened around me, and I heard the laughter in his voice but chose to ignore it.

And I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or worried when our first attempt proved him correct.

When I awoke the next morning, I glanced up at his face and was a little startled that he was looking at me. Like he’d been watching me and waiting.

“Any nightmares?” he asked.

“No. And you?”

“None for me.”

“To be fair, it was only for a short amount of time,” I said, pushing down the embarrassment that ordered me to be quiet.

“You’re right,” he said with a seriousness that I suspected was mocking me. “We will have to attempt it for longer tonight.”

I ignored the shivery sensations that skated up and down my spine.

Then he said, “You’ll be happy to know that my stepmother has destroyed everything made of glass or clay in her room and has been cursing at her servants all morning.”

I pushed myself up so that I could see him better, as if that would somehow improve my hearing. “How does she already know?”

He looked up at me and he was so incredibly appealing first thing in the morning. I had liked waking up in his arms so much that my heart flipped over. “There was a short report left on my side table. Once the safe house was cleared out, I had Rokh deliver anonymous notes to the archons saying to immediately demand partial payment if they were expecting a bribe from Erisa as she no longer had access to her funds.”

His eyes twinkled as he told me this and it was hard to concentrate.

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