Page 12 of Whispers of the Dragon
“Interesting.”
7
Don’t Look at Me Like I’m the Weird One
Looking at the abnormally large black eyes, she was sure she was looking into the eyes of the devil.
The silver blade inched closer and closer to her right eye until it was mere centimeters from her pupil.
“Don’t blink.”
A tear welled up in her eye, making it even harder to keep her eyes open. Her body began to tremble. She was going to blink.
“Don’t blink, little girl,” he warned again.
The tear fell, and her eyes started to close …
“Eira … Eira … Eira!”
The lulling sound of her name getting louder brought her back to this universe.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, jolting herself awake. Eira sat up, bundling her blanket around her in an attempt to safely be cocooned from the dark figure of the man standing over her.
The figure reached over, turning on the soft glow of the lamp on her bedside table. “I promised you I wouldn’t touch you, and I didn’t.”
Her racing heart began to steady at seeing it wasn’t the devil’s dead black eyes who haunted her sleep staring back at her, but Ryu’s warm, glowing ones. She checked her right eye to see it was perfect, then her left to feel the imperfection of the burns surrounding it. She was safely back in her body.
His jaw flexed in a tight clench. “It wasn’t without difficulty, though.”
“You really didn’t touch me, did you?” she whispered in disbelief that he kept his promises so fiercely.
“Trust me.” Running his hand through his disheveled hair in anguish, he sat down on the edge of her bed, trying to calm himself down. “You’d know it if I did, darling.”
Eira didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, yet she loosened her protective cocoon. It was obvious there was nothing to fear in his presence. Whatever code he lived by was extremely important to him, and she knew she herself was becoming just as important to him with each passing second. She knew it because, like he’d said, she felt it, too. As her heart continued to steady, she noticed his steady alongside hers.
“You scared the hell out of me, Eira.” Ryu didn’t try to hide the agony he had gone through while she was under and screaming. “I’ve never seen anyone have a nightmare like that.”
Still remembering the way those soulless eyes had made her feel and the touch of the cold blade piercing above her eye right before she had awoken, she shook her head, wishing she could forget it. “I’m not so sure it was.”
He looked at her strangely.
“Oh, come on. Don’t look at me likeI’mthe weird one!” she cried before shivering at the chill that ran up her spine. “I’ve just never had a nightmare like that.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, softening his features so she wouldn’t think he was judging her.
Eira didn’t know how much she wanted to reveal, yet she wanted him to understand. “Usually, my nightmares are always the same, but this one was different … like it wasn’t mine.”
“And how often do you have these nightmares?” he asked after his eyes had drifted to the cup of tea her grandmother had given her earlier in the night. She had barely made it to bed and had taken the last sip before she passed out while her grandmother made a bed on the couch for him.
She thought for a moment, remembering the one from earlier in the day. “I-I actually had one earlier when I fell asleep on the mountain, but that was the first time.”
“And what are yours about?” he asked softly, wondering about the nightmares she usually had.
Now Eira didn’t know what to say. What was she was supposed to tell him? That every time she closed her eyes, nightmares of the past haunted her so much that she’d rather suffer not sleeping at all most nights?Yeah, right. All she needed was for him to think she was a monster, like everyone else did.
“It’s your fault!” she realized, saving her from the subject. “You’re the reason I’m having these dreams that aren’t mine.”
“My fault?” It was clear he took offense.
