Dungeons and Dreamers by Alex Lidell

Author:Alex Lidell [Lidell, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Published: 2019-08-02T05:00:00+00:00

10

Lera

I am afraid to breathe too quickly; the rhythm of slow steady inhalations has warded off the night terrors for hours now. My body is numb. Separated. So long as I don’t move, the world feels distant, as if a curtain of thick cotton has settled around my senses. All I taste are mouthfuls of stale air. In and out. In and out.

Hinges squeak.

With excruciating slowness, my gaze focuses. The cotton keeping my senses at bay disappears as I blink at the figure rushing inside my cell, bringing unwelcome reality with him. A heady metallic musk fills my senses, drowning out my own stench of stale sweat and dried blood.

“Leralynn.” Coal crouches beside me, leashed violence simmering behind his devastatingly beautiful face. His usually bound hair hangs down to his broad shoulders, framing a strong jaw and blazing blue eyes. On the stone floor, lines of sunlight speak of morning well on its way. I’ve been here all night, and I wager Coal has too. No, I know he has—I felt him. Despite Coal’s slow movements, his muscles—the very air around him—vibrate with tension.

Our gazes lock, the connection powerful enough to make nothing else matter for a moment.

Then Coal reaches for me, sharply carved muscles moving with liquid grace beneath the thin black cloth of his tunic.

Without meaning to, I push back into the stone. With the exception of the ill-fated choke-hold demonstration, the male has avoided physical contact with me for a month now. The rest, the flashes of memories and pain, those took place in my mind alone. I have no reason to believe he sees me any differently now than he has in the past four weeks. Even with our gazes locked, my wary body doesn’t know what to expect from itself at the warrior’s touch.

“I’m going to take the pressure off your shoulder.” Coal moves slowly, lifting me off the stone floor onto his bent knee, his hands bracing my shackled arm. The shift releases compressed veins and nerves, blood flowing back into my numb limbs with scorching agony.

I bite back a scream, but Coal’s silent, intense gaze stays on me. I know, his blue eyes say. I know.

Once I am able to breathe again, I lean into the male’s shoulder while he checks the manacle holding my wrist. Beyond the world of the two of us, I finally mark another figure in the dungeon cell.

Still stopped at the open door, River stares down at my crumpled form. The patient male who helped me read is gone, a cold, powerful commander in his place. A commander whose orders I disobeyed. There is no emotion in River’s chiseled face, his back as straight here in a dungeon cell as on the parade grounds, his dark brown hair just as flawlessly neat. This is what happens to those who fail to abide by my word, each harsh line of his sculpted body enunciates in silence. I warned you, didn’t I?

My heart hammers against my ribs, my breaths quick through the streaks of pain raking my cramped muscles.

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