Drown Me with Dreams by Gabi Burton

Author:Gabi Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781547610426
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2024-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A VIOLENT NATURE

The thing about sharing a room with a skilled and well-trained soldier is that sneaking out is impossible. I don’t want to involve Carrik in my plans, but considering I have to do this at night, keeping him out isn’t an option.

Still, I try. I keep quiet, wait until I hear his breaths slow with sleep, and creep out of bed. I take about two steps before his hand snags me by the ankle. “Going somewhere?” He sounds amused and drowsy at the same time.

I hold in a groan. I didn’t actually expect it to work, but I’m still annoyed. I tug my foot out from his grasp. “Any chance I can convince you to go back to sleep and leave me alone?”

I don’t need to see him to know he’s smirking. “Not a chance. So, where are we going? If you don’t tell me, I’ll just follow you.” I turn on the chaeliss lights so we can see each other. His expression is light, teasing, and curious. “You knew I was going to wake up.”

“And hoping you wouldn’t.”

“Where are we going?”

“Courliss.”

He frowns. “You’re welcome there anytime. I go just about every day.”

“I’m welcome when Lex, Zaire, and the rest of the Resistance are there, watching over my shoulder. I want to go when no one can direct me away from anything. If they have nothing to hide, why should it matter if I go in at night?”

“There’s an isi wood fence around it, remember? It’s enchanted to only allow select people to pass. I’m not one of them. After last time . . .”

“That’s fine.” I slip my hand beneath my mattress and pull out my lairic beads. “I can get past that.”

Carrik reaches for his boots. “Let’s go, then.”

“You’re still not invited.”

“Neither are you,” he points out.

I’m annoyed but he’s not wrong, so with a scowl, I tiptoe downstairs, Carrik right behind me. As we approach the door, he pauses to grab a ring of keys from a hook near the front door. My eyebrows shoot up. “They just leave that out in the open like that?”

He shrugs. “They’re trusting. You should try it sometime.”

My eyes narrow. “I did. Ended up with a dagger to the back. Yours, if I remember correctly.”

The teasing light fades from his eyes. He sighs as we leave Lex and Zaire’s and start weaving through the streets. The Festival of Reds has ended, leaving the city quiet and empty.

When we reach the isi wood fence that surrounds Courliss, I pull my lairic beads from my pocket. Hesitantly, I run them against the fence.

Carrik alternates between glancing around to make sure no one’s coming and watching my hands. “You sure it’s going to work?”

“Not until I try it.” The memory of the last time I touched enchanted isi wood—of the searing pain that engulfed my body—comes to mind. I bat the thought away. Breath bated, I reach for the fence—­

Carrik knocks my hand aside, shoves himself in between me and the fence, and throws a hand against the wood.

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