Dream of Us

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Dyani’s POV.

She blinks a few times, not quite believing what I am saying. I wait patiently, trying to resist the urge to shift from one foot to the other. My hands are clasped together at my front, and I play with my fingers to distract myself.

“Dyani?” She murmurs. “It’s really you?”

“Yes,” I breathe. “Inteus...he’s dead. My mates and I, well, we got rid of him.”

At my words, tears start to shine in her eyes. She lets out a cry which makes me jump and I tense up as she throws her arms around me. She buries her face in my hair, sobbing quietly. I’m frozen for a moment, it takes me a second to process before I hug her back. I rub her back slowly, breathing in her comforting smell; she smells of fresh linen and roasted vegetables, like she’s been cooking.

“My darling girl,” she mutters to herself.

I remain still as she leans back and cups my face in her hands. Tears roll down her cheeks as she studies me.

“Look at you, so grown up. You have your mother’s nose, I was always so envious of it, so small and cute,” she says with a sad laugh.

“Could you tell me about her? My memories haven’t returned yet and there’s so much I want to know about her.”

She nods quickly. “Of course, of course. Your memories, I forgot that Inteus took them. When your mother died, I was so caught up in her death that I didn’t realise the atrocities Inteus was carrying out. I heard that he had separated you from your mates, but by that time, I was trapped here and unable to help. I didn’t even know where you were to send a message to you. I could only hope one day that someone would end that bastard’s life.”

“Today’s that day,” I reply humourlessly.

She smiles back. “I am so grateful to you,” she looks at my mates. “And your mates, for getting rid of him. The world is a better place without him. Please, come inside, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Aloria’s house is rather small. We all cram inside the living room. Chogan leaves me and my mates to return to Sian and his sister. My mates sit on one of the sofas, crushed together on the two-seater. I sit with my auntie on the other. She makes everyone some lemon tea and then spends the afternoon telling me about my childhood, my mother and what happened all the way up to her imprisonment by Inteus.

I was tired from casting so much magic earlier. By the time evening falls, my eyelids are drooping. Aloria notices how tired we all are.

“I should let you go. I wish I could offer for you to stay overnight, but Inteus was not generous in the prison he chose for me, this is only a one-bed.”

“Thank you, but we wouldn’t impose anyway,” I reassure her.

“You know you can leave now, right? We broke the spell outside,” Denali tells her.

Her shoulders sag with relief. The empty mug she is holding shakes in her hands.

“I was hoping you were going to tell me that. For years, I’ve been stuck here, only able to move around the village. The mage’s spell on the house allowed me to travel less than half a mile in all directions.” Realisation dawns on her and she frowns in concentration. “I’m finally free.”

“You are,” I tell her and squeeze her hand.

“Where are you staying? Are you able to return tomorrow? I want to talk to you some more,” she asks eagerly. “It’s like having Caterina back, being able to talk about her to you like this.”

“I’d love that. We’ll probably find a hotel to stay at tonight. I’ve been living somewhere called Laleston, but I’m not sure whether we’re going back there...” I trail off and look to my mates for guidance.

Calian gets to his feet.

“We’ll drop Dyani off tomorrow morning if you like and give you two the day to catch up. Tomorrow evening, if it’s okay with you, I think we should all go out to dinner to celebrate.”

“I’d love that, thank you,” Aloria replies gratefully.

“We can discuss future plans,” Denali says, giving me a pointed look.

We all know that we have to raise the topic of Aloria potentially taking over as ruler of the kingdom, but it’s like we have an unspoken agreement not to mention it tonight. Meeting me and finding out she has been freed is a big enough shock for one day, I don’t want to bombard her by asking her to be queen on the same day. She at least deserves tonight to recover a bit.

“Perfect, I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She takes my hands and pulls me in for a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you, Dyani.”

“You too, Aunt Aloria.”

She smiles, her eyes tearing up again. “It’s so good to be called that once more, it’s been so long. See you tomorrow, darling.”

“Night, Auntie.”

I leave with my mates. None of us say anything as we wander down the street to the town centre, looking out for hotels. It’s been a hell of a day for all of us and I think we could really use a good night’s sleep.

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Nuka’s POV.

I’m the first to wake up the following morning. The hotel we checked into last night is surprisingly luxurious. The beds are soft and generously large. Dyani and Denali are asleep to my right in their own bed, and Calian is softly snoring next to me in ours.

I look over at our sleeping mate. She looks angelic as she sleeps, so at peace. I can’t recall how many times I have dreamt of this moment; us all being reunited. It feels surreal to be back together again. A part of me keeps thinking that I might wake up and find myself back in that cell, that this is all some kind of hallucination formed by my desperate mind. It’s a scary thought and not one I wish to dwell on.

I’m going to talk to my brothers today and see if they have or had the same fears and felt as on-edge as I do. Calian’s been out of his cell a little longer than me, and Denali is the one that first broke free. Perhaps they can offer some reassurance that this feeling of unease will pass.

It’s so strange to see us all so mature. Last time we were together, we were teenagers, nervous and clueless to the world. I remember being so excited for my sixteenth birthday and being really annoyed that I was the youngest of Dyani’s mates.

On the day of my birthday, we all went sledging in the snow because my birthday is in February. I remember that day so clearly in my mind. We took it in turns to go down the slopes on the sledge with Dyani, racing each other and whooping loudly. In the evening, we stayed at my parents’ cabin and huddled around a log fire to toast marshmallows.

Denali’s parents died when he was ten. Calian was adopted by a family who thought they couldn’t have children and then went on to have three of their own, he always stayed at our houses instead, feeling unwelcome in his home, like an outsider. I was raised by my grandfather, who passed shortly after my sixteenth birthday. Dyani’s parents were obviously a mess, her father was an overbearing king who tried to limit how much time we spent with her. She was always coming up with new ways to distract the guards and sneak out.

Our combined loneliness drew us together and strengthened our bond. We decided early on that we were each other’s family, and we didn’t need the rest of the world. That’s why, when Inteus took us away and wiped Dyani’s memories, it nearly broke me. My whole world, my family was taken from me, and I felt loss all over again. It was almost too much to bear.

Dyani stirs across the gap from me and opens her eyes to look at me. I’ve missed those eyes, russet in colour with a copper hue in bright lighting. She smiles at me and briefly closes her eyes again to stretch.

My morning wood has gone down, so I throw the covers off and get to my feet. Dyani watches as I raise my arms above my head and stretch. She doesn’t bother to try and hide the lust on her face as she openly ogles my body.

“I’m having a shower,” I whisper to her, not wanting to wake the others.

She pushes back the duvet and sits up. Her nipples have beaded against the t-shirt she slept in, drawing my attention to them.

“Want company?” She offers quietly.

Her offer takes me by surprise. When we considered yesterday that marking Dyani might be the answer to getting her memories back, I tried to realistically think when that would happen. Before all of this went down, we were sexually active as mates, but we never went all of the way. We got awfully close once we’d passed sixteen, but Ani was still fifteen. We are all virgins still and I didn’t think we would be jumping straight back into bed together. It’s been a decade of time between us, it makes sense that we would have to take some time to get to know each other again.

“Do you want to?” I ask her.

She nods and gets to her feet. “I could use a shower.”

Her answer crushes the hopes of touching her that were building inside me. She’s being sensible and trying to conserve water by showering with me. I hide my disappointment and follow her through to the bathroom.

Once inside, she closes the door behind us and leans into the shower cubicle to turn the water on. As it warms up, she sits down on the toilet to relieve herself. I busy myself with washing my face in the sink, so she won’t feel conscious.

Steam starts to raise up out of the cubicle. Dyani washes her hands and then strips out of her t-shirt and shorts. Chogan had our suitcases collected last night.

My mouth goes dry as she slips off her underwear, leaving her completely naked. Her body has changed since I last saw it. She has filled out and gained curves that make my desire flare. Casting me an inviting look over her shoulder, she steps into the shower.

I waste no time in stripping out of my boxers and rushing over to the shower. She’s standing under the water, washing her body in a soapy lather. She turns to me as she rinses the suds off and I get to see her body fully from the front. My breath catches in my throat. She is beyond perfect.

“Dyani,” I breathe her name on an exhale.

She smiles shyly and holds out her hand for me to step closer. “Touch me, Nuka?”

With pleasure.

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