Page 11 of A Broken Promise (the Freckled Fate #1)

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T he large river was tranquil, calm, reflecting a bright full moon and shimmering stars above. Viyak’s tall figure treaded ahead of me through the silver bluegrass while tiny campfires flickered on the horizon.

I knew it was a dream, but I still had hoped that he would turn around just once. For me to see his face once more.

Stupid delusions.

As if a ghost, my dreams haunted me my entire life. A shadow twin that followed me each step. Tuluma asked me about them regularly. She always had an explanation for them too. A scary monster: just my imagination adding some details to a dark cloud I saw earlier. A red-eyed devil: a mix of poppies I collected that day and that grumpy farmer's lady that yelled at me. She could always connect the dots between reality and the vivid dreams. It was our game; who could make a more reasonable connection? Like the one I had today was clearly because I missed Viyak, fires because of the Destroyer, and night because I stared at the moon too much last night.

A peaceful image of Viyak and I in a beautiful place together: a desperate shot of my subconsciousness for any kind of sense of hope .

Maybe a part of me really needed it. To see us free, to feel free, to be at peace.

Life was too chaotic for me to linger on my dreams, but a part of me was grateful for this little glimpse of another world. Maybe in a different universe, Finn and Viyak were happy.

But in this?

Not him.

And not me.