Page 38 of Cursed Dreams (Shadow and Dreams #1)

“I thought I was in control of myself,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “But then something happened. This… light burst out of me. Not just magic, it felt different. Wilder. Like it didn’t even belong to me. And I thought of you. I felt you. Like your magic was inside me.”

She shook her head again, the words tumbling out now, frantic and uneven.

“I don’t even know if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t. And you probably think I’m insane—but I panicked just now because I didn’t want that to happen again. I couldn’t risk hurting you.”

Silence stretched between them. Thalia’s chest heaved with effort, her mind spiralling into a thousand self-berating thoughts. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t want to see the disappointment.

Caelum didn’t speak for a moment.

Thalia stood there, breathless, her confession hanging between them like an exposed nerve. The wind rustled through the trees above, stirring the lanterns in soft, glowing pulses. The silence stretched long enough to make her wish she could vanish into the ground.

Gently, he reached out and took her hand, careful, almost reverent. “Thalia,” he said, his voice low, steady, “What you felt… it wasn’t my magic. Not exactly.”

She blinked at him. “Then what—?”

“It was yours.”

“No. That, That couldn’t have been mine. I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“My magic isn’t powerful enough” “ I can heal but that’s all “ “I - couldn’t do that... hurt someone”

Caelum’s thumb brushed lightly over her knuckles, “It was you. All you. But you may have felt me, too. I can feel you sometimes, your emotions. Even when I’m far.”

Her mouth parted, but no sound came. Her head spun.

Caelum glanced down, his jaw tightening, his next words quieter. “The light… that’s curious.” “But it’s not dangerous.”

He said it offhandedly, like a passing thought. But Thalia caught the flicker in his expression there was something he wasn’t telling her.

“You know what it means, don’t you?” she asked softly.

Caelum looked away.

Finally she found the courage to give voice to the thoughts that had been troubling her since it happened. “ I read about something like this in the archives” she hesitated again fighting the turbulence of emotions she was feeling “ Are we ? Are we soul bonded ?”

Caelum went utterly still, his hand fell from hers like it had been burned. His breath caught, and before she could say another word, he dropped to his knees.

“Caelum!” “Oh god I’m sorry, I was wrong .. I got carried away ..”

She moved instinctively, kneeling beside him, but he was already bowing his head, hands braced against the stone path as though something had struck him from within.

He looked up at her eyes wide, shimmering, undone.

“I’d hoped,” he whispered. “I dreamed… gods, Thalia, I dreamed it was you. But I didn’t dare believe.”

She froze. Her heart thudded in her chest like a drum.

“You’re… mine?” he asked, the question barely a breath, full of wonder and fear and aching hope.

“I—” Thalia faltered, utterly stunned. “I don’t, I didn’t know. I don’t know what any of this means.” “I only read some texts and .. “

Caelum reached for her again,

“You were in my dreams before I ever saw your face. I thought you were a memory I made up to keep myself from falling into the dark. A fool desperate to believe in a prophesy, when I finally saw you, spoke to you, I hoped beyond hope you would feel this too!”

“I—” Thalia felt like her mind had split in two. “How can this be happening?”

He shook his head, smiling through the sheer disbelief in his eyes. “I don’t know. But if what you say is true… then fate is far kinder than I ever imagined.”

Thalia didn’t know what to say. Her world felt like it had tilted sideways.

She was soul bonded. To a prince from a forgotten realm. A man who existed only in dreams, would this be their fate, to see each other once a year when the veil was thin? No, she wouldn’t accept this , couldn’t accept it.

Thalia slowly pulled her hand from his, not harshly, just enough to put a breath of space between them. She needed it. The truth was too big, too heavy, and her chest felt too tight to hold it all at once.

“Yours?” she whispered, her voice barely holding together. “What does that even mean?”

Caelum’s eyes searched hers, steady and gentle. “Soul bonds are rare. Sacred. They tie two beings across time and distance. They are... eternal.”

She shook her head, her voice a little louder now, a little more panicked. “But you’re not here. Not really. You’re in my dreams, Caelum. What kind of cruel joke is this? What does fate expect us to do—just visit each other in fragments? In stolen moments when the veil decides to be thin enough?”

He didn’t answer. The sorrow in his expression was the answer.

“I don’t understand how this is fair,” she said, her words tumbling out.

“Why would the gods give me you, just to keep you unreachable? We’ll never have a real life.

No shared mornings. No arguments over who used the last of the tea.

No chance at a home, of a family. You’ll always be just out of reach. ”

Her voice cracked on the last word. She felt her throat close, grief bubbling beneath her skin like a storm.

Caelum reached for her, his hand cupping her cheek with aching tenderness, slowly he lowered his mouth to hers it felt as though he was kissing her fears away one by one.

Thalia melted into it, tears trailing down her cheeks as his lips moved against hers with a patience that broke her heart.

Her hands curled into his shirt, gripping him like he might vanish the second she let go.

When he pulled back, their foreheads touched, breath mingling.

“I don’t want to lose this,” she whispered.

“You won’t,” he said.

“How can you be so sure?” she breathed. “We’re worlds apart, Caelum. And I don’t even know what’s real anymore.”

For a moment, he was silent.

“Maybe there’s another way.”

She pulled back just enough to see his face, her eyes narrowing with cautious hope. “What do you mean?”

Caelum’s expression had changed. "I shouldn’t say more. Not yet,” he murmured. “It’s dangerous, even here. But you need to know, I’ve searched. I am searching. There are old paths. Forgotten magics. They may be lost... or they may still exist, buried in places few dare to look.”

“Are you saying there's a way to bring you back?” Her voice trembled.

His silence said enough.

“I need to know,” she whispered. “If there’s a way—I have to know.”

Caelum brushed a thumb along her jaw, his touch ignited that same cold burn in her chest. “When the time is right, I’ll show you. But it must be your choice, Thalia. This path… it may cost more than either of us is ready for.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead so soft and gentle.

“And if you choose this” “I’ll wait. In dreams. In shadows. In every quiet place the world forgets.”

“I choose it, I choose you”

The ground trembled, she felt it ,there was a change in the air and a loud crack like lightning reverberated near them. Confused she looked around the weather hadn’t changed it was still a warm, clear skied night.

She looked back at Caelum, his form was fading now his touch becoming transient, like silk slipping through fingers. A soft breath of magic tugged at the edges of her soul, whispering time’s up.

“No,” Thalia said, voice trembling. “Not yet.”

Caelum’s face shifted, the sorrow already settling behind his eyes. “The veil is closing.”

“I don’t care.” She stepped closer, grabbing both of his hands, desperate to keep him here “Tell me what to do, how can I fix this?”

Caelum looked at her as though seeing every version of her that had ever been, and everyone that ever would be. Slowly, he brought her hand to his chest, where his heart beat fast and steady beneath her palm.

“You’re sure? ” he asked, voice low.

Thalia nodded, “I’m sure. Whatever it is. Tell me I need to know. I want to help you.”

He exhaled slowly, his face became like stone.

“Then listen carefully,” he said, the air around them began to shimmer with the pull of the veil.

“There’s a place,” he said. “One the world has forgotten or pretends to. A temple. Hidden in lost lands. Ancient before the old gods were forgotten”

Thalia’s heart beat faster. “What temple?”

“The Temple of Kek,” he said. “It was a seat of old truths. Once, it stood as the heart of all understanding. A temple of knowledge.”

She frowned, the name strange on her tongue. “Why is it hidden?”

“There are those who didn’t want its truths to remain,”

“Who saw its knowledge as dangerous. They destroyed it. Wiped it from maps. From minds. From memory.”

“Who would do that?”

Caelum hesitated, just for a second, and then offered her a weary smile. “Those who fear what they cannot control.”

The words sank into her like stones in water.

“But it’s still out there,” he added, voice growing softer as the veil tugged harder at the edges of his form. “Somewhere, buried beneath myth and misdirection, if you find it… you’ll find the answers to all your questions, about your power, me. Even what’s coming”

“What is coming?” she asked, confused.

He leaned in, resting his brow against hers. “Truth. Thalia you will find the truth.”

She tried to tightened her grip on his hands but they were ethereal now. “Caelum—how will I find it?”

“You’ll hear the whispers,” “The wind will call. Dreams will guide. You’re already walking the path.” “Trust no one Thalia, this world is built on lies”

The ghost of his lips gently brushed against her brow.

“I’ll wait for you in the beneath the stars.”

He vanished with the last of the magic that shimmered over the square ,leaving Thalia standing alone staring at the spot where he had just been.

The hollow echo of Caelum's absence was stark as she followed the lanternlight along the temple path, watching it flicker low, casting long shadows across the stone.

Her thoughts spun like leaves in wind, she had a task that now weighed on her shoulders: find a temple that the world had forgotten.

The cold burn in her chest swelled. So lost in her thoughts she almost missed the silver glint of eyes that caught the light from under a stone archway, shadows coiled around him like they belonged to him.

Vaelith stepped out as she approached, his face was a mask of calm, disinterest, yet she could see something burning in his eyes and tension tight across his shoulders.

“You’re out late,” he said quietly.

Her heart sank. Not tonight. Not now. She couldn’t do this now, she didn’t know what to say to him.

“I needed air,”

“I’m sure you did.” His voice held a slight tone of accusation, those pale, piercing silver eyes, searched her too closely.

“I’m not in the mood, Vaelith,” she muttered, moving to pass him.

He stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

“I was waiting.”

She stilled. “Why?”

“Something shifted tonight.” He looked her over slowly, was that concern in his expression?

“Something powerful. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she tried to wipe all emotion from her face.

“What did you do Thalia?”

His words brought back the memory of the ground trembling, the crack of lightning.

“I felt it,” he continued, voice low but deadly. “Like the air itself stilled. The world shook and you were at the centre of it.”

She looked away. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” His voice hardened. “What’s happening to you?”

She clenched her fists. “Why do you care?”

“We have been through this ” he snapped, and for the first time, something raw slipped through the cracks. “I care because -” “I just do!”

She turned her back to him, taking a step away, trying to breathe, to quickly get her racing mind in order, he closed the distance again.

“You’re hiding something,” “Whatever it is, it’s written all over you. And your power—”

“Stop.” She faced him, chest rising and falling. “You don’t get to do this . You don’t get to demand pieces of me like you’re owed them.”

His eyes narrowed, she caught the flicker. The shift in colour. Silver gone, turning liquid gold, he was struggling, with anger, with control?

The burning in her chest intensified, something deep within her stirred witnessing his distress, she wanted to calm him, to rile him all at once. To tell him everything and nothing What was wrong with her? It was as though he was a both a lifeline and a curse .

“Vaelith…” she whispered.

He looked away first.

“I shouldn’t have waited here,” he said. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“Then why did you?”

Silence leached the air between them.

His jaw tightened. “Because you never leave my mind.”

“Every time I think I’ve buried it, that I am content to leave you alone, You invade my thoughts and it all comes back. Your voice. Your smile. Your light.” His voice dropped, hoarse now. “Even when you don’t speak to me, I feel you.”

Her heart thundered in her chest; she needed to get away from him.

“I didn’t ask for any of that,”

He gave a short, bitter laugh. “Neither did I.”

They stared at each other. In that moment, Thalia felt the ache of breaking in two.

One half of her longed for the male fading in a dreamless prison, bound to her by destiny.

The other for the male broken and burning right in front of her.

She couldn’t deny the pull to Vaelith, despite the feeling of betrayal to Caelum.

Desperate she tried to tell him, to explain but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t tell him about Caelum. About the bond. About Kek. She didn’t know why… but she couldn’t. Maybe she was afraid he’d hate her for it. Or maybe she was afraid he wouldn’t, and that she’d be left even more confused.

Vaelith stepped back into the dark, half-swallowed by shadow again.

“Whatever it is you’re chasing,” he said softly, “I hope it doesn’t destroy you.”

He turned, this time not waiting for her to answer. She watched him go until the night swallowed him whole. Only when he was gone did, she let her hand drift to her necklace, where the soul bond pulsed softly against her skin like a heartbeat beneath her own "I'm sorry “she whispered.