Page 60 of Cursed Dreams (Shadow and Dreams #1)

A s the fire crackled low in the hearth and the final pieces of flatbread were passed around, the group leaned back in their chairs, full and warm in the soft golden glow of the chamber.

“We should get some rest,” Nyla said, her voice edged with fatigue as she gathered up the empty mugs. “We leave at first light.”

“Good idea,” Marand agreed, stifling a yawn as she stood. “My brain feels like melted wax.” Cellen stretched and cracked his neck, holding his hands out to for her to pull him up.

Thalia smiled faintly, but didn’t move to stand. Instead, she glanced at the door and the corridor beyond it, her chest tightening with anticipation. “I think… I’m going to stay up a bit longer,” she said softly. “Head to the prayer hall.”

Marand raised a brow, but it was Nyla who stepped closer, concern written across her face. “Thalia, you’re exhausted. Why not wait until tomorrow night?”

“I need to try,” Thalia said, standing now. “It’s been so long. If I can reach him… I need to let him know we’re so much closer. What we found.” Her eyes were wide with emotion. “He needs to know I’m still trying.”

Nyla touched her arm gently. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Thalia shook her head with a grateful smile. “No, get some sleep. I’ll be fine. I won’t stay long.”

Nyla hesitated, clearly torn, before nodding. “All right. But wake me if you need anything. I mean it.”

“I will,” Thalia promised.

She hugged each of them goodnight, then slipped out into the hallway. The temple was quiet at this hour, shadows stretched long beneath flickering sconces. As she padded through the candlelit corridor, her pulse quickened with a bright, fluttering hope she could barely contain.

The soft rise of chanting met her ears before she reached the prayer hall.

Her heart leapt. She stepped inside quietly, greeted by the scent of lavender and the low hum of voices, the priestesses robed in deep indigo with hoods drawn, moving in slow rhythm around the altar.

Thalia found an empty cushion in the back and knelt, folding her hands in her lap. Her eyes fluttered closed.

The forest welcomed her with a hush, dim and silvered with mist. The branches stirred overhead, shifting in a quiet rhythm. Soft moss cushioned her steps, dampness seeping into her boots, she was already moving, running, her heart thudding wildly.

Caelum stood in the clearing, tall and radiant beneath the filtered moonlight, his dark hair tousled by a wind she could not feel, his piercing blue eyes locked on her with such unrelenting focus it stole the breath from her lungs.

The moment their gazes met, he started toward her, crossing the space in long, urgent strides.

Their arms collided in a fierce embrace, and he pulled her tightly to his chest, burying his face in her hair.

“I’ve been so worried,” he whispered hoarsely against her temple. “Since the dragon, since he invaded the dream. I couldn’t reach you. I couldn’t feel you.”

Thalia tilted her face to him, and he caught her mouth in an urgent, desperate kiss. Her fingers curled into the fabric of his tunic, clinging to the warmth and solidity of him, that overwhelming sense of rightness thrumming between them.

“I’m okay,” she breathed when they parted, Caelum cradled her face with both hands, his thumbs brushing along her cheekbones like he needed to memorize her all over again.

“Vaelith—he’s the dragon. The one who came into the dream He’s been guarding the temple at night, trying to stop me from reaching you. ”

His expression darkened instantly. “He’s keeping you from me?”

“Yes,” she said. “He was furious, Caelum. He tried to fill my head with his lies, but I wouldn’t listen. He kept saying you’re dangerous, that I’m being played, but I refused to listen. I know who you are.”

Caelum’s jaw clenched, he held her close again, letting her words settle over them.

“What has he done?” he asked, voice low and tense. “Has he hurt you?”

“No. But he threatened me, he’s been watching everything I do.” She exhaled shakily, pressing her forehead to his. “It’s been awful. I’ve missed you. I’ve needed you.”

He kissed her again, slower this time, his hands trembling slightly as they tangled in her hair.

“I’ve missed you too,” he murmured. “Every moment I’m not near you feels like I’m fading.”

She pressed her fingers to his chest, over the thrum of his heartbeat. “I feel you.” “I’m with you”

His hand covered hers, strong and steady. For a long moment, they stood there, unmoving, silent in the glowing quiet of the forest. Thalia stepped back, smiling up at him she said softly. “I found it,” “The forest. I found it, Caelum”

“Tell me later” was his only reply as he lowered his mouth to hers.

Their lips crashed together like a storm breaking over the sea, hungry, wild, relentless.

Thalia moaned into the kiss, her fingers curling in the soft fabric of Caelum’s shirt before shoving it aside, her palms sliding over the warmth of his bare chest. He groaned low in his throat as she explored him, strong, muscled, every inch of him sculpted like the statues in the old temples, only he was no cold marble.

Caelum’s hands were just as eager, threading into her hair, trailing down her spine, gripping her hips as pulled her flush to him “You have no idea,” he murmured against her throat between kisses, his voice ragged, “how much I’ve needed this. Needed you.”

Thalia gasped as he swept her into his arms, spinning them effortlessly before lowering her onto the lush moss below.

The earth felt cool beneath her, but his body radiated heat, caging her in with strength and purpose.

His mouth claimed hers again, slower now, deeper, his tongue stroking hers in a sensual rhythm that made her breath hitch and her thighs clench.

She moaned into him, her body arching to meet every solid line of his, starved for the friction, for the feel of him.

His hands roamed with practiced reverence, trailing fire across her ribs, her hips, before sliding beneath the fabric of her tunic.

His kisses moved lower, a slow descent of worship, down her neck where her pulse fluttered, across her collarbone where his teeth grazed and lingered, then lower still.

He paused at the swell of her breasts, breath warm and ragged, lips brushing against her with a prayer before his tongue traced the sensitive curve, eliciting a whimper from her throat.

He took his time. Thorough. Deliberate. Devastating. Every kiss, every stroke of his hands was meant to undo her, and gods, it was working. Her fingers tangled in his hair as his mouth moved lower in slow torment, her body arching beneath him, trembling, desperate for more. For him.

He undressed her with aching slowness, each inch he revealed like he needed to feel it against his hands, his mouth.

Moonlight filtered through the canopy above, casting silver across her bare skin.

She drank in the sight of him as he knelt between her legs, shirtless, flushed, aroused.

His pale blue eyes had darkened, his jaw tight with restraint.

Every inch of him was strength and heat, from the broad plane of his chest to the deep cut of muscle trailing down his abdomen to where he strained hard against his trousers.

“You’re everything,” Caelum whispered, trailing kisses along the inside of her palm, up her wrist, across her chest and shoulder. “Beautiful… powerful… mine.” he punctuated each word between them.

The word made her tremble. Her thighs shifted instinctively, but he was already between them, spreading her further apart with his hands as he kissed down her belly.

Then his fingers slid between her legs, stroking through her heat with the lightest pressure. Her breath hitched, hips rising off the moss beneath her. He groaned as he found how wet was.

“Gods, Thalia…” His voice was raw.

He dragged one finger slowly over her slick centre, circling the spot that made her moan and press against his hand.

He didn’t rush. He teased, drawing soft strokes, just enough to drive her mad.

Then he slipped a finger inside her, curling gently, drawing out a breathless gasp.

A second finger joined the first, slow and deep, his palm pressing firmly against her clit as he worked her open with steady precision.

She was trembling, legs falling open completely, body melting into the rhythm he set. Her hands clutched at his arms, his shoulders, her voice breaking on each gasp and moan as he pushed her higher with nothing but his fingers and the hungry look in his eyes.

“Please,” she whispered, not sure what she was asking for—more, release, him.

He kissed her again, deep and possessive, still working her with his hand until her body was shaking beneath him, her thighs quivering around his wrist. Just before she could fall apart completely, he pulled back, his fingers slipping away slick and glistening, dragging a sharp cry from her lips.

She pushed at his chest with urgency, rolling him onto his back, needing to feel him now, to take control of the heat burning through her. Her thighs straddled his hips, her hair falling around her like a veil. His eyes were locked to hers, wide with awe and raw hunger.

“Ride me,” he rasped, breathless. “Take what you need. I’m yours.”

Thalia trembled at the words, at the weight of them. The depth of surrender.

She leaned down, kissed him once more, and gave herself over.

Thalia’s hands slid over his chest, fingers trembling as she traced the ridges of muscle beneath her palms. Caelum was still beneath her, waiting, his pale blue eyes burning into hers with such reverence it stole her breath.

“I’ve dreamed of this,” he whispered, voice low and ragged. “But nothing could have prepared me for how it feels… to have you like this. To feel you.”