Page 16 of Journey to the Elderoak (Daughter of the Earth #2)

A va awoke with a start, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. She frantically glanced around her bedroom, heart beating out of her chest and hands trembling. It was still dark. Still the middle of the night.

Her cat companion, Luna, was alert on the bed, watching her with concern.

You’re safe, Ava. It was a dream , Luna’s voice sounded in her head.

“I dreamed I was at Deidamia’s camp being tortured again. Then about Corvus and the ship attack,” she whispered as she wiped her tears and sat up.

I know. But you’re safe here. And the general is in the next room.

Luna climbed into her lap. Ava took a deep breath and caressed her soft white fur sprinkled with swirls of black.

“What time is it?”

Dawn is still several hours away.

It would be impossible to fall back asleep after that horrific nightmare.

They’d been back in Mosshaven for two weeks now and though Ava tried to ignore her trauma, it seemed it was starting to make itself known as her nightmares escalated.

Was this the beginning of her falling apart? There was no time for that.

Climbing out of bed, she wrapped herself in the plush warmth of her robe, as if she could protect herself from the lingering fears of her dream; the memories hovering at her mind’s edge with every waking thought. Even sleep wasn’t an escape any longer.

She entered the living room she shared with Casimir, embers still glowing and popping in the fireplace, and retrieved a book, settling herself in a plush brown chair beside the hearth. She pulled a blanket into her lap and opened the cover. It was a romance novel.

After an hour of reading the same chapter repeatedly, she set the book in her lap and allowed herself a bit of release.

Unable to shake off the sensations of being whipped, the tears fell, tracing paths of sorrow along her cheeks.

The scars on her back stung with the memories, the screams leaving her lips echoing in her mind.

She couldn’t stop the deaths from replaying in her head.

Her best friend, Eleanor, being killed by Deidamia; Zeph taking her last breaths; the dead soldiers scattered about the ship.

Numb, she stared into the flames, no idea how much time had passed. It was just her and the glow of the embers, her sniffles the only sound in the quiet room, when Casimir’s bedroom door opened and he emerged dressed for training.

Ava wiped her eyes and pulled the blanket higher.

Casimir froze. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she stammered. “I-I couldn’t sleep and thought I’d read for a while.”

He stepped closer. “You were crying.”

“No, I wasn’t. It’s the shadows from the fire. They make my face look weird.”

He sat down in the chair across from her and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. “You’re a terrible liar. ”

Ava looked back at the fire. She could feel Casimir’s intense gaze as he watched her. Whenever he looked at her like that, it felt like he could see into her soul. Like he knew exactly what was going on in her mind, though she desperately tried to hide it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

“I need to get ready.” She stood and walked to her room.

“Ava—”

“I’ll see you at the obstacle course,” she interrupted.

She swore she heard him sigh as her door clicked shut.

Birds chirped overhead as Ava approached the next obstacle. The course stood in a large field surrounded by towering trees, their emerald leaves quivering as the breeze wound its way through the boughs. The sunlight was warm on her face as she evaluated her next move.

“Don’t overthink it,” Casimir instructed from the sidelines.

Dread crept its way in as she evaluated the obstacle before her. It was a balance beam about five feet off the ground. She had to run up a ramp to get to the top, cross the beam at two different angles, and jump to three separate platforms, each one lower as they led her back to the ground.

“Keep going,” he called out.

“Shit, I’m going to fall,” she mumbled to herself as she prepared to run.

“No, you won’t.”

Before she could change her mind, Ava sprinted up the narrow ramp.

“Good,” Casimir encouraged.

Arms out beside her, she made her way across. Surprisingly, she only stumbled once and reached the end quicker than expected. Confidence boosted, she leaped, overshot the platform, and tumbled to the ground.

“Ouch,” she breathed as she rubbed her hip.

Casimir appeared above her, and she rolled onto her back. “Are you alright?”

She groaned, rising to stand. “Yeah. This course is the bane of my existence.”

“You get in your head too much and scare yourself. And you’ve been awake for who knows how long today. You’re exhausted.”

She sighed. “You’re right.”

They walked to the castle when he stepped in front of her. “What are you doing for lunch?” he asked, a sudden gleam in his eyes.

“Well, I was going to eat in my room and bathe before I met Jorrar in the library.”

He smiled. A disarming smile she rarely saw, but it lit his whole face and made his gold eyes even brighter.

“Why are you smiling at me like that?” she asked.

“Because, I have an idea. It’ll help you relax.”

“I’m not tense.”

“Well, you’re tired and stressed. This will help.” He led them back to their suite. “Bathe and change and meet me in the living room in half an hour.”

“Wait, are we not doing swords today?”

“No. You’re taking the rest of the day off.”