Page 27 of Straw and Gold (A Realm of Revelry #2)

Killian

The nightmare didn’t come. The body, the bloody sheets, the terror of knowing what I’d uncover and that laugh of madness never came as I drifted unintentionally with Morella tucked into my arms.

As clarity settled in, my eyes flew open and I found myself in her bed, the dark still heavy, Morella still tangled up in my limbs. Irrational fear overcame me and I bolted from the bed, throwing back the sheets over her body, shaking her awake.

“Morella!”

She turned in half-sleep as I inspected her, searching for blood, wounds, anything indicating Céad had come calling.

“What is it?” she asked blearily, stretching her arms over her head.

I turned her and ignored her gasp as I inspected her wings. Was I still dreaming? Was this some new torture to find her asleep in my arms only to turn her over and find?—

“Killian!” she called, lifting her head in irritation. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“No wounds,” I managed to say, sliding my hands down her back, her hips, her legs—even lifting her foot to confirm she was unharmed.

She wrangled herself free of my gasp. “Of course not! Why would you think I’d be wounded?”

I pressed my palms to my eyes, regaining my breath in heavy inhales. My mind whirled with images I’d seen over and over again in my nightmares, repeating what I’d seen in the flesh a decade ago.

She was there, wrapping her arms around me, pressing my head to her chest. “I’m alright, Killian.” Her hands smoothed over my back. “I’m alright.”

I took one final breath, slowly pulling out of her grasp. I met her eyes in the dark. “I fell asleep. In your bed,” I mumbled.

I took several more breaths, letting myself be held before I calmly rose, reaching the edge of my bed and shaking out the neatly tucked sheets. “It won’t happen again,” I finished.

“But—” she began.

I turned instantly. “No, Morella. It can’t happen again. We cannot sleep together.”

Confusion and hurt crossed her face as she sank back down into her bedding.

I sighed, putting on a small smile for her. “It’s time to get up anyway. Dawn approaches and you have some names to call into the morning sun.”

“ór.”

Gold.

“Righór.”

Golden King.

“Currag.”

My head snapped up. “Carrot, Goldling?”

Morella lowered the list of names she’d been calling out into the chilled morning light, reaching up to fluff my hair as I walked past in my pacing. “I thought it was worth a try. Your hair is rather…carroty.”

“Keep going,” I growled, ignoring that spark in my chest at her laughter. She turned back to the cliffside edge, and I timed the light as the rays of dawn crept closer to where I stood.

“Farigh.”

Fae king.

“Badia fireann.”

Male goddess. I cringed at that one, hoping beyond hope that Céad was not spying on us right then.

“Righchdail.”

Handsome king.

My lips tilted upwards, but I kept my pace, drawing grooves in the soil as the line of the sun crept ever closer.

“órleanab.”

Golden child.

“ Coileanab.”

Forest child .

“Righdàna.”

Fated king . I rose a brow at that one, impressed with her use of combining words.

She listed off another twenty combinations before the sun hit my line in the dirt, signaling that the day’s attempts were over.

Lowering her list and shuffling to me, she sighed. “I have more. For tomorrow, I mean.”

“I didn’t expect you to guess correctly the first time you tried.”

She turned back to the rising sun. The rays of light sparkled off the rocky citrine, blanketing the valley below in a brilliant glow of gold.

“You’ll figure it out, Goldling,” I murmured, keeping my distance.

“I know,” she sighed, facing me again and rolling up her parchment. “I know. I know I will, Killian. I promise.”

I nodded, offering her my hand. We shifted into the dawn with less than seven weeks left for her to keep that promise.