Chapter One
"I thought he was going to bite me, but it was our mouths that met, hard and furious. I wrapped my fingers in his hair, trying to pull him closer to me. Meanwhile, his fingers were running against my bare leg, pushing my skirt up almost to my hip. Anticipation and eagerness lit every part of my body. My hands moved down to his shirt, undoing all the buttons so that I could touch his chest. His skin still felt like ice, a startling contrast to the burning within me. He moved his lips from mine, down to my neck and shoulder, pushing down the dress's strap as he covered my flesh with hungry kisses. His hand was still on the side of my bare hip, and I frantically tried to pull his shirt off altogether."
I flew upwards in bed, a strange cry coming from my throat. My hand went to my cheek, feeling the wet tears that somehow escaped. I was dreaming. I breathed deeply and wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging myself tightly. The contact jolted me back to reality, reminding me that I was no longer a prisoner of the man I loved. The nightmares were almost daily since leaving court. I knew that they were silly to dwell on, but in those moments when I was with him in my dreams, it seemed so incredibly real. Waking up drench in sweat after a dream always left me with a horrible sensation in my stomach. Some disgusting mix of terror and longing.
Dimitri was gone. I knew that. These dreams; however, made it difficult to keep that in mind. My body physically retched at the memory of his blood red eyes and the way he sunk his teeth into my neck. Even so, some deep part of my subconscious, however screwed up it was, reminded me that that was the last real time I'd spent with Dimitri and that we would never be together again. "Love fades. Mine certainly has." The words still stung as I thought back to his rejection.
An arm wrapped around my waist and a cradling body enveloped me. "Is it the dream again?" Adrian lovingly asked, burying his face in the nape of my neck. I only nodded, attempting to hide my tears from the man in my bed. "C'mon little damphir. Let's go back to bed." He helped me lay back down, draping an arm over my stomach and molding his body against mine.
I fixed my gaze at a point on the wall by the bed, willing myself to hold in my tears until he was asleep. After a few minutes, I felt Adrian's breathing deepen and slow. I couldn't control the silent tears that flowed freely. My heart ached for the piece that Dimitri had taken with him and I was afraid that I would never recover.
Adrian would have listened to my feelings. He would even have offered me a shoulder to cry on without judgement. Any of those things would have hurt him deeply though, however willing he was. Adrian had been my rock over the last few months. I only wished that I could reciprocate the feelings he clearly had for me. I intertwined my hand with his, grazing my stomach. It seemed so bizarre, even after all this time, that I had life growing inside me. I closed my eyes and focused on the flutters of my unborn child moving and was soon asleep.