DH AN: Oh look I have an update… Blame for this prolly lies equally with all the In a Name I've had my nose in lately, and that Hallucination Marik is kinda fun to play with. Enjoy Chapter Nine.
AN 2: Again, spoilerish for Not As I Know Him
Chapter Nine
Silver sequined midline at the waist. Flowing skirt that barely avoids brushing the floor. Admittedly cozy and far too flattering- something I'd never have chosen for myself. The midnight blue highlights my features. So let them stare paces softly through my head, the last word making me flinch.
And then a slight air change slices past my bare arms as a portion of the atrium's wall slides to reveal and conceal its entrance in five seconds, or is it ten?
This isn't a new dream. I didn't like it the first time and I don't like it now.
"You kept me waiting." At the sound of the first footfall of my hallucinated tormentor I stand ramrod straight, fists clenched and jammed at my sides, shivering all the while because he keeps the damn place like a giant icebox, and perhaps from a smidge of embarrassment- the damn dress fits far too well.
"You really have no sense of self-preservation at all do you, Ms. Khouri?" He laughs and touches my cloak against my right shoulder. I take it with my right hand and my shoulder pain flares. "Always ready to throw yourself at a problem that rarely is yours to solve." His laughs and steps echo throughout the open room as he paces on my right and turns to face me. "I would think an heir of mine would have more sense." He moves to brush away that particular strand of hair that always falls into my face.
I intercept his hand with my own and squeeze his wrist harshly. "I'm. Not. Yours."
He shows that pseudo-charming, dread-inducing expression that's a hair short of a genuine smile. "Technically, you're right." He slips his wrist from my grip and I flinch as he touches the chain that I hadn't even bothered to check this time. At his gentle pull, the chain unclasps and nearly falls through his fingers. I tremble and stare at the floor as I catch a glimpse of his fingers re-clasping the chain before anchoring it on his left pinky and tilting my chin up with his right palm. "But at the same time, how very wrong you are." His words hang in the air as what hangs on the chain as it dangles changes at regular intervals, between the dense but small golden cartouche bearing what he claims is a semi-out of place term of endearment and the thinner but larger in area silver shield pendant that bears my true initials on one side.
His sneer makes me fight down bile. "You've lately questioned what will happen when- not if but when-" He leans in and I flinch as the pendant clatters to the floor. "Everything falls."
As quickly as he was in my personal bubble, he's out of it. "Tell me, Ms. Khouri…" He paces in a half circle to my right. "While your loyalties to others seem admirably steadfast, how well is that reciprocated?" He pushes the cloak over my shoulders and runs his fingers across the rank on the right. "And for what reason?" He takes strands of my hair and rolls them between his forefinger and thumb, something I associate with a cruel reminder that it's all in my head. He leans towards my right ear. "Of course you can't be certain… you're weak, too scared to even ask."
I tremble and my fists clench. And clearly he relishes my discomfort as he grips my arm. "Now, now; you know how well that worked the last time." He twists me around to face him. "I'd love to see you try that again." He touches his right hand to my left cheek. "But, you're indeed aware that," he exhales air lightly through his nose in the barest hint of laughter. "Whatever angers you controls you."
"You deserve my anger." I push the words through my teeth and nearly smack his hand away.
"No one deserves unjust anger… isn't that a tenet of yours, Ms. Khouri?"
"My anger is completely justified."
"You're so very amusing when you gain a spine." He wraps a strand of my hair around his finger twice, almost idly.
"And you're a fool to test it." I grab his wrist and squeeze harshly before throwing it back in his face.
"You're the fool when you allow another to increase the tension."
"I didn't come here for a lecture on controlling my feelings."
"Then why are you here?" It's simultaneously a quick comeback and a deliberate question that leaves me without a reply. His sneer spreads and I squirm. "Why are you here?" He repeats and the emphasis only leads to me shaking more. In that moment, I know that he's onto something that will leave me trembling when I wake. "Dreams are reality in waiting."
"Just what do you mean by that?" The question comes through my teeth as I take four generous steps away from him; two back and two to my left. I realize a second too late that I've given him room to circle as his still-a-touch-off but telltale steps resound on the tile floor.
At the quarter point in the circle, he asks his question. "What are you dreading this time?" He abandons the circular path and steps towards its center, where I stand. "You seem to only return to me when your actual life is in some form of upheaval." He again runs his finger along my shoulder. "The return to your normalcy…Your father's illness… and now this…"
And again, the dream follows a familiar pattern as he pulls something from his suit coat's pocket- this time it's the paper that I still can't believe I convinced him not to shred; it was quite the offer. I only catch a glimpse of the feathered signature before he stows it away. "So you finally crossed paths with Little Benu…"
"Twice." The word leaves soft and clipped, through my teeth.
"And you look no worse for the wear. Bravo…" He is enjoying this far too much and the smirk as he sidesteps in front of me proves it. "And yet it still left you quite shaken in ways that I could have only dreamed of." I feel my face immediately flush in utter embarrassment as he strips my cloak from my shoulders and the cold of the room swoops in on my nearly bare arms. "But then again, you've never exactly been sure of yourself… always second guessing….especially on these." I squirm at the joy in his voice as he suspends my cloak by the epaulets across the shoulders. "On whether or not you've actually earned these or whether your employer merely took pity on you… but there's a new reason that's prominently on the mind at the moment, isn't there?"
Benu's voice bounces through my head. …Is the placement simply to keep you in line? "Can it Ma-!"
I barely get the first syllable of the escape key out before he speaks over me. "I'm not done, Ms. Khouri." His eyes narrow and I almost instinctively cower. His voice goes soft and becomes almost coaxing as he rubs the back of his hand gently along my right cheek. "Rest assured that I too have a key." He smirks. "It's only fair to trade off who ends these little encounters that your feeble mind conjures up."
"Feeble?" I spit the word out through my teeth, tensing as I choke the cloth of my skirt in a tight fist. "I went face to face with the walking armory and came back with my pride in one piece." The smirk that I feel on my lips feels oh so right as I add, "Twice."
My saving face is extremely short-lived. "And yet, you couldn't win a simple duel." I shake as he again pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Of course thinking it would be simple was merely your first folly." He idly keeps running his fingers through my hair and closes the distance between his face and mine. "So, yes. Feeble indeed." I attempt to step back, but his unoccupied right hand is against my back- in effect keeping me there.
My face sours. "If you even think about kissing me, you'll regret it."
"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice, Mheralo. I've kept you long enough." He presses his lips softly against mine and again breaks what he initiated as he rubs his thumb against my cheek. "Until next time." The expression he leaves me with is an out of place genuine smile as I wake.
DH: As always, thank you Ataahua for the use of your aviary! Please Review
