Chapter 14

Consciousness was not a gradual thing for Senna. One second she was still floating in the warm darkness, and the next, her eyes snapped open only to blink in confusion until her mind caught up and she remembered that she was in Rufus's bedroom. Or maybe his spare bedroom. God, she hoped it was his spare bedroom. That thought prompted her to sit up and look around before she flopped back again. No Rufus, so it didn't matter.

Although, her memories of the back-to-back weird dreams had her sitting up quickly again. She didn't have any windows to see whether it was light out, but the clock on the bedside table showed it was still not quite three a.m. A long sigh worked its way out as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Even being on a different world didn't keep her from having a shitty sleep schedule.

As she combed her fingers through her hair, she wondered what she would tell Rufus. Would it be wise to reveal any part of what she now knew? Maybe, but she had to be careful. He could just as easily turn the situation into a nightmare for her, no matter if they had some strange bond or not.

She briefly wondered if he had trouble sleeping after the nightmares like she did and got up to peek out the door. As soon as she looked, she opened it all the way. Rufus was sitting on the couch with a crystal decanter on the low table with a glass in hand and another on the table.

He must have heard her as he looked up as soon as she stepped out of the room. His smirk was familiar, but there was something different in his eyes. Although, his tone was teasing as he said, "I had thought you would have been up already, given how loud you screamed before it all went black. I take it these dreams don't bother you?"

Senna made a disgusted noise as she took a seat opposite him. His resultant chuckle was brief as he leaned forward to pour another drink and wordlessly handed her the glass. She didn't bother asking what it was. She could smell the alcohol, and that was good enough. It went down in one gulp before one of her eyebrows went up, and she smirked at him. "Not bad."

His only response was to hold up the decanter again. Senna was more than happy to hold out the glass for a refill, but once she had it, she sipped instead of swallowing it down. She couldn't afford to get drunk, after all. Though, a way to stop the tension in her shoulders from getting worse and maybe help her get tired again wouldn't be remiss.

After her first sip, Rufus sat back and pinned her with a searching look. "You obviously knew what was going on, so that can't have been a random occurrence. Plus, why did you pull me into another dream? What is your goal?"

Senna hid behind the glass and took another sip as she tried her best not to lose it. He was obviously fixated on the dream about Zack, and Senna had a whole other dream to deal with. Although, that did make her wonder how long he had been sitting out here and waiting. "How much longer did I sleep than you?"

A furrow formed between his brows at her complete lack of an answer, but he still said, "Perhaps five minutes. Time enough for me to pull this out, yet not enough for me to get drunk enough to deal with you."

Senna didn't bother trying to hide her scoff. "Like you're any easier to deal with, Mr., it has to be my way, or there is no way."

Instead of getting irritated, Rufus only lifted one brow. "It seems someone is feeling more like herself finally. Should I thank the drink, or has something else come up between now and the last time I saw you?"

Despite her best effort, Senna could not hold back a flinch, which did not go unnoticed. Rufus sat forward slowly and put the glass down before he folded his fingers together and looked at her with curiosity. "Something did. What could have possibly happened in the five minutes it took you to wake?"

A string of curses sped through Senna's head as she damned herself for being so obvious. She still wasn't sure what to tell him, but she had to start somewhere. The goddess did tell her that the memories were returned so she could find her place on Gaia. Maybe this was where she needed to start. "I suppose you could say that I was pulled into another dream before I could wake. Although, it was more like I had a boatload of memories returned to me from when I was a child."

Rufus sat back again, but his attention was clearly still wholly on her. It almost made her want to fidget. Even more so when he said, "Returned? You say that as if they were stolen or something."

Senna shrugged and hid her unease with another sip of the tasty bourbon. "You could say that. In a way, they were."

There was a tick in Rufus's jaw that Senna nearly missed before he said, "Are you trying to see how far I will let you go without a proper answer or are you always this obstinate?"

A touch of nervous laughter escaped before Senna could catch it, but the sound definitely didn't improve Rufus's mood. Finally, Senna decided she needed to take a leap, or else they would just keep going round and round until he got tired of it and took drastic measures. Not that the results would be different, but she didn't want to test him and see how far he would go.

Instead, she set her drink next to his and clasped her hands in her lap before she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "What would you say if I asked to call you Ru-bug?"

For a split second, Rufus looked absolutely confused and horrified, but that expression quickly changed to one of disbelief. "No. That's impossible."

He stood in one swift motion before he took several steps away from her. She sighed and shook her head as she stood to follow. "No, it isn't. I had forgotten all about the years we spent playing together because—"

Before she could finish, he spun around and wore a glare for the first time since she had seen him as an adult. "I don't know how you found out about those memories, but I do not wish to speak of them."

Senna stared at him in shock for several seconds. His tone and words had not been the reaction she had expected, but that didn't keep her silent for long. "What do you mean? They are my memories too! It's not like I rummaged around in your head for them or some other equally asinine bullshit."

Her words seemed to have erased his glare, but the cold expression that followed was almost more frightening. "And yet, you just claimed that they were given to you. How do you explain that?"

There was no way for Senna to hold back a scoff, and the warm tingle of alcohol already flowing through her veins did not help. Her scowl was nearly as prominent as his had been as she said, "I just told you they were given back. I didn't take them, jackass. It shouldn't be that hard to believe either. I know we were both kids, but you still look familiar. I should have known."

Rufus looked like he was ready to take drastic measures when she stopped talking, which prompted her to take a deep breath to calm herself. It wouldn't help matters if they were both lost in their anger. Thankfully, he hadn't said anything yet, so she continued in a calmer voice. "I didn't call you Ru-bug often because you barely tolerated it. I think the only reason you agreed to let me was because I said my whole family used the bug suffix. That, and you always seemed to glean an inordinate amount of pleasure from calling me Cinna-stick, or Cinnabun, or just about anything you could think of that had some form of cinnamon in the name."

Before she could say anymore, Rufus finally broke his silence. "Because I thought Senna sounded like it was short for cinnamon."

He was still frowning, but Senna couldn't stop the edges of her lips from turning up. She shook her head and said, "I hate that I forgot, but I thought you might have too. What happened? Did you not recognize my name given the circumstances?"

Rufus huffed a bitter laugh, and his eyes narrowed as he said, "The coincidence did cross my mind briefly, but those dreams stopped years ago. You abandoned me. Besides, they were nothing but dreams—why should I bother remembering?"

For a split second, Rufus looked as though he regretted saying as much. That was enough to keep Senna from yelling at him. However, her voice was curious as she said, "You know I didn't abandon you—not on purpose. I was almost squashed and was in a coma for a week afterward. It took me a long time to get back to normal."

Some unnamed emotion passed through Rufus's eyes, but it was gone before Senna could make sense of it. He didn't bother answering before he turned to retake his seat and grabbed the drink he had left. It went down in one swallow, and he poured another before he bothered saying anything. "It doesn't matter if these dreams started ten days or twenty years ago; the question still remains, why are you in my mind?"

Senna sighed as she walked back to the chair she had jumped up from. The drink she had abandoned made its way back into her hand, and she took another sip before she said, "I've already told you why we share dreams. It was even confirmed, so there is no denying it. There was never any purpose behind it, but sometimes things happen whether we want them to or not. Trust me on that one."

The bitter thought had Senna draining the remaining bourbon from her glass and reaching for the decanter without asking. Rufus watched her silently as she poured herself another drink. She ignored the way his eyes had sparked and only realized how much she revealed when he said, "It was confirmed? What do you mean?"

Senna sighed deeply and let her head fall back against the chair. There were just too many things that needed to be dealt with all at once. She prided herself on the ability to multitask, but this was getting ridiculous. Plus, she had no idea how to answer in a way that sounded reasonable.

Not to mention, she had no idea what to share and what not to. She was well aware that her position was precarious at best. Telling anyone the truth was potentially a life-threatening risk. Although, she had no doubt that Rufus could tell she was hiding things.

Her jaw clenched a few times as her thoughts shuffled back and forth several times. Finally, she sighed again and drained the glass before she set it down with a clink and pinned Rufus with a stern glare. "All right. I'll tell you everything I know—everything—but only on the condition that you promise to keep me safe. The truth could put me in a difficult position, but I trust you will keep your word."

Rufus slightly tilted his head as he watched her with hawk-like eyes. The scrutiny was nearly enough to make her squirm—especially with the alcohol finally making her thoughts fuzzy. Part of her mind was aware that her statement might have been partially based on nostalgia after her last dream, but she had to believe that Minerva had a plan when she said to use them to find her place. How else would that work if she didn't include the only other person that knew about them?

The silence stretched long enough that Senna picked up her glass to sip, then glared at the emptiness when she saw the lack of contents. Though, she continued to cling to it, just to have something to do with her hands. She was so focused on the drinking glass that she nearly jumped when Rufus finally said, "What makes you believe I am any less of a danger to you than anyone else?"

It was Senna's turn to laugh bitterly. Her eyes were jaded when she caught his gaze. "I believe if you wanted to, I would have already been dead—again. But for some reason, you believe I have answers for you, and that is enough to spare me for the moment. And let me reassure you, I do have answers. Many, and not just about why I'm here and the deal with our dreams. If you promise my safety, I give you my word to assist with the coming trials. I would suggest you take the offer because no matter what you think of me and how crazy I might sound, I'm going to be the only thing to keep you and this company from falling into ruin."

Rufus didn't respond, but his eyes were trained on her. If he was looking for any sign that she was lying, he wasn't going to find it. Finally, he said, "You certainly seem to believe your claims. Yet, you have given me no reason to trust you in the slightest. Why should I promise your safety when it could be my life on the line."

Senna made a disgusted noise and barely kept from throwing her hands in the air in aggravation. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath before she purposefully set her glass down and focused on him once more. "Fine, I understand why you say that, but believe it or not, I have already given you some insight into what's coming. I'm not sure why our dreams started back up again, and I have no idea why they focused on what I know of the future, but each of them depicted an event that will come to pass if nothing is done. All of them. And when you think about that, keep in mind how many times I saved your ass, dream or not. The least you could do is give me a reason to not fear for my life with every breath I take. It won't cost you anything, and I promise you will gain from it."

It took a few seconds, but Rufus finally lowered his chin once in acknowledgment as he said, "I will agree to guarantee your safety with the understanding that we will be investigating everything you share. If any of your information proves false, the deal will be forfeit."

Senna couldn't stop her rolling eyes, but she did manage to keep her snappish remark to herself. Her mind wasn't at peak capacity, but that didn't mean she was stupid. She recognized a compromise well enough. It was what her career was built on, after all. Instead of telling him to shove his investigation like she wanted to, she held out her hand and said, "Agreed. Just know that I will be talking about future events, but I should still be able to point you in the right direction to find their origins."

One of his brows lifted when she said future events, but he didn't question her. Instead, he shook her hand. However, he didn't let it go right away. Instead, he tugged on it just enough to pull her closer. He leaned in as well and only stopped when their faces were a few inches apart. His voice dropped into a huskier tone as he said, "Do not ever forget that your life is now in my hands to do with as I please. I will keep my word, but you will be expected to do the same or suffer the consequences."

There was an intensity in his eyes that had warmth flowing through Senna. Almost like there was more to his words than what was spoken. Still, what was said was enough to make her clench her jaw and ignore the smolder in his expression as she jerked her hand back. "I understood the circumstances well enough already. No need to threaten me too. I agreed, so stop being a jerk if you expect me to talk."

Rufus let her go and leaned back as he smirked. "I gave my word to keep you safe—I never agreed to change how I speak to suit you."

That time Senna did throw her hands up, and she glanced at the ceiling as though the heavens could somehow help her deal with the obstinate man. Although no response came, so she looked back down with a glare.

By that time, the alcohol was well and truly kicking in, so despite her aggravation, she had to stifle a yawn with one hand. Still, she had agreed to try and explain. "Fine, I did agree to explain. So to answer your questions from earlier, I didn't wake up when you did because I was immediately pulled into another dream by Minerva. Or something like that anyway. She let me watch our first dreams together and then tried to explain to me what happened."

She was ready to keep going and get it all out, but Rufus held up one hand. She crossed her arms and glared at him but snapped her jaw shut as he said, "Minerva?"

Part of Senna's mind knew her next words were not likely to go over well, but her ability to care was already demolished. She shrugged and gave him a smug smile as she said, "That's right, Minerva. As in the embodiment of the lifestream, the goddess of Gaia—that Minerva."

Instead of scoffing and dismissing her before she could finish, he at least had the decency to stop with a disbelieving look. She ignored it as she continued, "You wanted to hear it, so don't give me that look because it's hard to swallow."

Her brows lowered, causing his smirk to twitch, but he maintained his silence. Senna took that as permission to continue. "Like I said, Minerva appeared and tried to explain things a little better for me. She said the memories were given back as compensation for my loss and then told me to use them to find my place on Gaia. She also said she would be able to hear if I needed help and explained the voices I keep hearing are from the lifestream."

Senna's tirade was interrupted by another yawn. When she brought her hand down, Rufus was giving her a contemplative look. As soon as he noticed her attention was back on him, he said, "I think it might be best if I allow you to go back to bed. Perhaps it would be prudent for this conversation to pick back up when both our heads are clearer."

Senna blinked a few times as she tried to process what he said. He was letting her off the hook? That didn't seem right, but he stood and held out a hand as he said, "Let me help you back to bed. That bourbon is strong, and it seems it went straight to your head. I should have known better, as you haven't eaten properly since you arrived. I doubt the efforts Dr. Eugene made to keep you sustained were enough to fend off the effects of drinking on an empty stomach."

For once, Senna wholeheartedly agreed with the man. Her head spun as she got to her feet, and she was thankful for his grip on her arm that kept her steady. She tried not to let the need aggravate her as she looked up and said, "Thank you. Maybe you're right."

He smirked as he led her back to the room. "I'm always right, though I suppose it's good that you have recognized that fact."

Senna grumbled under her breath and looked up. "You know, you haven't changed a bit. You're still bossy and self-inflated. Oh, and let's not forget a big meany."

The words were childish, and Senna wasn't sure where they came from, but they were enough to catch Rufus off guard. His eyes widened as he saw her pout, and the expression lasted several seconds before he managed to erase it as he opened the bedroom door. His eyes were hooded once more when he said, "I will allow you to sleep in tomorrow, but I expect an explanation when I return from my duties. I will also ensure your meals are brought here along with anything that may have been missed."

For a moment, he looked like he had more to add, but whatever it might have been was shuttered behind his cold façade as he shut the door. Senna was left to stand in the dark and fuzzily wonder what the hell she had gotten herself into.

A/N: And there we have it. Now that was a leap, wasn't it? What do you think Rufus was thinking there at the end? 😅 Nothing good, for sure lol. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this one, and are looking forward to more. Although I do need to make an announcement. I will not put this hiatus, but my posts will be much slower than they have been. The deadline to get my second book over to my editor is looming, and I am sort of behind already. That means that 90% of my spare time will be spent working on that one. That said, the deadline is the first week of June, so I should have lots more time after that. In the meantime, I will beg for patience and work to get out updates as often as I can manage. Thank you all for your patience!