Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 74

I was dreaming of him again.

He painted my neck and shoulder with kisses, and I gasped when his teeth caught on my collarbone. When his hand dropped to my waist, I winced. It seemed as though even in my dreams I could still feel the pain of broken ribs.

"Open your eyes," he whispered.

His hand cradled my jaw as I followed his command.

Tears pooled on my lashes. "Thorne," I mumbled, reaching out with a whimper.

Gentle fingertips carded through my matted hair in response. Warm arms caged me against an even warmer body. With a sob of relief I nestled into his chest.

"I'm here. I'm here, love. I've got you." Each phrase was punctuated with a languid kiss against my jaw, my forehead, my cheek. My eyelids slipped shut.

Another sob wracked my body. "I missed—I missed you."

"Oh, sweetheart," Thorne murmured, nuzzling into my neck. Everything in his voice was softness, warmth. His hands rubbed up and down my back to soothe the trembling.

"When was the last time someone touched you? Held you? When was the last time someone got close without the intention to hurt?"

My eyes snapped open. "What?"

I craned my neck up at Thorne's face in confusion.

Only to see it was replaced with Aimery's.

I screamed and launched myself away from him, tumbling off the edge of the bed. Flames of agony spread through my ribs and licked at the bleeding wounds littering my arms and legs.

He chuckled from his position on the mattress. "I thought you liked being with your space captain."

"Not when it's you," I choked out, resting my head against the floor. Pain roiled beneath my skin. I was tired. So tired. "It's never him," I croak. "It's always you."

Aimery slinked off the bed and crouched down, cocking his head. He lifted my chin and stared for a few moments. "Come, now. Where'd all the fight go?"

I shivered. My vision was growing blurry as I wept. "I h-hate you."

Aimery grinned and let my head fall to the floor. "There it is."

***

In Winter's dream, she was standing in the kitchen of a little farmhouse on Earth, or what her imagination thought a farmhouse on Earth must be like. She knew it was Scarlet's home, though she'd never been there. She stood at a sink overflowing with dirty dishes. It was vital that she get them all clean before everyone came home, but every time she lifted a plate from the suds it shattered in her hands. Her fingers were bleeding from all the shards, turning the bubbles red.

When the seventh plate cracked in her hands, she stepped back from the sink with an overwhelming sense of failure. Why could she never do anything right? Even this simple task turned to disaster at her touch.

She fell to her knees and began to weep. The blood and soap puddled in her lap.

A shadow fell across her and she looked up. Her stepmother stood in the doorway, acres of fields and Earth's blue, blue sky laid out behind her. She was holding a bejeweled comb in her hand, and though she was beautiful, her smile was cruel.

"They love you," said Levana, as if they'd been in the middle of a conversation. She came into the kitchen. The hem of her regal gown trailed through the soapy water on the floor. "They protect you. And what have you ever done to deserve that?"

"They love me," Winter agreed, though she wasn't sure who they were talking about. The people of Luna? Cinder and her allies? Jacin?

"And they will all pay the price for their adoration." Coming around behind her, Levana began brushing the comb through Winter's curls. The touch was gentle. Motherly, even. Winter wanted to weep with longing—how she had yearned for a mother's touch—but there was fear in her too. Levana had never been so kind. "They will come to know all your weaknesses. They will learn how flawed you truly are. Then they will see how you never deserved any of this."