Granada

Chapter 24

"Rúben, are you alright?"

"Uh?"

"You look a bit uncomfortable. Is your head still hurting?"

"I'm fine, just a bit tired" he smiled.

"We'll be home pretty soon and then you'll be able to take a nap."

"In our bed."

"Urgh, our bed. I've missed it so much" Rowena said. And after that, the silence that had settled between them since Rúben woke up from his injury came back. "What are you thinking about?" she asked again, trying to start a new conversation.

"Nothing" he replied.

"That's impossible. You have to think about something."

"No" he shrugged.

"Are you thinking about your dream? You had it again tonight."

"I didn't dream of anything."

"Rúben, I heard you calling my name, saying that you didn't want to leave us alone. Who is us?"

"No one."

"Talking may help, you know?"

"Then why don't you tell me about your dream, the one that also wakes you up almost every night?" he asked.

"I... um..."

"That's what I thought" he said before looking out the window of their coach once again.

Her dream. Her nightmare. The one she had been having since the camp had been attacked and that it had only gotten worse after Rúben had been injured. It started the same, with her smelling something and then seeing all the blood and a dead man laying next to her. But the dark eyes looking at her weren't the ones from the man she had killed. Now they were Rúben's.

Every time she woke up from it, she would curl as far away from his side of the bed as she could, trying to forget. And that meant being away from him, from his touch . Though he didn't seem to care.

When he had his dreams, he would also move as far away from her as he could, as if by touching her something bad would happen. Not even when they first married they had slept so apart from each other, and it was definitely affecting their relationship. They were like two total strangers sharing a bed.

"Bloody hell" Rowena cursed as she found herself jumping from her seat and ending on Rúben's lap.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes. It was just that hole on the road. Again. I thought you had told them to fix it!"

"I forgot" he said with an innocent smile.

"You forgot, or you did it on purpose because you like having me this close" she said as she moved until she was straddling him.

"Both?"

"I've missed having you this close" she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her nose brushing against his.

"I've missed this too."

"What is happening to us, Rúben?"

"I don't know" he whispered, his hands moving under her skirt and up her legs.

"Kiss me, my prince" she said against his lips, hoping her words would have some effect on him. Maybe bring back that smile he only had for her and that she hadn't seen in weeks. But what she got in return, was a kiss.

He was kissing her as if his life depended on it, as if he needed her to breathe. And breathless was how Rowena felt when he moved from her lips to her neck.