When hearts meet

Chapter 11 ~ Just let me dance

A week, it had been a week that she'd stepped through that portal, said goodbye to him. For a normal person, a week not seeing someone would be bearable. But for her, not seeing Brion, not being intoxicated by that delicious smell, not feeling him...It was torture.

Her sleep was restless. Every night, her dreams were filled with laughing women and crows with flaming tails. Every night the same dream, every night the same ending. Brion, laying in a field covered in black smoke, glowing eyes looking at his corpse. And every night, her hands were covered in flames. She didn't understand why she had this dream, didn't wanna talk about it with someone, not even her best friend.

Just like this night.

Again, that horrible ending. Her breath caught in her throat, trying unconsciously to hold back the heart wrecking scream that was within her. But she failed. A painful scream left her dry lips, her hands clasped the wrinkled sheets, burning right through them, leaving black ash marks. Her back arched, her wind ripped out of her chest, soaring into the room. Papers and books made a tornado, circling the chambers. She didn't hear anything, didn't see anything, except for that death body, that half eaten body. She tried to scare away the crows, that were now picking at his eyes, but they stayed, the dream stayed....Stop, she wanted it to stop. Smoke tickled in her sore throat. What, what was happening?

'Ciana? Sweetheart it's alright.'

"Ciana wake up, it is just a bad dream.'

~

Rowan was peacefully asleep, when a scream so heartbreaking, filled the castle. Before he could think, he was out of bed, out of the room, sprinting through the candle lit hallways. He bursted through the wooden door, stepping into a blanket of burning hot flames.

Within a second, he tempered, dimmed the flames, sucking the air out of them. His vision became clear, and his heart ached. There she was, his daughter. She cried, clutching the sheets, in a hopeful attempt to hold on to something, anything.

~

She felt a presence, but wasn't sure if it was in her dream, or somewhere else. Was there even something else? Or was it just this unending pain?

hands gently squeezed her arms. A cool pine filled breeze caressed her skin, her lungs. Her mind came back to reality, and she heard the voice now, pulling her back to here and now, out of that nightmare. Ciana slit back into her body with a loud gasp. Her body jolted upwards, right in someone's arms. She shook over her entire body. But she opened her eyes, and stared right into pine ones.

'Dad?' she said with a voice she couldn't stop from shaking. 'I am here Ciana, it's alright.' Her lip trembled from the memories of that dream, and her dad sensed it, like he felt everything. He pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her, rocking back and forth. 'I am here sweetheart. It's okay.'

She wanted to be brave and strong, wanted to pull away and say that it was okay and that he could go. She was twenty one for gods sake. But she couldn't. So she gave in to her feelings, accepted them for what they were, as she cried and sank into her father's embrace.

He carefully rocked her back and forth, one hand in her hair, stroking the silver locks, like he had done when she was little. It had always calmed her down. For minutes they sat like that, not one of them saying a word. The comforting silence calmed her racing mind again. Her father pulled back a little, to look her in the eye. The green lit up in the moonlight. 'Do you wanna talk about it?' Ciana tilted her head a little, thinking. Then, she nodded. Her dad smiled and crawled under the blankets, pulling her close. And she told him, told him about her nightmares and fears.