Chapter 14

I'm too tired after we get back to do more than yawn and help with the dishes. It's bizarre, this exhaustion. I'm no stranger to hard work and spending hour after hour on my feet, but after tending to the people here, I'm drained. Hyadum's distant after cleaning up, too, lost in his thoughts.

I dry the last of the plates and set it in the cupboard.

"Thank you for the meal," I say. "It was really good. So was the date." I half-wonder, half-hope, he'll kiss me again.

"I am pleased you enjoyed it," he says, polite, but preoccupied with his thoughts.

"Good night, then," I say, wiping my hands on the soft blue dish towel. When I settle into bed that night, I can't decide if I wished I'd asked him what was bothering him, or if I'm relieved I didn't.

Moonlight streams through the sheer curtain, and I blink, unsure of why I've suddenly awoken. Then I hear it again, a low, keening moan.

What the crap is that? If I were at home, I'd blame it on a tree or wind, but here, in wonderland, it could be anything. Werewolf. Ghost. Monster under my bed.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I really shouldn't have thought that last part.

My heart hammers against my chest, and I draw the blankets up to my chin, freaked out.

"Mina," Hyadum groans.

I sit bolt upright, adrenaline turning to action. He's in trouble. He could be hurt. I'm out the door and in the hallway before I've realized my feet are moving, monsters under the bed be damned.

I fling open the door to Hyadum's room, expecting the worst. Blood, or knives, or whatever would make him make that noise.

His room is quiet. The window shut, the light from the three moons shining a square of light across his bare back. His muscles twitch as I watch, his legs tangled in the sheets.

"Mina," he says again, and there's a quiet desperation in it.

I've never heard anyone say my name like that.

Stunned into stillness, I watch as he rolls from his side to his back, flinging an arm across the bed. The moonlight shimmers against his skin, where sweat beads. His forehead crinkles, his horns jutting up dangerously. His eyelids twitch, and another quiet groan shakes him.

He's having a nightmare.

I could leave him here.

He's safe. There's no one to fend off, and now that I'm more awake I realize how stupid it was of me to run in here, half-dressed, thinking I could punch away something that made Hyadum sound weak and scared. A handful of self-defense classes does not a martial arts expert make.

I swallow, watching his muscles flex as he grapples with an imaginary terror in his sleep, my name on his lips. The sheet slips further down, revealing washboard abs and hip muscles that draw my eye further down.

My mouth goes dry.

"Mina," Hyadum says again, but it's quiet, and raspy with sleep.

When I drag my eyes up to his face, I jerk in surprise. He's awake.

"Are you really here, coruscant?"

I should leave. I really, really should leave.

"Yes," I manage.

"Why are you in my bedroom?" He rubs a hand across his eyes, his face relaxed and sleepy. "Are you all right?"

"You were having a nightmare." I can't make my feet move. I can't seem to tear my attention away from his handsome face, from his powerful body.

I can't help but imagine what it would be like to climb on top of it, to sink myself onto him, and to hear him grit out my name again. My nipples pebble under my nightshirt. His shirt.

"You came to check on me?" There's a gentle wonder in the question that unlocks something in me. Like he can't believe anyone would bother.

"Yes," I tell him. My hair falls in front of my eyes, and I push it back.

He's sitting up in the bed, watching me carefully, not moving one inch. As though he's afraid he'll scare me away.

I'm made of tougher stuff than that, though, and I lift my chin defiantly.

"Will you stay with me tonight, Mina? Not to… Just to stay." He tilts his head back against the bed, closing his eyes, as if to shield himself from my reply.

"Yes," I say, before I can think better of it. "As long as you promise not to poke me with your horns."

Slowly, I walk towards the edge of the bed, climbing on carefully.

"I won't, Mina. I will be careful with you, always."

"Promise?" I say, a catch in my throat. I don't think either of us are talking about sleeping arrangements anymore.

"I promise. I swear it."

As soon as I begin to lower myself to the pillow, adrenaline already fading, he curls an arm under my neck, pulling me close with his other. I stiffen as he slides me onto his shoulder, cocooning me with his huge body.

"It will be easier for me to sleep if I don't worry about accidentally poking you, though. You're safer like this." His warm breath tickles against my ear. "Poking you with my horns, anyway. I make no promises concerning the rest of my anatomy."

I can't help the laugh that burbles out of me at that. It should be strange, being curled up in his arms. Normally, there's no way I could sleep like this. I don't like to be cuddled, I get too hot and sweaty and need my space.

But when Hyadum's breathing evens out, the steady beat of his heart a lullaby against my head, I fall asleep again easily.