Breana.
My feet were carrying me there before I’d made a conscious decision to do so. She looked up as I approached, and smiled.
I tripped over a chair leg. The food tipped precariously, and a meatroll made a determined dive for the floor.
Somehow, I avoided a faceplant and managed to snag the imperiled bit of food before it had dropped more than a foot.
“Good catch,” she said.
“Must have played with balls as a child,” I offered, although I really had no idea.
Her eyes sparkled, and her lips twitched. I had a sudden impression that we’d strayed into territory that I should avoid. But all she said was, “Good thing Nar and Leah aren’t here. They’d have a field day with that comment.”
My face flushed as I pulled out the chair opposite her, and plunked myself, the tray, and the meatroll down.
“Did you get some sleep?” she asked.
Another memory drifted in—wind whistling over wings. I wished they’d stop because they made conversation difficult. “Yeppers,” I answered. “Did you?”
Her gaze seemed more intense than the inquiry required. “Yes,” she replied. “I had interesting dreams.”
Suddenly, I had problems breathing. Why would that comment cause me issues? Uncomfortable, I dropped my gaze to her tray.
And I stared at the pastry with pink icing and sparkles.
No way. That hadn’t been an ancient fragment of memory. Somehow, I’d seen what she had on her tray.
Through her eyes.
And my mind went haywire, dropping freaky bits of random lore that had no anchor in reality.
Things I had no right to be thinking about.
Things that involved Fate.
12
CTez
I sat amid a bunch of vicious killers.
Which was only one reason I’d chosen a spot in the corner of the fucking mess hall as I ate dinner. My fellow mercenaries left the two other chairs at my table vacant, and that was the way I preferred it.
I noticed Cricker sitting with a small group on the other side of the room. Every now and then, he sent a resentful glance my way. He’d been to a healer to fix the slice across his cheek, but he would always bear the scar.
Keeping an eye on his buddies in case they were stupid enough to try and jump me, I mixed Nemi’s bowl of sugar water. She darted off my shoulder and hovered above it, uttering the occasional happy twitter. There’d been times, yesterday, when she’d seemed like more than what she was. But today, she was just a bird.
I was quite certain I was goingloco.
The dream I’d had last night continued to haunt me, despite all efforts to dismiss it. The woman had seemed so real, and so beautiful, that I’d ached for her. But the dream had been fucking contrary, refusing to obey my desires.
Why had I dreamed of controlling all those birds? My grandmother had always spoken of my issues around control, even as she’d trained me how necessary it was to survival. She’d told me the truth was in the gray zones. But I was a black-and-white kind of guy. And I certainly hadn’t possessed any control over that woman.
Positioned as I was, I saw Slade coming my way. He eyed the hummingbird.
“Got a job for ya,” the big shifter said.
Although none were stupid enough to try anything directly, I sensed the focus in the room shift to us. At this rate, I was destined to be the least popular merc in the entire place.
