“Are you all right?” He traced light circles over my leg.
“I’m okay. Worried about Ash. Worried about Casey. Worried about Dio and Geraint.”
Nic tugged on my sleeve, and I let him pull me over until I was laying down with my back to his chest. He wrapped tendrils of shadows around my ankles and put his leg over mine until we were spooned tightly together. I lay my head on his arm and ran my fingers lightly over the exposed skin of his wrist.
The soft touch of his fingers running over my body as he caressed me while he held me soothed away some of the tension.
“There’s only so much we can do about any of that right now, luv. Dio understands the consequences of hurting you. He won’t harm Geraint.”
“Yeah, but he’s obviously not happy about my knight, and if we’re supposed to be together...”
“Ember, as you’ve said, it’s your life and your choice.”
“But Nightmare?”
“There’s much we need to discover about this destruction. I know Robby thinks the key to stopping this is all of us being together, but I believe it’s deeper than that. The Dream princesses still don’t have their partner, after all. Ideally, you will choose to be with all of us, yes, but we have time for that. Let’s focus on finding Baz and figuring out how to stop this plot against Dream. Then we will see what can be done to help Ash and Casey.”
“One thing at a time, right?”
“One thing at a time, princess.”
I fell silent, enjoying the soft touch of his fingers running over my shoulder, down my arm, through my hair, tracing a gentle line on my cheek. I also enjoyed the way tendrils of shadow twisted up my legs, holding me. Feeling safe and secure, I lay there and listened to the creak of the ship as we soared through the air.
“Everything will work out,” Nic murmured, and I let myself believe him.
***
“Ember?” Geraint’s gentle touch and familiar musical lilt woke me later.
I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep in Nic’s arms, but I woke feeling rested and safe. He’d pulled a blanket over me at some point.
“Hey,” I answered sleepily.
“Sorry to bother you two, but we’re nearing the first stop Robby wants to make.”
I stretched out my hand and grasped Geraint’s. “Thank you, Knight.”
“Anything for you, Spark.”
I grinned.
“Is that infernal sun still up?” Nic grumbled, stirring awake.
“It is.” Geraint glanced over at the stained glass, still aglow with sunlight.
The prince sighed. “Fucking Dream.”
Spreading my arms out, I deliberately wiggled my butt against Nic as I stretched. He chuckled and wrapped me in his shadow tentacles.
“I don’t get the sense we have time for distractions,” he murmured.
Geraint brushed some of my hair out of my eyes. “No,” he agreed with Nic. “But we can enjoy thinking about later.”
“Torture, you mean,” I grumbled and snuggled back into Nic’s embrace.
My prince kissed my neck. “Come on. If I can deal, you certainly can.”
“But someone has me all tied up,” I replied. “I couldn’t get up even if I wanted to, and this bed is really soft.”