The trip back to the castle was uneventful. Rei noticed the soft person in his arms had fallen to sleep at some point, her light breath tickling his neck. It's understandable that she's tired; being a conduit to Selene's power isn't easy. For the past few nights, they've been sleeping in the nest with Jasper and the egg, but for some reason tonight he doesn't head to the West wing. Instead, his feet naturally carry him to their marital suite on the East wing. There, he gently lays her down on the rich, soft sheets, brushing aside a few loose strands of her stubborn, curly, luminous silver hair. Like this, she looks so peaceful, effortlessly captivating others. He beckons Sena and the rest of her maids, motioning for them to change her clothes without disturbing her rest before exiting the room.
He idly wanders through the brightly lit halls, aimlessly passing time until they are done. He recalls his first night in the duke's estate, how angry he'd been with Ariellia, refusing to spend the night with her as a proper husband should. To this day she has never confronted him on this slight, but now his own guilt gnaws away at him. He should not have treated her that way; at the very least, he should have used deception to protect her from future scandals. He could have cut his hand and bled on the sheets to protect her honor, but it's too late to think of that now. He can only shake his head in dismay at his past willful behavior.
He'd always considered himself to be mature for his age, decisive, and resourceful. Yet somehow, whenever Ariellia gets involved, he becomes impulsive and hardly thinks. He ponders how much has changed in his life since the wedding. How the sudden distance Ariellia put between them threw him off balance, only to draw him in, causing him to later learn things about her he would never have guessed. How his careless handling of their marriage made it easier for busybodies like his uncle to mess around and get in the way. How the fear of nearly losing her for the first time made him question if he truly hated her to the point of never wanting to cross paths again.
While his entire world unraveled before his very eyes with the revelation of his origins, his father's heavy crimes against Anya's tribe, or Lady Oya's unnatural slumber, Ariellia's the only one offering him a brighter future. Perhaps that is why, while everything around him is changing so rapidly- his station, his own body- the obsessive need for her to remain the same keeps growing within him. He wants her to always seek him out as she did before, cheering him up with her clumsy attempts at seduction, while tenaciously standing in his corner as his number one defender.
'You're such a selfish bastard.'
He's well aware of his own hypocrisy, only willing to admit his thirst now that the stream has run dry. He should have been willing to accept her affection before her passion cooled. After walking aimlessly for almost half an hour, his turbulent thoughts and longing led him back to their quarters. With all these thoughts plaguing his mind sleep is the last thing on his mind, but he knows he should try to rest or he'll regret it in the morning. Jasper already told them they'll be leaving Rahnoff at first light tomorrow. The dragon lord hopes to catch up with Anya and the impostor as soon as possible. The further away she gets, the harder it will be for Ariellia to track the last soul fragment.
Rei understands why he should be sleeping, but his mind just won't let him. Looking at his little wife's unguarded face, he can't help but wonder what she's dreaming about. He's completely unaware of his eye color changing from red to gold. In a trance-like state, he reaches out, gently caressing her warm brown cheek with his fair hand, marveling at the harmonious contrast. By instinct, he invokes the ancient magic of dreamwalking, innate to his kind. He doesn't realize anything is wrong until his surroundings suddenly fade away, replaced by an unfamiliar shallow lake with water as clear as day.
There are no buildings, just a vast expanse of the open sky and this shallow lake. Rei frowns, wondering if this is one of Arie's memories. But he has never seen a place like this in Rahnoff, there is only the River Leara. An amateur dreamwalker like him doesn't immediately realize he's entered her mind's palace instead of a memory. He calmly walks ahead, never varying right or left, just listening to the feeling in his gut telling him to keep going straight. And sure enough, he soon sees a great temple in the distance. His impressive height of 6'4" is dwarfed by the rows of massive columns lining the deserted temple hall as he quietly walks between them. He follows the pathway until he stands before an ivory door.
He feels a rush of adrenaline as his heart begins to thump furiously in his chest. By now, he knows this is not a simple dream, but despite this alarming discovery, he doesn't hesitate to push open the giant door. Inside, he sees a room unlike any he's ever seen before, spacious and neat, with a bed aligned to the top, framed by two simple identical geometric pieces of furniture. These pieces do not have the carved artistry of elves like the masterpieces showcased all over the duke's lavish home, but they are just as eye-catching with high-contrast colors and placement. He spots many fancy hanging lamps without mana stones and a large foreign rectangular device pushing out of the gray wall.
Anybody else would have been distracted by this alien technology, but not Rei. The young dragon lord's gold eyes hardly strayed from the wooden work desk across the room, where a lean, dark-skinned male is seated. It's a face he's never seen before, yet a feeling in his gut tells him he should know this stranger. Those trembling, upturned light brown eyes fill him with familiar warmth. In his heart, even without being told, he knows this person is important to him, but he can't say why.
"Who are you?"
!
The other looks startled and dazed, stumbling back from the desk, his unsteady hands making a mess in the process. If it had been a month ago, Rei might have been willing to hear him out without resorting to being forceful and domineering, but after Anya's recent situation, his eyes are now clear. Soul invasions and body snatching are no longer foreign concepts to him. Two familiar twin blades materialize in his hands as he stares down the intruder with unchecked killer intent. The entire space chilled to the point of freezing.
"I will only ask you once more. Who are you and why are you here?"
...
The man's light brown eyes shift between Rei and the door behind him, but he doesn't immediately answer.
"Where is Ariellia?"