by Cara Wylde
This time, however, the dream felt more real than ever. Tavian moaned in his sleep while his eyes moved wildly underneath his closed lids, chasing Rose down the halls of the royal palace.
“Catch me!”
She giggled and ran faster, and no matter how hard he pushed himself, how fast he kicked his legs one in front of the other, she remained out of reach. It was weird too, given that in his dream he was a shifter. Even in his human form, he was still faster than anyone.
“Come on! You have to catch me if you want that kiss.”
She laughed wholeheartedly, and he laughed with her. He couldn’t help it. Her happiness was contagious.
Then, just like that, Rose stopped. She turned to him and looked him straight in the eyes. When he was two steps away from her, he stopped as well and simply stood there, although all he wanted to do was to draw her into his arms and press her soft body against his chest.
“This is weird,” she said.
“What is?”
“It feels so real…”
He couldn’t believe the Rose in his dreams, the Rose his mind had created to alleviate his longing, was telling him things felt too real. How would she know what reality was?
She reached out a hand and rested it on his chest. Tavian sighed and closed his eyes for a second, allowing himself to fully enjoy the moment. Yes, it did feel very real, but he didn’t mind. He snapped his eyes open when she stepped closer to him and breathed against his lips:
“You’re finally here.”
“I… I’m not,” he said. “I can’t find you.”
“You’re here, I can tell. All these years, I’ve dreamed about you. I was afraid you had abandoned me. I was afraid you had saved yourself and would never come back. I’m so glad I was wrong.”
“What are you talking about?”
He was losing it. The dream made no sense. This wasn’t the Rose his mind had created. Dream Rose would never talk like that, would never say those things. Why? Because he didn’t know them himself.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Wrong question.”
“Where are you?”
“Close, so close. Don’t give up. Promise me you won’t give up.”
She leaned in and pressed her lips against his in a chaste kiss.
“I will never give up, I promise you. I will find you, my Princess, and I’ll make you mine.”
She smiled and let her head fall on his chest. Tavian held her, when his body screamed to claim her right there and then. But it was just a dream and there was no time. He held on to her and breathed in the flowery scent of her skin until the dream faded and he found himself in his bed, at the inn.
CHAPTER THREE
It’s only natural to get bored when you’ve been asleep for one hundred years. But Rose was in a different kind of sleep. A magical one, a slumber in which dreams had become her reality. Maybe they weren’t even dreams. Maybe the word wasn’t the appropriate one to describe the odd level of existence on which The Lost Kingdom had moved when the curse had been activated. In her “dreams”, Rose was living at the palace, with her parents and all the courtiers and servants. Nothing was changed. She didn’t age, and the people around her didn’t age either. It was as if they were trapped in a bubble, and doomed to carry out their daily routines ad nauseam. They had all grown tired of it quickly, and now they usually tried to avoid each other.
Rose had been looking for her only real friend, Tavian, since the day she had fallen unconscious. She had been immediately disappointed when she had realized he wasn’t there, among the others, which meant he had left the kingdom. She had scolded herself for not listening to him, for not trusting his judgement. The fact that he had left told her Tavian had always believed in the existence of the curse and had always known how to save himself from it. She had hated him for a while, then she had gotten used to the idea and even found the power to be happy for him. He was free to live his life, and that was all that mattered. He had tried to stop her, had tried to convince her that Angel, Juliet, and Talia didn’t care about her, but she had dismissed his advice. If there was someone who deserved to suffer for it, it was her. Her and her supposed friends.
For one hundred years, Rose had lived (or slept, to be more exact) with the guilt of having dragged everyone around her to their doom. It hurt even more when the King and Queen were being supportive and insisted they spent time together in their shared “dream”. She had expected them to scold her, even punish her, show her how disappointed they were that she had betrayed them but, instead, they always reminded her that mere humans could never fight magic. When they had banned all spinning throughout the kingdom, they had known it wouldn’t help. However, they had to at least try and do their best to protect their daughter. Their attitude made Rose feel even guiltier.
Then, the Princess had discovered that she could summon something similar to normal dreams if she tried hard enough. Tavian wasn’t there, asleep in The Lost Kingdom, but she could recreate his face in her mind if she focused, and she could even make him talk to her, tell her sweet nothings that helped pass the time and make her feel a bit better about herself. She could tell him anything. He wasn’t real, of course, but she talked to him as if he were. They played games, and she would tease him by making him chase her down the halls. She built her dreams in such a way that he was never able to catch her. Why? Because she was afraid of what might happen between them if he did. The Tavian in her imagination did manage to steal a kiss from time to time, but nothing more. When that happened, Rose snapped out of her trance and touched her lips, sad that nothing was real. Their kisses didn’t feel real, his touches were empty. Her imagination wasn’t enough to fill the void in her soul. It failed her each and every time. In her cursed sleep, Rose would whisper: “Oh, Tavian, where are you? I miss you so much…”
Then, it happened. The dream that wasn’t a dream. It started with a playful chase through the palace, Rose’s favorite game. She kept him at a fair distance behind her, as to not feel disappointed in case he came close enough to touch her and remind her how it was all fake. It did feel different, however. It felt like his presence was palpable, like his laughter was genuine. He sounded like himself, not like her when she tried to imagine him laughing or speaking. She could even smell his manly, musky scent, and it reminded her of that day when he had tried to stop her from doing something stupid. And that was when she stopped and turned around, let him approach her so she could look deep into his eyes.
He was real. He was there.
At first, she wanted to ask him where he had been all those years. Had he been asleep, just like everyone else, but had chosen to hide from her? Did he hate her that much? Then, she saw something in his eyes, something that told her he was just as confused as she was. No, he hadn’t been in The Lost Kingdom all along. He had, indeed, escaped the curse, but he had been looking for her. He was asleep, dreaming, somewhere close. Not in the palace, not in the kingdom, but close. All she had to do was let him know, give him a clue, beg him not to give up.
She touched his chest, and the muscles felt hard and real under her fingertips. She kissed his lips, and his breath was hot on her face. Hot and delicious. She pressed her head close to his heart to listen to his heartbeat, and she knew he was there for her. She knew he had left before the curse was activated so he could find her later and bring her back to life. But how? How was he just as young as he had been when she had last seen him? A deep growl came from inside his chest, and she knew. He had a beast inside him, a beast that made him strong, fearless, and almost immortal. She couldn’t tell what kind of beast it was, but she was sure he had gone through a lot to find and adapt to the only solution that could bring them back together.
“I will never give up, I promise you. I will find you, my Princess, and I’ll make you mine.”
His words stirred something inside her. They warmed her heart and turned her knees to jelly. Oh, she couldn’t wait to become his! She had imagined how it would be for too long. He
r whole body ached for him. She would have given herself to him right on the spot, but it was all still a dream, no matter how real it felt. His dream, her dream… she couldn’t tell. She just wanted to go back to the real world, where things were always as clear as day. She wanted to be able to make the difference between dream and reality again. That was why Tavian had to keep looking for The Lost Kingdom. Having no idea where he was, or where she was, she couldn’t give him any clues, but there was one thing she could do: reassure him that she was waiting for him, that he was close, and all he had to do was try again.
Rose allowed her body to melt in his strong arms for a while, then lifted her head to look into his green eyes and tell him what she had been meaning to tell him for one hundred years. But Tavian was gone. The dream had dissipated.
***
Tavian was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, his head resting in his hands. He rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. The wooden floor was cold under his bare feet, but he didn’t care. He was completely naked in the chilly morning air. As a bear-shifter, there were few things which could actually bother him or make him feel uncomfortable.
“It was real,” he whispered to himself. “This time, it was real.”
He was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t going insane, that what he felt wasn’t just false hope. It had been her in his dream. Rose, with her cheerful laughter and crystalline voice. She had kissed him, and he had felt her fruity breath on his lips. He knew her unique scent, and he could recognize it even after a century.
“Why didn’t she tell me where she is?”
Then it dawned on him: maybe she didn’t know herself. If The Lost Kingdom was moving regularly and she was trapped inside it, then there was no way she could have known where she was at any given moment in time. But she was close. So close that they had actually shared a dream. His dream. Or hers? It didn’t matter.
Tavian jumped to his feet and started looking for his clothes. He would leave his things at the inn, but he needed at least a shirt and some trousers to cover himself until he reached the forest. He would hide them in the same tree hollow, then search the woods and the entire land inch by inch. Yes, there was a fair chance that The Lost Kingdom might move again before he found it, but he couldn’t let that fear paralyze him. After all, the curse was supposed to last for one century. It was time for someone to find it, for a hero to march through the gates of the palace, scoop Rose into his arms, and kiss her awake. He had to be that hero.
Downstairs, he greeted the innkeeper and refused breakfast. He didn’t have time to eat. He stormed out of the inn and headed straight to the edge of the forest. It was very early, but the few people who were renting a room had all woken up and were getting ready for a long day. He avoided them as best as he could, lest anyone stopped him and tried to make conversation. Travelers were always so friendly and chatty, especially merchants.
When he was sure no one saw him, Tavian got rid of his clothes and shifted into his bear form. When he let the beast take control, he felt free and invincible. No one dared approach him, and that gave him pure joy. He focused on what his senses told him, as they were much sharper than when he was in his human form, then let his strong legs carry him through the woods at his shifter speed. He could cover much more ground that way. From time to time, he stopped and sniffed the air, trying to catch Rose’s unique scent. If she was close, then his sensitive nose should be able to track her down.
The brown bear roamed the forest for hours, then got out from between the trees and skirted the edge of the village, careful not to be spotted by anyone. Disappointed, he went back into the woods and decided to try again. He would never forgive himself if he missed a clearing or a ravine because he was in too much of a hurry. The Lost Kingdom had to be there, somewhere.
He reached the river and walked along it for the second time that day. He had crossed it once with no luck, so he wondered if he should cross it again. Eventually, he decided it would be the last time, and if it didn’t work, then he’d go back to the inn and move on with his journey. The water wasn’t very deep, and when he reached the other side of the bank, he stopped and shook the cold droplets out of his thick fur. He stood on his hind legs and lifted his head as high as he could to sniff the air. His dark green eyes widened in surprise when he caught something. The tiniest whiff of fruits and flowers, just the way Rose’s hair and skin smelled. He dropped back on all fours and let his nose guide him.
“Now I’m close,” he thought. “There’s no doubt. She’s here, somewhere.”
The invisible wall of magic the curse had put between The Lost Kingdom and the real world hit the brown bear right in the head. He took a step back and looked around him. There was nothing there. Still, every time he tried to walk further, an obstacle he couldn’t see with the naked eye stopped him. He strolled along it for a few minutes, then he tried again only to have the same result. There was an invisible barrier, but he couldn’t see the kingdom behind it. It was just the green, lush forest, with its tall trees and entangled bushes.
“There’s a reason why the fairy turned me into a bear-shifter,” he thought. “I should be strong enough to break down this wall.”
With that being said, the brown bear took a couple of steps back, then rammed his shoulder into the magical wall. Pain exploded in the right side of his body, but it was gone instantly. That was another advantage of being a bear-shifter: he healed quickly. He did that again, and again, until he felt the wall crack. The fifth time, he found himself on the other side, in the middle of a whole different landscape.
The forest wasn’t there anymore. Tavian recognized the dusty roads of his home land, and the tall, proud towers of the palace in the distance. He took a moment to enjoy the feeling of peace and happiness that had enveloped him, then decided to shift back to his human form and look for some clothes. Everyone was asleep, so they surely wouldn’t mind if he went through a couple of houses until he found some decent clothes to fit his size.
CHAPTER FOUR
Every painting on the wall, every piece of furniture, every corner he turned brought back old memories Tavian had buried deep inside so he could cope with being away from home for so long. The village, the royal gardens, and the palace were the same as the day he had left. The only difference was the sleeping people he found here and there. Most of them had had time to find a bed or a sofa to lie on before the cursed slumber took them, but there were some who were lying on the grass, or on the cold, marble floor of the ball room. Tavian didn’t have time to look around much. If he had gone to the kitchens, he would have found the cooks, maids, and servants sleeping on the stone floor, or in chairs, with their heads on the table. He went straight to Rose’s room. He couldn’t be sure he would find her there, but it was the first logical place to investigate.
Tavian stopped in front of the closed door and took a couple of deep breaths. Her unique scent filled his lungs, and he knew the Princess was there, behind that very door, waiting for him to wake her. His bear growled inside his chest, urging him to barge in and cover her in kisses. When she had cast the curse, the evil fairy had said that the Princess could be woken up only by a true love’s kiss. Tavian searched deep inside his soul and knew without a doubt that he loved her. He turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Rose was lying on her bed, her blonde hair spread all over the pillow. Her hands were resting on her chest, and her generous breasts were rising in the rhythm of her breathing. Tavian strolled towards the bed and leaned over her beautiful form.
“Rose, my love,” he whispered. He caressed her cheek. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. I finally found you.”
His bear thrashed underneath his skin, impatient, now that his mate was within reach. Tavian had to hold his breath and count to ten to calm the beast down. He wanted to do things his way. That was the reason why he had accepted to be turned into a shape-shifter: so he would live long enough to claim this moment and seize it. He ran h
is hand through Rose’s hair, and the bear backed down, soothed by the small gesture. Tavian knew his beast wasn’t evil. The bear just ran on instinct, but he would never hurt the Princess. Yes, he wanted to take her hard and fast, but his human side was there to balance things out.
“My Princess, I will take care of you, I promise.” Tavian leaned over her some more, until his lips were above hers. “Come back to me now, and I will make sure nothing will harm you again. We’ll live a long, happy life, and I will do everything in my power to offer you the wonderful things you deserve.”
He closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her unmoving lips. He was surprised at how warm they were. Her breath was soft, and it smelled like fresh mint. Even though she had been asleep for one hundred years, her cheeks were rosy, and her skin smelled like she had just taken a hot bubble bath.
When she didn’t respond to his kiss and didn’t give any sign that she was becoming conscious, Tavian took her face between his palms and angled her head in such a way that he could easily part her lips with his tongue. He kissed her long, passionately, feverishly, unwilling to break their connection until she opened her eyes. This was true love’s kiss. He could feel it in his heart, which was beating wildly, threatening to explode in his chest, he could sense it in his muscles and bones. His whole body reacted to Rose’s closeness.
After a minute that seemed to stretch forever, Rose sighed against his lips. Tavian broke the kiss and opened his eyes. The Princess was looking up at him, her sky blue orbs trying to focus after so many years in which they hadn’t been used.
“My love,” he said. “Welcome back.”
