Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Wait. What? Vasily turned in the bed and paid better attention to his lover. “Luka, know where what is?”
“The man.” He sighed, instinctively burrowing in closer to Vasily’s chest. “Go north.”
“He wants you to go north?”
“Mmm.”
Shit. Holy shit, what was this? Was Luka dreaming the exact same dream Vasily had just woken up from?
Urgency took hold of him, a strange urgency he’d rarely felt before. For some reason, Vasily absolutely had to have the answer. He leaned in closer. “What else did he say?”
“Tired of…” Luka grimaced.
Dammit, he better not be waking up right now. Vasily resisted the urge to shake him, as that would have quite the contrary effect. Instead he tried lightly stroking Luka’s long hair, hoping to soothe him back into sleep. “Luka, stay asleep. Where is the man?”
“The lake.” Luka grimaced again and then blinked, eyes barely fluttering open. He tilted his head back to look at Vasily. “Whatzit?”
Vasily flopped back onto the pillow, groaning in frustration. “For once, I want you to sleep talk and instead you wake up.”
“What?” Luka sounded like sleep still glued his mouth together. “Were you trying to convince me to go buy a castle in Ireland again?”
That had been one of their funnier sleep-talk conversations. “No, dammit, I was trying to get you to talk about the man.”
“What man?”
The honest bewilderment in his voice promised more frustration. Vasily already knew the answer, unfortunately, but he felt compelled to ask anyway. “Luka. Do you have any memory of what you were just dreaming?”
“Uhhh…you’re going to be mad if I say no, aren’t you?”
Vasily threw an arm over his eyes and sighed, already resigned. Luka had never been the type to remember his dreams in the morning, which did make teasing him fun, but right this moment, it gave Vasily nothing more than stomach burn.
The mattress shifted as Luka came up on one elbow. “Yup, you’re mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
“You’ve got grump face on.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’d prefer you fucking me over being grumpy. All right, what did I say in my sleep?”
Luka clearly would not let this go. Vasily gave up but kept his arm over his eyes. Just because he felt like it, no other reason. “I think you were dreaming what I was dreaming.”
A pregnant pause. “I love you to pieces, but I don’t think that lets us share dreams.”
“Trust me, I know. You dream weird shit.”
“You’re never going to let me live it down that I said snake penises in my sleep, are you?”
“Never, but that’s beside the point.” He lowered his arm so he could turn his head, meeting Luka’s eyes levelly. He needed his lover to understand that right now, Vasily was completely serious. “I dreamed of a man who was happy to see me. He said I was one of two people who could get him out.”
Luka’s expression sobered, brows drawing together over those ice blue eyes. “Get him out from where?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t explain that part. He said he had limited time, for some reason, and wanted to show me where he was. I feel like this dream has repeated a few times, but this is the first time I’m remembering it distinctly.” Vasily became more earnest as he explained, hoping beyond hope that this time, for once, Luka might remember some part of a dream. “He started me at the Sousa Clan ruins, in the sky above them, then flew me north. I recognized the first part of the journey—we’ve flown that area before. Then you turned in your sleep, and I woke up.”
Luka stayed propped up on one elbow, that brilliant mind of his churning with this information. “Okay. What did I say that made you think I dreamed the same?”
“It started with you saying you knew where ‘that’ was. Then I asked you questions, like where what is. You said ‘the man.’ That he wanted you to go north.”
“The same direction you were flying in the dream.” Luka looked away, blindly staring into a corner of their room, still thinking hard. “Did I say anything else?”
“The lake.” Vasily watched him, almost holding his breath.
“Was that all I said?”
“Unfortunately. You woke up at that point.”
“Do you know what I meant by lake?”
“No idea. It’s why I tried to get you to go back to sleep.” Yup, he could see it from Luka’s expression, his lover had absolutely no clue what the dream had been. “You don’t remember a thing. Do you.”
“Not a damn thing. And yet what you’ve said sounds familiar. Like some part of me already knew that information.”
Oh? Now that sounded promising. Vasily went from very frustrated back to hopeful. “Then you see what I mean? That I think we were dreaming the same thing?”
“I do.” Luka turned his head so he could meet Vasily’s eyes again. “The details line up too precisely for it to be anything else. You said you’ve dreamed this before. How long?”