Riven's Pov
Sleep didn't come easily that night. My body was exhausted — bone-heavy, dragging, sore from the tension that had built up since the realm swallowed me — but my mind refused to rest. I tried to relax on the bed Selthra had left me on, the mattress pulling me in silks too fine, pillows too many, blankets too heavy. None of it mattered. The bed might as well have been stone. I lay staring at the carved ceiling, tracing meaningless shapes in the whorls of dark wood, trying not to picture her walking back in and expecting me to…
I shut my eyes. No. I wasn't letting her into my thoughts tonight. Not when I needed my strength just to breathe.
Instead, I tried something else. Something foolish.
Dream-walking.
