but surely some day I was going to be in a great relationship and I'd want him to eventually see me naked. Right? I stared at the nasty-looking, unhealed scar and stifled a sob. Wrong.
Okay, I seriously needed to stop thinking about this, and I definitely was going to quit looking at myself naked. It just can't be good for me. Hell! It probably wasn't good for anyone!
I hastily pulled the T-shirt over my head and muttered, "Aphrodite must be rubbing off on me. I swear I didn't use to be this shallow."
Nala was waiting for me on my bed in her usual place on my pillow. I slid under the sheets and curled up with her, loving how she snuggled against me and turned on her purr engine. I guess I should have been scared to fall asleep, what with the last Kalona dream visit I'd had, but I was too tired to think, too tired to care. I just closed my eyes and gave myself gratefully up to the darkness.
When the dream started, it wasn't a meadow, and so, foolishly, I was immediately relieved and relaxed. I was on an incredibly beautiful island, looking out across a lagoon at a skyline that seemed familiar, even though I knew I'd never been there before. The water had a fishy, salty smell. There was a depth and richness to it, a sense of vastness that I recognized as belonging to the ocean, even though I've never been to the coast. The sun was setting and the sky was lit up with a fading brilliance that reminded me of autumn leaves. I was sitting on a marble bench the color of moonbeams. It was intricately carved with vines and flowers and felt like it belonged to another time and place. I ran my hand across the smooth back of it, which was still warm from the fading day. It was like I really was there, and not dreaming at all. I glanced over my shoulder, and my eyes widened. Wow! Behind me was a palace with beautiful arched doors and windows, all in pristine white, amazing pillars and wedding cake? like chandeliers peeking out of the elegant windowpanes and twinkling in the predusk.
It was enough to take my breath away, and I was really pleased with my sleeping self for making it all up, but I was also baffled. It all seemed so real. And so familiar. Why?
I turned my face back to the lagoon view, looking across at a domed cathedral and little boats and lots of other amazing stuff that there's no way I could have imagined all on my own. The soft night breeze was coming off the water, bringing the distinctly rich scents of the dark water. I breathed deeply, enjoying the uniqueness of it. Sure, some people might say it was kinda stinky, but I didn't think so, I was just--
Holy crap! A terrible skittering of fear fingered down my spine. I knew why this seemed familiar.
Aphrodite had described this place to me just a few days ago. Not in detail. She hadn't been able to remember everything, but what she had been able to tell me had made a distinct and unsettling impression. So much so that I recognized the water and the palace and the ancient feel of it.
This was the place Aphrodite had glimpsed in the second vision she'd had of my death.
Chapter Twenty-three
"Here you are. This time you bring me to a place of your choosing, rather than me calling to you."
Kalona stepped into view beside the marble bench, as if he had materialized out of the air. I didn't say anything. I was too busy trying to control the panicked beating of my heart.
"Your Goddess is quite unusual," he said in a friendly, conversational tone after he sat beside me on the bench. "I can feel the danger in this place for you. It surprises me that she would allow you here, especially because she must know you would call me to you." I imagine she believes she is warning you, readying you, but she is mistaking my intentions. I mean to resurrect the past, and to do so the present must die." He paused, and with a contemptuous gesture waved away the riches on the shore across the water from us. "All of that means nothing to me."
I had no clue what he was talking about and when I finally found my voice, all I could manage was a brilliant,