Lokan? He can dream share with Eleanor.”
Eleanor lifted a brow. “What are you talking about?”
“Lokan can dream share with immortal females. That’s almost as good as Ella and Vivian’s telepathic connection. I just hope that he can still do that after bonding with Carol. She also might object to him dream-sharing with another female. It’s kind of intimate.”
Frankly, the idea of sharing dreams with any guy seemed creepy. Even if it were Greggory, Eleanor wouldn’t want to do that with him. It was too invasive.
“I don’t want to dream share with anyone. It’s creepy. You can do that.”
“I can’t. Michael would have a fit.”
“Ladies.” Turner lifted a hand. “We are not going to use Lokan, so there is no point in you arguing about who will dream share with him. Leave the communications problem to me. As I said, I know what I’m doing.”
39
David
As David opened his eyes, he was fully aware that he was opening them in a dream and that his physical body was unable to perform the simple operation of lifting his eyelids.
He wasn’t fully unconscious, though. From time to time he could hear the conversations going on around him, but when Jonah was there, everything else faded away.
It was good to have his brother back though, even if it was only a dream. David had prayed and hoped for that ever since Jonah had died. Any contact was better than none. Any proof, no matter how intangible, that the soul continued after the body died was a gift that he was grateful for.
Since no voices were filtering through David’s awareness, he assumed that Jonah was either there or about to manifest.
Jonah? Where are you? We are not done talking.
As the doorway appeared and his brother stepped through, David didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. The light on the other side was so damn tempting, and the yearning to cross over so strong, that he couldn’t understand how even a handful of people managed to resist it and come back from the brink.
“Hello, David.” Jonah floated to the same spot he’d sat on before. “I promised that I would come back, and here I am.”
“Thank you. I’ve prayed for the opportunity to talk to you ever since you died.”
“I know.” Jonah put a hand on his chest. “I wanted to come, but I wasn’t allowed.”
“Why are you allowed now? Is it because I’m unconscious?”
“That makes it easier. But I’ve been aided by unexpected allies who need my help.”
“Who are they?”
Jonah smiled. “I can’t tell you that, but you can guess.”
A lightbulb flicked on in David’s head. “The Fates. Were you the one who whispered in Kalugal’s ear to bring me to Sari?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
This was frustrating. “What are you allowed to talk about? The weather?”
Jonah chuckled. “Unless it’s about the existing weather conditions, that’s forbidden as well. I can’t impart any information about the future.”
“Do you know what will happen?”
“Some of it. Most of the future hasn’t been written yet.”
“Can you talk about the past?”
Jonah nodded. “Only a small portion of it. There are specific things I got permission for.”
“How about our past lives? You said that we have reincarnated many times, and you made it sound as if we were brothers in other lives as well.”
“Not always. Sometimes we were best friends, and sometimes we were father and son.”
David smiled. “I just hope that we have never been a couple. That would have been awkward.”
“I agree. We were always reincarnated as males, which is not how it usually works, but there was a good reason for that.”
“What?”
“The things we needed to work out over many lives were gender-specific—brotherly rivalry, anger, aggression, lack of compassion, vengefulness, pride, and so on. But mainly the brotherly stuff. We always loved each other fiercely, but we also couldn’t stand each other. We are very different individuals.”
David grimaced. “If I was Gudbrand, then you must have been Olek, and out of the two, Olek was the better man.”
Jonah lifted a brow. “You are right about that, but Olek killed Gudbrand, not the other way around, and he carried the anger and guilt for it over many cycles.”
“He was overtaken with grief and not thinking straight. Gudbrand had failed him. Olek loved his wife and was dedicated to his clan, while Gudbrand only thought about himself.”
A wide grin spread over Jonah’s face, and he soundlessly clapped his ghostly hands. “Bravo, brother. Finally, you realize that it was Gudbrand’s failing and not Olek’s. It has only taken nearly