A Trace of Moonlight (43 page)
Read A Trace of Moonlight Online
Authors: Allison Pang
One hand pressed hard against my belly and he breathed in sharply. “It’s true, then.”
“You can tell?”
“There’s the presence of another Dreamer here. She’s sleeping too.”
“She?”
“A daughter. Yes.”
I bit down hard on my lower lip, this small fact slamming hard into my gut because now everything became more real than before. I tugged on his braid,
the bells chiming out as I lifted his chin to me, inspecting his face.
“Are you okay? Did . . . he hurt you?”
His golden eyes became weary and amused all at once. “Let’s leave that story for another night, shall we? There’s something I need to show you.”
Without another word, he took my hand and led me outside the gate to the rocky path. At his quiet gesture, the bubble of my Heart disappeared so that we were confronted with the infinite darkness of the Dreaming, the tiny Hearts winking in and out of existence with the rise and fall of the other Dreamers.
“There.” He pointed to a light a short distance away. “Do you see it?”
“Yes . . . but . . .”
“It’s mine,” he said fiercely. “I don’t know how . . . but I still have it. It’s still there.” He shook his head. “There’s something else.” He pointed again to the lights, aiming at a closer one, halfway between mine and his, although the pathway to it seemed much brighter as it connected to mine. “That’s her, Abby.”
“My . . . daughter’s Dreaming Heart?” My head rocked with the knowledge. But more important was the thin strand of silver connecting it to Ion’s Heart.
He nodded. “She belongs to you. For now. Eventually her Heart will break off on its own. Probably when she’s born. You’ll always have that connection with her, though.”
He found my hand with his, pressing something cold into it. “I believe this also belongs to you,” he said.
I glanced down to see the Key to the CrossRoads winking in my palm and my throat tightened.
“Someone should have it. Even if you don’t wear
it . . . it should belong to someone like you, Abby.” There was a hollowness to his voice, as though he wasn’t quite sure what he was admitting, but it didn’t matter.
“No,” I murmured, kissing him softly. “It belongs to us.”
Photograph © Robert Johnson
A marine biologist in a former life,
ALLISON PANG
spends her days in northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by an occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes. She loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists.
Follow her on Twitter
@Allison_Pang
, and visit her website at
www.heartofthedreaming.com
.
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Also by Allison Pang
A Brush of Darkness
A Sliver of Shadow
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Pocket Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Allison Pang
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Pocket Books paperback edition November 2012
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ISBN 978-1-4391-9836-0
ISBN 978-1-4391-9843-8 (eBook)
