Free The Flame of Wrath by Christene Knight

breathed.
                  Autumn gave an intent nod which unopened eyes clearly visualized.
                  “Since I was a girl,” Aurea began. “I have had these dreams. They haunt me.”  She struggled to describe what she had always felt compelled to keep hidden. “When I have them, it's so hard to tell what’s real from what isn't. Even now, I find myself wondering if you are real or if you are the dream.”
                  Autumn found herself lost in pools of blue.
                  “You are beautiful... so very beautiful just as the dream is beautiful.” Aurea placed her hand atop Autumn's tender hand. “But you terrify me... the way the dream terrifies me.”
                  “Why?” Autumn asked hoarsely.
                  Aurea awkwardly fought to sit up. Her movements were slow and inspired electric pain to course throughout her head. She found herself experiencing a bout of courage due to the fact that she suspected she might still be within the realm of dreams. “It's because of the way you see me, because of the way I see myself when I look at you. I think you know me. What's worse is that I pray for you to know me as no one ever has. In your smile, I see my sacred accomplishments and when you turn away, I know the reality of my most bitter failures.”
                  Weakly, the Queen slipped out of bed. She walked to the windows, staring up to the dreamy twilight sky. Her cheek came to rest against the cool surface of the arching windowpane. She huffed a laugh which spat defiantly into itself .
                  “Do you see what you have done to me, my Angel,” Aurea whispered as if accepting her defeat at Autumn's hands. “You’ve come as a swift end and cursed me to a world of hopeful longing.”
                  Autumn stared to the silhouette of her Queen. She took in the breathtaking elegance in her every line as it was haloed lovingly by a glisten of lavender gray and amaranth pink.
                  Aurea looked away from the sky. She peered over her shoulder to the woman gazing up at her with such tragedy around her. Was it sorrow or regret she envisioned so clearly inside those eyes? She felt her heart quicken as if to rush to its life's end. She knew those eyes. Her body slumped forward.
                  Bounding the distance between them, Autumn caught the flaxen-haired Queen in her arms.
                  Together, they sat tangled upon the chamber's floor. Their faces were agonizingly close. They were each too frightened to breathe or to move. As one, they wondered if it were possible to have one’s life so completely ensnared within the web of another.
                  Soon, Aurea’s body began to violently succumb to fever's touch. She shivered helplessly from it. As she struggled to memorize every line of the dark-haired woman's face, she saw her world fade to black.
    ********
                  “The stars----”
                  The words carried over from dream to reality in a desperate struggle to be remembered. Golden lashes parted to expose their clear blue to the afternoon light.
                  Her body was lovingly cradled within the softness of a plush bed. She felt the luxurious silk lightly veiling her body. Deeply, she drew in a breath. Her abdomen expanded but stopped beneath a weight. She frowned in fearful confusion.
                  Aurea lowered her hand to her stomach. Her hand fell directly into the softest silk she had ever felt. It wove possessively around her fingers as thick tresses of rich brown. Each wave sent one of equal might rippling throughout the Queen's being. Carefully, she pushed up, supporting her weight onto her elbows. She maneuvered until she could clearly see the woman sleeping contentedly atop her abdomen. The manner in which an arm had been draped