Chapter 11

Cadella's POV

Hands moved down over my stomach before spreading my thighs. The man between them groaned in approval as he thrust two fingers into me and sucked hard on my sensitive clit.

“Come for me, little mouse.” He demanded.

My breath caught in my throat as my body tensed as it found its release. An almost familiar deep chuckle sounded from between my legs.

“Good girl.” He praised as he pressed a gentle kiss to my thigh.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groaned as I opened my eyes and shut off my alarm. Kicking out of my damp and tangled sheets I sat up.

Another sex dream.

My mind played over it. The same man that I had dreamed of every night since I’d been here played the star, again. His voice and touch was now almost as familiar as his demands and name for me.

Little mouse.

I was torn between hating the term of endearment and loving it. No one had ever given me a pet name before. It made me feel cherished and loved.

Then again, I could count the number of relationships I’d had one hand.

Little mouse.

The name kept resurfacing in my mind. Glancing at the clock, I noted I had half an hour before I was supposed to meet Vasile. Pushing myself off the bed I grabbed my clothes that I had set out last night and moved to the bathroom, starting the shower.

I’d gone out with Vasile almost every day this last week. I only had today and tomorrow before school would start. I was just as excited for that as I was to visit the exhibit that Vasile was taking me to today—Lost Civilizations.

A small area of the town that been preserved from the original settlers of Celtradian. I didn’t know much of the original people that settled here, and I was hoping that Vasile would have some of the fantastic stories to tell about them.

He had been nothing but a gentleman since we started to go out and explore. I was never allowed to pay, and he was strict about me waiting inside the hotel for him—almost as strict as he was about making sure he walked on the outside of the sidewalk or in front of me if it was too crowded to walk side by side. Anytime I’d tried to open my own door or reach for my own money, he’d stopped me with a raised eyebrow and tell me “not to be sneaky, soricel”.

I froze under the warm water.

Soricel.

The first time he had called me that it felt so familiar because it was. Soricel was the native language for mouse. He’d been calling me mouse.

It had to be a coincidence that my mystery man who starred in my dreams was calling me little mouse. There was no way it was connected. It had to be my mind pulling on things from my day memories and working them into the dream.

I ran my hands over my face, pushing the water from my eyes. Great, now my dreams were bringing in parts of Vasile. That’s the last thing I needed. I was already attracted enough to the younger professor.

A part of me had hoped that I would have him as a professor this year, while another part of me was relieved when he told me he didn’t teach at Celtradian.  I wouldn’t have him as a professor, which also meant that I wouldn’t see him as regularly has I had been. Or that he was off limits.

A pain shot through my heart. What if this was the last time, I saw him? I had quickly fallen in love with his tales of the area. The way he spoke about them, it was like he lived through them. He was so knowledgeable about the area, but I wouldn’t expect less from a local.

Turning off the water I quickly finished getting ready. Pleased with my reflection, I headed down to the lobby.

“Where are you off to today, Miss Cadella?” The doorman smiled when he saw me.

“The Lost Civilization Exhibit. Then I’ll be back to pack. I want to have the weekend to settle in before classes start.” I smile at him.

“Well, I’ll miss seeing your smiling face every day. But in case I don’t see you this afternoon, I wish you the best of luck with your studies.” He smiled and opened the door revealing a waiting, Vasile.

“Thank you.” I smiled as I stepped out into the warm sun.

“Good morning, Cadella. Are you ready?” He asked as he offered me his arm and a warm smile.

“I am.” I said, unable to keep the skip from my step as we headed off toward a quieter part of the town.

It wasn’t a long walk, although spending time with Vasile always tended to fly by faster than it should. The streets were quiet, the town only starting to wake up. He turned us into what appeared to be a large courtyard surrounded by towering stone walls.

Welcome to Lost Civilizations was carved into a dark piece of wood by the gates. A ticket booth sat in the middle, housing two attendants, one for each side of the gate.

“Welcome back, Mr. Ardelean. Have a nice visit.” The female attendant smiled kindly at Vasile as she handed him two tickets.

A sour taste settled in my mouth as he smiled back. Vasile smiled grew as he faced me and handed me my ticket. The taste faded a little as the smile reached his eyes as he looked at me.

Jealous. She had me jealous-something I didn’t think I’d ever been over a man.

We explored the exhibit, Vasile giving small details that weren’t on the plaques. I frowned as I realized that he almost seemed preoccupied today. His stories and lore were more generic, almost like he didn’t really care for this exhibit.

“You know, this may be one of my favorite exhibits in the area.” Vasile said as we started to wander deeper into the space that was larger than it appeared from the outside.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the shocked expression that tried to take over my face. Usually when Vasile appreciated an exhibit, he had numerous stories and details. Today he’d been much more reserved, offering a small detail here or there.

“Why is that?” I asked as he started to steer us toward the last part of the exhibit.

“They are often accompanied by stories of betrayal. Friends turning against friend, brother against brother, even lover against lover.” My breath caught in my chest at how Vasile almost snarled the last pairing.

Had a lover once turned on him?

He turned to face me, meeting my gaze. Pain and anger mixed in his expression for a fleeting moment before he schooled it with his normal easy grin.

Maybe I had only imagined seeing them.

I considered his statement. The historian side of me knew that betrayals were the catalyst of many different conflicts. Those conflicts created the world we lived in today, putting us all in our place where we are today.

The romantic side of me wanted to dress that up and make the couples into star crossed lovers, everyone a Romeo and Juliet. But that wasn’t the case. Choices brought us together or kept us apart-choices like betrayals.

“If there were no betrayals, how would we have met?” The question falls from my lips before I can stop it.

Mentally, I wince. My romantic side was showing. I didn’t even know if Vasile liked me that way. He’d been nothing but a gentleman since we met, and I wanted to think that part of that was because he was starting to feel for me as I did him. But nothing about his actions said he was anything besides old fashioned-in the best way, and polite.

Unable to look away from him I watched as something shifted in his eyes. Like something had connected together in his mind. He took a step back, quickly dropping his face as an expression that looked something close to surprise mixed with anger or pain passed over his face. It happened so quickly I knew I must have been mistaken. Clearing his throat he met my gaze again.

“It’s getting late. You move into the dorms today, correct?” He asked offering me a kind smile and his arm like nothing had happened.

“Yes, I do.” I answer softly, trying to keep the hurt from my voice.

We walked back in silence, saying goodbye as he watched as usual as I entered the hotel. Only this time instead waiting for me to wave one last time, he left before the door closed behind me.

A pain shot through my chest.

Had I asked the wrong question? Did it somehow offend him? I didn’t see how it was an offensive question. In all the times we’d hung out he’d never seemed like he was in a rush to leave until today. Something about the question made him pull away.

Had I ruined something before it had a chance to truly begin?

Moving to my room, I pushed thoughts of Vasile and his sudden change in attitude aside. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in my spiraling thoughts. Today was moving day and I needed to focus on that. I could lose myself to the what ifs of a nonexistent relationship later.