Chapter 82\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
44%\u65e5\u00a0<\/p>\n
I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same nightmare that had been chasing me for months was back with a vengeance. It had disappeared for a while, giving me hope that maybe I was finally healing, but tonight it returned in full force.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat up and reached for the glass of water on my nightstand, bringing it to my lips for a sip. That\u2019s when I heard it \u2013 a scream filled with terror and pain that made my blood turn to ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew that voice. Knew it belonged to Athena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The glass slipped from my hands and shattered on the floor, but I barely noticed. She was having another nightmare, and I\u2019d seen this coming from the moment we\u2019d left the beach tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d wanted us both to sleep in her room. Over the past weeks, I\u2019d noticed she slept peacefully when I was nearby, like my presence somehow kept the\u00a0<\/p>\n
bad dreams at bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she\u2019d insisted on sleeping alone, claiming she was fine and didn\u2019t need anyone watching over her. I couldn\u2019t argue without making her think I saw her as fragile, so I\u2019d reluctantly agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I\u2019d known this would happen. After weeks of relative peace, seeing Daxon again would drag all her demons back to the surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I understood nightmares better than most people because they\u2019d been my constant companions since Jess died, which was why I\u2019d stopped sleeping\u00a0<\/p>\n
properly months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her lifeless body on our dining room floor So I\u2019d made sleep feel like a betrayal, told myself I didn\u2019t deserve rest\u00a0<\/p>\n
when I hadn\u2019t been there to protect my mate and unborn child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first time I\u2019d slept without nightmares was when I\u2019d held Athena during one of her episodes weeks ago. Something about having her in my arms had quieted the voices in my head, had made the darkness feel less overwhelming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I only found peace when she was close enough to touch. That was the real reason I\u2019d insisted on staying in her room all those nights \u2013 part protection,\u00a0<\/p>\n
part selfishness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She needed safety, and I needed the calm that only came when I could feel her breathing beside me. We both needed the calm actually.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ran toward her room faster than I\u2019d ever moved, taking the stairs three at ime. When I reached her door, I could hear her thrashing around inside, caught in whatever horror her mind was replaying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I burst through the door without knocking and found her tangled in sheets,cking and fighting an invisible enemy. Her face was twisted with fear and rage, sweat beading on her forehead as she battled demons only she could see.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not scared of you, Daxon!\u2018 she shouted into the darkness. \u2018You\u2019re nothin but a coward!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the circumstances, I felt a surge of pride. Even in her nightmares, sl was fighting back instead of cowering. The strength she\u2019d found was real,\u00a0<\/p>\n
even when she was unconscious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAth, I called softly, moving to her bedside and reaching out to shake her getly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she was completely lost in whatever nightmare held her captive. Her moments were getting more violent, and I was afraid she might hurt herself\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:36 Tue, Jan 6 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 82\u00a0<\/p>\n
if I couldn\u2019t wake her up soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u0f66 \u0f56 44 \u0f24\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t control me anymore!\u201d she yelled, her fist swinging at empty air. I\u2019m not that girl anymore!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her strength was surprising, more than I remembered her having. While I could easily handle her physically, I knew I needed to break through to her consciousness before she exhausted herself fighting shadows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tried calling her name louder, tried holding her shoulders to still her movements, tried everything I could think of to pull her back to reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nothing worked. She remained trapped in that place where past trauma lived and breathed and held you prisoner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Desperate to help her, I did the only thing I could think of that might shock her system back to awareness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I covered her mouth with mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 82 Chapter 82\u00a0 Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0 44%\u65e5\u00a0 I woke up drenched in sweat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}