Finally, he opens the pebble and sprinkles the dried and desiccated petals inside his rolling paper. He repeats the process with leaves gathered from nearby undergrowth and adds more herbs retrieved from his tin box. Olek rolls the paper carefully, twisting the ends with an artist’s grace and a scientist’s precision. The god-queen watches through half-mast eyes, enthralled by the curve of his Cupid’s bow and the soft pout of his lower lip as he brings the joint to his mouth.
He lights up. Embers bleed into crushed herbs, creeping up the paper, going up in smoke. He blows and the smell is everywhere, burning and burnt, and Titania’s almost certain there’s god-magic inside his cigarette. Her fingers tingle, and the place between her legs comes alive as the edges of her vision dissolve into light.
She gazes into Olek’s eyes, such alluring eyes framed by long, thick lashes that know too well the taste of tears.
There! A hint of light peeks out from behind the ring of his irises. That’s not good …
Titania stands. She would have fallen if not for the human’s steadying hand.
“You’re leaving already?” His words reverberate too long.
“For now. I … I have to get away.” Her head spins. Every atom in this body pulses with the thump-thump-thump of its heart. If there’s even a heart inside—who knows? Titania stumbles behind a fig tree, leaving the mortal to his smoke and strange compounds.
But the storm builds inside her, unabated by the distance between her and the cigarette. Discordant music rings in her ears, a chorus of life and death, of time compressed into quantum spaces, elongated and entwined and echoing in the void.
She leans against the tree and discovers it won’t take her weight.
She falls through it, weighing nothing at all.
The lush green garden is now awash with light. No—the garden is light, and soon there’s nothing but light as the physical Titania disintegrates in despair.
💖 Read the rest in Yet We Sleep, We Dream 💖
Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash
Yet We Sleep, We Dream by JL Peridot
Love triangles get bent out of shape when restless gods come out to play.
Relationships are complicated enough when only humans are involved — something the crew of the starship Athenia know plenty about. These children of a changing climate are no strangers to conflicts of the heart. And it seems there's a lot of conflict going on, even out in space.
When an alien dust finds its way on board, the veil between realms begins to fray. Old gods of a long dead planet resume their own romantic bickering while ancient magic wreaks havoc across the ship. Grudges resurface, friends turn to enemies, unrequited love turns to passion — or does it? It's kinda hard to tell with everyone at each other's throats.
Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; but wonder on, till truth make all things plain. Yet We Sleep, We Dream is a romantic space-fantasy inspired by Shakespeare's endearing hot mess, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
“I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.”
— Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream
🚀 Dream where old gods linger … 🚀
Genre(s): Science fiction romance, science fantasy romance, space fantasy, new adult, Australian romance, futuristic romance
Content advisory: Strong language. Drug use. On-page sexual encounters. References to harassment and infertility. Depictions of perilous situations. Depictions of marital disharmony. Awkward social situations. Technical language.
JL Peridot writes love letters to the future on devices from the past. Visit jlperidot.com for the full catalogue of her work.
1 comment:
Love the title, cover art, and tagline. This sounds like a great read, JL! :)
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