Page 28 of Of Nightmares & Fire (Elusive Umbra #1)

Chapter twenty-four

Astraea

There was a time in my life that my sleep wasn’t plagued by nightmares.

A time so long forgotten, I feel as though it never really was.

I know I am in a nightmare now because the flashing in my periphery is always the first sign.

I wish I understood the meaning, but the more I try to see, the more pain comes when I wake up.

The galloping thrash of my body matches the pounding rhythm of my heart before the lasso of fiery pain and the staunching darkness evades.

Every time is the same, but recently that’s not been the case.

I’m far more aware these days. A little more in control of my movements.

I turn my head this time to face where I know I saw the flashing movement to the side, and what my eyes focus on is both confusing and beautiful.

Thousands of trees, so dense that you cannot see beyond their trunks.

The bough is so dense that it blots out all light from above.

I’ve never seen anything like it, other than in books kept in the library.

Eathian has nothing of the sort. Our trees are few and far between; the sun here is much too harsh to grow anything beyond craggy, straw-like grasses and cacti that sprout here and there.

Even the palace conservatory is limited to what it can grow.

The longer I stare, the darker things get.

Like night is eating up all of the light around me, there is no sun baking my skin from above.

“Ssssssennnnkaaaaaa,” my attention is jarred by the deep hissing voice.

. I don’t know what it means, but it feels familiar somehow.

The deep, bone-aching chill runs up my spine at the sound of it, and far off in the darkness, the rumbling laugh penetrates the air around me.

The feeling of being chased makes my heart thunder in my chest both in the dream and where I lay in a paralyzed sort of sleep.

A scream rips from my throat as I physically recoil from the clawing hand that reaches for me through the darkness and sinks its shadowy talons into the flesh at my back. My body arches, tears bursting from my eyes and streaming down my face as I cry out in terror laced with pain.

“Astraea?! Shhh. It’s okay. It’s okay! It’s Cole.

I’m here.” Wracking sobs shake my shoulders as Colette rocks me like a baby in the center of my bed.

The room is still dark, even more so as summer is starting to creep over Eathian, making the nights, especially within the castle, darker and much warmer.

There is no more need for a fire lighting the hearth.

“I—I’m okay.” I manage to say on broken breaths.

Each word is a little hard to push out over my frantic crying, but I continue.

“It was d-different this t-time, C-Cole. I f-felt someone; something was there with me. I still feel the pain.” Cole shuffles on the bed and reaches for my candelabra on the bedside table.

She strikes a match and lights the wick, illuminating her face in a halo of golden light.

“Do you want to talk about it this time?” She asks hesitantly as she comes to sit next to me but then gasps.

She pulls me urgently at the shoulder so my body twists away from her, and she can see my back.

Pain slices through me with the motion. “Great Divine! You’re bleeding, Astraea!

A lot.” Achingly, I try to turn my head to look over my shoulder at what she is seeing, but I don’t have to see it to know what she's talking about.

I can still feel the pain from the attack in my nightmare.

“I don’t understand.” I say, as a deep frown pulls down on Colette’s delicate features. This can’t be.

“We need to get you to see a healer.” She shakes her head with concern.

“You were here, Cole. No one else was in this room.” She stares blankly at me for a moment. Bewilderment builds with the thoughts clearly racing through her mind, and then she understands what I'm saying.

“I didn’t do this! You can’t possibly think I did?!” She exclaims. I have to scrunch my eyes up as her loud voice slices through my brain. The pain from my back only becomes a nuisance to the pain that is throbbing to life behind my eyes.

“No, I know it wasn’t you.” I shake my head and try to breathe in a long breath before continuing, “We can't go to a healer. On my vanity. The balm.” I manage to choke out the words without breaking them to pieces.

She rushes over, knocking down perfumes and tonics I had sitting out for my skin and hair.

They go crashing to the ground, some of them shattering on the marble floor.

She is just as panicked as I am, but instead of my stunned silence—she is frantic.

She finally finds the tin in the back of the hidden drawer between the top of the vanity and the mirror hanging on the wall.

Hurrying across the room to my bathing chamber, she comes back with a bowl and cloth. She doesn’t have her normal cleaning solution, so she has settled with water from the basin. It's not warm, but the coolness is welcomed on my inflamed and bleeding skin as she presses it to my back.

“Oh, Astraea, this is bad.” She doesn’t even try to pacify me into thinking it's better than it seems. “I don’t know if the balm—”

“It helped your wounds.” I bite out, and she snaps her mouth shut with a nod.

She continues cleaning the wounds as best she can.

Silently, then with two fingers, she places the balm around the edges of the jagged cuts created by the shadowy nightmare claws.

The warming sensation immediately brings a sense of relief.

I take a deep breath as she continues to wipe it over the wounds.

I don’t know what I would do without the aid of this balm.

Would my own father string me up for heresy if I showed up with injuries that happened in a nightmare?

Or would he blame Colette? I know the answer as soon as I think about it.

He will not know of this. I won't let any more harm come to her.

“It's working.” She says, the relief in her eyes mirroring my own.

But it's short-lived as a knock comes on my door.

Our eyes snap to each other and then to the mess of bloody cloth and red-tinged bowl of water.

She scurries out of the bed and rushes to remove all the evidence as I push myself to stand and grab the bathrobe that is lying over my chaise.

“Princess Astraea?” The knock sounds again just as Colette whips the door open and smiles at the guard on the other side.

She opens the door wide enough that he can see me too, and his eyes narrow on both of us.

I don’t know this man's name, but I know that he must be expendable to be on my guard.

My father is just waiting for me to mess up.

I'm sure once I do, it will be his head next decorating our gates.

A pang of sorrow drops heavy in my stomach as I think of it.

He could be a son, a father, or a husband, and because of me, he could already be a dead man walking.

Stepping closer, I look into his yellow hazel eyes.

He looks kind. Too kind to be in the king’s guard…

then my eyes track down, and I notice his armor, or rather, lack thereof.

“Who are you?” I ask, and he coughs, taken aback by my abrupt questioning.

“My name is Viltarin,” his head bows low, “of Diemos.” He finishes, and my eyes widen as they search the hall for my father’s men, who are nowhere to be found. My lips part as I take a step back.

“Why are you here, Viltarin?” I ask warily.

“Your guards,” he clears his throat, “excuse my lack of a better term, are— shit .” He says, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Colette rolling her lips between her teeth to hold in a laugh.

She's been saying the same thing for years.

With the exception of a few, those are now a head shorter and no longer around, though.

“I was tasked to keep an eye on them, and if ever they left you unattended, I was to watch guard. You were never meant to know, but I heard the commotion, and well, I needed to make sure that you were okay.” He looks me down and then peers over my shoulder.

Cole steps into his view then, and he blinks.

“It was only a nightmare. I’m sorry to blow your cover over something so inconsequential. Please send my regards to whichever brother it was who sent you…” I eye him for a moment longer, and I start to close the door when it's clear he isn't going to tell me which brother it was.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I hope your rest is unbothered for the remainder of the morning.” With vexation, I let the door snap closed between us.

“Do you think he saw anything?” Cole asks, and I shake my head. I don’t think he did, but something tells me that even if he did, he wouldn’t go back to my father with the information.

Morning has come too soon, but regardless of the little sleep I got, my father’s show must go on.

Colette has been once again tasked to stay at my side.

Thankfully, my father restored her as my help without question.

She is exhausted too after our eventful early morning.

I see it in the dark shadows under her eyes, but she helped me dress and get ready early in the morning, just hours after the nightmare, right as the sun began cresting the horizon.

“Do you know what to expect?” She asks quietly as we both approach the door to the main dining room.

“The worst?” I muse, though the humor is lost with everything that has happened as of late. “Just whatever you do, keep your head down. I don’t want any attention brought to you,” I tell her.

“You need to heed your own warning.” She says, pursing her lips.