Page 57 of Of Nightmares & Fire (Elusive Umbra #1)

“Very well, my dark prince. Bring the girl here. Together we will take down her father and restore magick to what it was. We will rid her of her burden.” She polishes her fingernails with her robe. “When will you arrive with my long-awaited prize?”

“Two days after the Shula Morana.” I answer.

“Good. Four days' time. I will be ready to accept my new guest.” She says, her voice carrying a new lithe to her tone, and I nod.

I turn to leave, but she calls out, halting my exit.

“Kyros?” When I turn around, she is gliding across the expanse of the room, and she stops just in front of me.

Her hand slides up my chest and cups my cheek, guiding me to bend toward her.

“My queen?” I ask, my breath puffing out between us.

“Do be ready to take your rightful place as King.” She says with a saccharine smile on her lips. A warning and a reminder. The scent of roses lingers in the air as she turns away, silently sashaying back toward the chase. My jaw clenches tight, and I shut the door with a quick snap.

The portal disappears behind me with a crackle, leaving the edge of the mountain in silence.

The tarn below is like a black mirror of the dark, starless sky.

It's the one place I know I can come and not worry about anything or worry about everything.

The clouds seem as heavy as my thoughts.

Everything about the conversation with Queen Phaedra has dread wrapping around my spine.

She said it best: s omething feels different about you.

I am different.

I feel it too.

I can’t go back to Aithne right now. I don’t want to face what I know is there waiting for me.

I need to have a conversation with my brother, and I need to make a backup plan in case the original plan needs to change.

Seeing the queen of Diemos’ reaction was less than settling.

She has been looking for the relic for this long.

I thought knowing the magick was imbued into a person rather than an object would make her think twice about using it, but I saw the flash in her eyes.

The way that she lit up knowing that perhaps this is better than she imagined.

She will not only get the key that makes her the holder of magick, but she will also have something to hold over Connard.

Even so, I’m not sure it’s his daughter's well-being that he will care about.

Something about all of this feels off. Why would the magick be tied to a person…

What I saw in Astraea's nightmare... I need to kn ow for sure. There is so much unknown that is ahead of us, but one thing I know for certain. Astraea is meant to be mine. The moment I saw her, I think I knew who she was. It’s only taken this long to accept it.

I just wonder if she ever will, especially if she ever knows all that I have hidden from her—everything I still hide.

Sitting with my back pressed against the mountain, I look up just as the clouds give me a peek at the sliver of the silver moon.

I turn my hand over in my lap, conjuring a small plume of sandy shadow magick.

It whirls and writhes like a storm confined to the space in my hand.

I’ve never done this before, but I need to know what I am up against. I need to know who else is after her.

It’s late, and she was drunk when I left.

Surely she is fast asleep. If I’m right, I will be able to step into her dreams. Even if I am not with her.

I tilt my head back, letting it rest on the rocky surface behind me.

I allow my every thought to be consumed by Astraea.

The deep umbra of her hair, the scorpion grass flower coloring of her eyes, and her warm and sweet scent—then I unleash the magick in my palm.

Urging it for the first time to take me into sleep's embrace.

I feel my body slump as soon as the magick rolls over me.

A heaviness weighs me down only for a moment before I am weightless.

I am floating through nothingness, my soul flying through an endless chasm of darkness, but like a moth to the flame, I sense her.

Her fire burns bright like a beacon, drawing me into the consuming heat.

I don't know how I ever denied it before.

The feeling of slipping through her subconscious is the same as if I were sitting in the same room with her. I let myself in through the light that encapsulates her essence .

Her mind is dark, and as I enter with my shadows, the darkness only deepens.

When the darkness becomes heated, I hear a thundering beat.

Perhaps her pulse is rising with the oncoming nightmare.

It evolves when bright flashes fill the dark.

Then the vision becomes clearer. I am watching as an outsider looking in.

A girl who couldn’t be much older than five is held tightly in a saddle.

The man who holds her is draped in black that flows out behind him like webs of spider silk, and the white flashes are not flashes at all but white bark trees that line the dark gravel road.

The dream morphs, and Astraea takes the place of the little girl.

The man who held her no longer there. She rides frantically, the pounding hoofbeats matching an erratic heart.

I narrow my eyes and try to send a calmness to her through our connection.

After a moment she seems to float with relief.

She turns her head, looking right at me.

For a moment, I believe she sees me the way I do her.

Everything around us dissipates, and I wait to see what she does.

Come on, Shula. See me.

Her brows drop as she stares into the shadows, but the sound that slices through the darkness between us has her eyes wide with fear. The word hissed and echoing around us.

“Seennnnkkaaa!” My blood freezes, and along with it, my shadows.

I am powerless as I watch the dark claws reach out to her.

They curl around her arm. The same sharp claws that reached for me, piercing my chest with their deadly point.

Her eyes close tightly as she fights off the fear of what grips her while I internally scream for her. See me. Release me !

I close my eyes and pull my magick as hard as I can into me. I let it create a sandstorm within my body's confines. I let it pulse and writhe before I push it forward. Astraea accepts it instantly. Her shoulders roll back as she is filled with more strength.

“What do you want?” She asks. Her voice echoes through the dreamscape like smoke on the wind.

The answering hiss makes my hackles rise.

I grit my teeth waiting for the strike. If she is attacked, I can only hope that the magick I shared will be enough to protect her, because I'm not sure I will be able to like this. I’ve never cast myself into someone's nightmares, and I have no idea what the limitations are.

Feel me. I’m here with you. You have protection. You have strength.

Fight!

Her eyes snap open just as a shred of the moon peers beyond clouds of darkness.

I swallow, feeling the threat of my teeth cracking as I fight whatever power is holding me hostage in the shadows.

Perhaps this is something that Astraea has to face on her own.

She looks into the face of her nightmare, and while I see fear in her eyes, her spine straightens.

My muscles tense and pulse as I continue my fight to reach her without fail. It’s seconds, minutes, and hours of torment while time seems to stop as they stare into each other's eyes. When he lifts his blade-like hand to wrap those sharp claws around her throat, I soundlessly scream for her.

Heat.

Fire .

It engulfs me, burning like a raging inferno. It connects me to her. I feel no pain.

“Seeeennnnkkkkaaaa.” The voice fades and echoes in the distance, and as soon as he is gone, my shadows erupt. They wrap Astraea and pull her to me. I pull so hard we go hurling back, and when we hit the ground, the fire burns white hot. A lightning bolt through our souls.

My eyes jerk open. I am alone in Diemos, looking out over the tarn I have come to so many times before. Everything is the same, but what just happened… Changes everything.