Page 10 of The Silent Mountain (Under the Werewolf Crown #2)

ten

Nightmares

*FAVIAN*

I open my eyes to the most peculiar sight ever. A beautiful redhead is lying next to me, and while the sun hasn't risen yet, it’s starting to get lighter outside, indicating we have approached the early morning hours.

I haven’t slept that long since I was woken up from my coma. And now, I didn’t only sleep for an hour or two, I slept through the whole night, which is a new milestone for me. I get up quietly, so as not to wake up Alana, and go to my bathroom to freshen up a bit. The beast inside me is very content, and so is Favia. Despite being her own entity, we are also one and bound to each other. The bond I feel with Alana, she also feels. Maybe not as strong as I feel it, but their fates are also bound to each other.

Once done, I silently move through the bedroom and walk out onto the balcony to enjoy the cold air and the first rays of the sun coming through, dipping the land into a dark shade of orange.

It’s magical.

I’m engrossed in the view in front of me when I hear some noises coming from my bedroom. It seems like someone is groaning and muttering something. As if on cue, Favia alerts me. That’s Alana’s voice!

Is someone attacking her? I should have felt someone entering my room!

I don’t wait for Favia to answer and, instead, hurry back into my room, the door to the balcony falling shut behind me. I halt in shock when I see Alana in my bed, tossing around as if she is in great pain. I ball my hands into fists, fighting all my instincts to just go rushing there. My beast growls inside me, but Favia is on my side, backing my decision to wait for a moment.

Keep it together, she encourages me. You can only help her if you know what’s haunting her.

I can only help her when I know what’s going on. Until now, I only saw her when she was sleepwalking, but now I finally see how her nightmares begin. My whole body tenses up when I watch her toss around in the bed, gasping for air. She mumbles something like she is haunted, begging for someone or something to spare her family… and me. She is scared for my life.

Her body convulses, before it looks like it’s pressed into the mattress again, almost as if something possesses her.

That’s enough! I don’t need to see more; I just need to wake her up now. “Alana,” I call out, finally allowing my beastly side to come forward and to have his instincts take over. I hurry to her, wrapping my arms around her to stop her from hurting herself or from lunging upwards and running, possibly hurting someone on the run.

She would never forgive herself if she hurt someone accidentally.

She gasps for air like she is drowning. I make sure to hug her against my chest. Whatever it was haunting her seems to disappear, and her body stops trembling and convulsing, as she calms down, only shivering slightly.

“Alana,” I whisper.

She blinks her eyes open, beautiful green eyes looking at me. Then, she throws her arms around me and buries her head in my chest. “You are well, you are alright.”

“Of course I am alright,” I say, gently brushing her back and hugging her. “It was just a nightmare,” I reassure her.

Though the word ‘just’ is clearly an understatement. That wasn’t just a nightmare, and there is nothing I can say to reassure her or me. “If you think I will ever let you sleep on your own again, you are wrong,” I mutter.

She smacks my back. “It was my idea to begin with. Don’t take credit for it.”

“You are right,” I say quietly. “You had this perfect idea. I’m just going to expand it for a longer time.”

I can’t believe how important she has become to me. Alana and I started as reluctant mates, with a mutual understanding and respect for each other that grew into friendship. And now, I just can’t let her go anymore.

*ALANA*

Favian has taken most of the day off to make sure we research my nightmares. He calls for Cassie to join us after we’ve had breakfast–a very lavish breakfast. I have the feeling he wants to make sure I get as much energy as possible and forget about the scare I had earlier.

Then, like it’s the most normal thing in the world, I move my stuff into Favian’s chambers. Not all of it, though. I like to have my own space, as well, a place for me to retreat to, and Favian very much respects that.

“Alright,” Cassie frowns while she studies the room. “So, it happened here as well.”

Stefan has accompanied Cassie to Favian’s chambers, worried by what Favian has told him about my nightmare. Actually, his retelling shocked me; I didn’t know my reaction to the nightmare was that violent.

“Something is off,” Favian says.

“Could it be that I am cursed?” I ask.

“I don’t get these vibes from you,” Cassie muses.

“But then, you aren’t the world’s best witch, are you? Can you be certain the princess isn’t cursed?” Stefan asks.

Cassie turns red with embarrassment at his question, and I do feel sorry for her. Clearly, Stefan could have voiced his words more kindly, but he isn’t wrong either. I’ve noticed that he is very protective of his king and doesn’t like him or anyone close to him to be endangered.

“It almost looked like something was possessing Alana,” Favian says. “But I can’t feel another presence around her.”

What do you think, Ros?

No, there isn’t anything inside us, not that I know of, Ros says, but she is worried also. When you have these nightmares, it’s as if I’m blocked out, Alana.

“Ros says it feels like I’m blocking her out in these moments,” I explain to Favian.

“That’s not very reassuring,” he mutters

“I could try something,” Cassie offers. “I can make a mixture of herbs and incense, and burn it here with Alana in the room. We would know if she is cursed then. That way, we can at least exclude the curse.”

“Better than nothing,” Favian says.

Cassie looks relieved that he doesn’t shut down her idea immediately and dashes away, while Stefan, Favian and I stay back in the bedroom. Stefan inspects the room with a frown. “I don’t get any weird vibes here either, but that’s no guarantee there’s nothing lingering in the air.”

“But if it’s in the room, wouldn’t it affect Favian too?” I ask.

“Not if it’s something specifically against wolves,” Stefan says.

“I hadn’t thought about that possibility yet,” Favian mutters, worry gracing his face as he looks at me.

“What if it’s just really a shock reaction?” I offer, feeling anxious about it myself. If it’s just in my head, it means I have deeper problems than expected.

Favian looks at me thoughtfully for a while. “Of course, that’s an option,” he says. “But it only started one or two weeks ago.”

“The king is right,” Stefan agrees. “If it were a traumatic response to something, then it would have started earlier.” He pauses. “You didn’t touch the birds, did you? After all, we don't know yet if they are carrying an illness.”

“I never touched them.”

We linger around in silence, the tension around us almost sizzling in the air. The two men are clearly nervous, probably for different reasons. Favian looks worried whenever he looks at me, while Stefan looks worried when his eyes catch Favian. His priority is protecting the king.

Fortunately, we don’t need to wait long because Cassie returns, with Barbara trailing behind her. She helps with carrying a few bowls. “When the king mentioned Princess Alana’s nightmares a couple of days ago, I started preparing this mixture of herbs and spices,” Cassie explains, while she spreads several plates and bowls around the room before having Barbara put the biggest one in the middle of it.

“What exactly is it going to do?” Stefan asks.

“If the princess was cursed, this will reveal it,” Cassie explains. “I likewise did this with the birds.”

“She is right,” Barbara backs her up. “We did that earlier today. I was actually about to report to you, my king.”

Favian looks at her with a frown. “What was the outcome?”

“As expected, something cursed the birds,” she says. “But we don’t know what kind of curse it is, or how they were cursed.”

“Can’t your spell tell that?” Favian asks Cassie.

Cassie looks flustered. “A different spell could, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Mine could only tell that the birds carry a curse.”

Favian and Stefan exchange a glance, the latter sighing slightly. Meanwhile, Cassie places candles inside every bowl, lighting them as she does before she approaches the last candle in the biggest bowl. Taking it into her hands, she starts murmuring something and walking around.

“Well, at least it’s better than nothing,” Stefan mutters.

“Maybe,” Favian says. “But if it is a curse that’s haunting Alana, I want results fast. We need to know what kind of curse it is. And I would also prefer results in terms of the cursed birds.”

Cassie instantly looks nervous at his words. She really can’t work well under pressure, which is not a particularly good trait if you work as the palace witch. I know how the witch in the werewolf kingdom handles her work, and how she can do anything at any time.

“Is there anything we need to do?” Favian asks Cassie.

She looks almost relieved that he asks her something about the current task, and hurries to explain to him that she just wants us to stand around. She moves the bowl in her hand, almost too energetically. “You best stay here, King Favian,” she exclaims. “And, Sir Stefan can stay on the other side, and Babs, you go to the door leading to the other room. And Princess Alana-“ She turns around excitedly.

“Careful,” Stefan exclaims.

But it’s too late. The clumsy witch accidentally bumps into the bed, wavering slightly to regain her balance, only to knock one of the bowls aside. “Oh no!” she squeals.

“The bowl in your hand,” Favian warns. “The candle-“

“Oh fuck,” Stefan curses, rushing forward to grasp the bowl, but in an instinctive gesture Cassie rips her hands up, the candle moving towards the blanket that’s been dropped over the bedrest.

“It’s catching fire,” Barbara exclaims.

Favian acts the fastest, grabbing the blanket before anything else can catch fire. Stefan and Barbara help him, while I open the balcony door, letting fresh air inside, as the room is full of smoke now. It’s then that I see something moving. I halt immediately, almost thinking I’m imagining things, but the shadow clearly moves across the room as if trying to escape the smoke.

Please don’t let me lose my mind! This has to be real.

“What was that!?” Barbara yells.

Favian has seen it too, handing the blanket to Stefan while his eyes dart around the room. “No way,” he hisses, his eyes turning to slits as his dragon powers surge forward. His power suddenly radiates the room as a rumbling growl followed by a bone-freezing screech—not coming from any of us—echoes through the room.

“Don’t move anyone,” he commands, successfully stopping all of us in our actions.

Favian scans the room, his eyebrows furrow, and, for the first time since I met him, he looks terrifying. “Lend me your power, Favia,” he huffs before his eyes glow in a chilly golden color. It all happens so fast. Before I can even process what’s going on, he dashes towards the balcony door and reaches out his hand. He grabs something invisible, pulling it back.

He tosses the invisible creature back into the room, then kicks the balcony door shut before tugging the blanket out of Stefan’s hands. The fire has stopped, but it’s still fuming.

Favian ignores the throat-aching fumes and waves the blanket towards the room, increasing the fumes. “Reveal yourself,” Favian and Favia demand, their voices merging.

I blink through the fog and smoke, my eyes slowly getting used to it. Through the settling smoke, I can see a creature, small and hairy and with a gnome’s face, being pressed into the corner of the room, growling and hissing.

“Unbelievable,” Cassie gapes.

I step closer, my eyes pinned to the creature. “What is this?” I mutter.