Chapter 112 Nightmare Begins
Darkness pressed against Lila's closed eyelids. She floated in that space between waking and sleeping, her body heavy with exhaustion.
Then the dream began.
She stood in a garden. Not the palace garden, but somewhere else. Somewhere she almost recognized. White roses bloomed everywhere, their scent cloying and too sweet.
"Hello, sister."
Lila spun around.
Celeste stood among the roses. She looked exactly like the portrait in the throne room: golden hair, green eyes, a smile that belonged on a queen. But something was wrong. Her edges were too sharp. Her smile too wide.
"Celeste?" Lila's voice echoed strangely.
"Did you miss me?" Celeste tilted her head. "I've been gone so long. Four years. Four years you've had to yourself."
"I don't understand."
"Don't you?" Celeste moved closer. Her feet didn't quite touch the ground. "You always wanted what was mine. My beauty. My position. My husband."
"No. That's not true."
"Liar." The word came out like a hiss. Celeste's eyes went black. Completely black. No whites. No iris. Just endless darkness. "You were always jealous. Always watching with your pathetic little heart breaking. Poor Lila. Poor unwanted Lila."
"Stop." Lila tried to back away but her feet wouldn't move.
"He never loved me, you know." Celeste's voice turned mocking. "He tried. Oh, how he tried. But every time he touched me, he thought of you. Every time he looked at me, he was searching for your face. It was always you. Always."
"That's not true. I don't even know him."
Celeste laughed. The sound was cruel and wrong, echoing off invisible walls. "You don't remember. How convenient. How perfectly, wonderfully convenient for everyone."
A shadow appeared behind Celeste. Tall. Broad-shouldered. The shape of a man but with no features. Just darkness in the shape of something human.
Lila's blood turned to ice.
"Do you know what he did to me?" Celeste's smile widened impossibly. "Do you know how I died?"
The shadow moved closer. It reached out with hands that weren't hands. Darkness shaped like fingers.
"He pushed me." Celeste's voice echoed. "He pushed me and I fell and I died. And you watched. You watched it happen and you did nothing."
"No. I don't remember. I didn't—"
"You watched." Celeste grabbed Lila's face with hands that were ice-cold. "You watched him kill me and you said nothing. You let them blame you. You let them punish you. Because deep down, you were glad I was gone. Weren't you? Weren't you glad?"
"No!"
The shadow's hands reached for Lila. She could feel them, cold and wrong, touching her shoulders. Her throat. Squeezing.
"He's coming for you next," Celeste whispered, her breath smelling like rot. "He knows you remember. He knows you saw. And he'll kill you too. Just like he killed me."
The hands tightened around Lila's throat. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. The shadow leaned close and she saw its face.
It had no face.
Just a void where features should be. But somehow, it was smiling.
Lila woke screaming.
Her voice tore through the small room. She thrashed against her blankets, still feeling those cold hands on her throat.
The door burst open. Maya rushed in, her hair loose, her nightdress flapping.
"Lila! Lila, it's okay. You're safe."
But Lila couldn't stop screaming. The nightmare clung to her, vivid and real. She could still smell the roses. Still see Celeste's black eyes. Still feel the shadow's hands.
Maya climbed onto the bed and pulled Lila into her arms. "Breathe. Just breathe. It was a dream. Just a dream."
Lila's screams turned to sobs. She buried her face in Maya's shoulder and shook violently. Her whole body convulsed with terror.
"He's going to kill me." The words tumbled out between sobs. "He killed Celeste and he's going to kill me too."
"Who? Who's going to kill you?"
"I don't know. I can't see his face. But he's there. In my dreams. He's always there."
Maya held her tighter. "No one's going to hurt you. I won't let them."
"You can't stop him. No one can stop him."
"Lila, listen to me." Maya pulled back, gripping Lila's shoulders. "It was a nightmare. That's all. Your mind playing tricks because you're exhausted and scared."
But Lila shook her head. It felt like more than a nightmare. It felt like memory trying to claw its way to the surface. Like truth hidden under layers of fog.
"Celeste said I watched her die. She said I saw who pushed her."
Maya went still. "What?"
"In the dream. She said I was there. That I watched someone kill her." Lila's hands trembled. "What if it's true? What if I saw something and I can't remember?"
"Then we'll help you remember." Maya's voice turned fierce. "But not tonight. Tonight, you need to rest."
"I can't. Every time I close my eyes, I see him. The shadow man. He's waiting for me."
Maya shifted, laying down and pulling Lila with her. "Then I'll stay. If the nightmares come back, I'll wake you. But you need sleep, Lila. Your body's breaking."
Lila wanted to argue. But exhaustion crashed over her like a wave. Her eyes burned. Her head throbbed.
She curled against Maya's warmth and let herself drift.
The nightmares returned. Three more times that night. Each time, Maya woke her before the shadow man's hands could close around her throat.
Each time, Celeste's laughter echoed in her ears.
He's coming for you. He knows you remember.
When dawn finally broke, Lila lay awake staring at the ceiling. Her face was swollen from crying. Her throat raw from screaming.
Maya had fallen asleep beside her, one arm still protectively around Lila's shoulders.
Through the window, Lila could see the training yard. Warriors were already gathering. Keal stood at the center, arms crossed, waiting.
Adrian appeared on the balcony above, his white shirt bright against the gray morning. Even from this distance, Lila could feel his gaze find her window.
She closed her eyes and prayed for strength she didn't have.
Today, training would resume. Today, she'd face Adrian's cold fury again. Today, she'd pretend the nightmares meant nothing.
But somewhere in the back of her mind, Celeste's words echoed:
'You watched him kill me.'
And Lila was terrified they might be true.