Chapter 133 The Night mare deepens
Chapter 128:
The Nightmare Deepens
Sleep came reluctantly that night. Lila lay in her narrow bed, her mind replaying the balcony conversation with Adrian. His confession. His touch. The way he'd looked at her like she was both salvation and damnation.
"You're everything."
The words echoed in her skull as exhaustion finally pulled her under. But sleep offered no peace.
The dream began as it always did. The garden with white roses. Too many roses. Their scent cloying, suffocating, wrong.
Celeste stood among them. Her golden hair shone impossibly bright. Her smile was sharp as broken glass.
"Hello, sister."
Lila tried to back away but her feet were rooted to the ground. "This isn't real. You're not real."
"Aren't I?" Celeste tilted her head, the movement too fluid, too wrong. "I'm as real as your guilt. As real as your desire for what was mine. As real as the truth you're so desperate to uncover."
"I never wanted to hurt you."
"No. You just wanted to take everything from me." Celeste's eyes went black. Empty voids where green irises should be. "My husband. My throne. My life. You stood in that cathedral and felt the bond snap into place and you were glad. Admit it. You were glad he was yours, even if you couldn't have him."
"That's not true!"
"Liar." Celeste moved closer, her feet not quite touching the ground. "You wished I would disappear. Wished something would remove me from your path. And then someone granted your wish."
The shadow appeared behind Celeste. The faceless man. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Made of darkness and malice.
Lila's terror spiked, visceral and overwhelming. She knew this shadow. Knew it in her bones, in her blood, in the parts of her mind that memory couldn't touch.
"Do you remember now?" Celeste's voice turned mocking. "Do you remember watching? Do you remember standing there while he pushed me?"
The shadow's hands reached forward. Long fingers made of smoke and nightmare. They touched Celeste's shoulders.
"No!" Lila screamed. "Don't!"
But the hands pushed. Celeste fell backward, her body arcing through impossible space. Her scream echoed, high and terrible. Then she hit stone with a sound that made Lila's stomach heave.
Blood pooled. Dark and spreading. Celeste's eyes stared up at nothing, her neck twisted at an angle that meant death.
The shadow turned to Lila. It had no face but she felt its attention like physical pressure. It reached for her with those terrible hands.
"You saw," it whispered in a voice like grinding bones. "You saw everything. And when you remember, when you know, I'll have to kill you too."
The hands closed around her throat. Ice-cold. Crushing. Lila couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't—
She woke with a shriek that tore her throat raw.
The door burst open. Maya rushed in, still in her nightdress, eyes wild with fear. "Lila! What happened?"
Lila couldn't answer. She sobbed, her entire body shaking, hands pressed to her throat where phantom fingers had squeezed. The dream clung to her, vivid and terrible.
"He killed her." The words came out broken. "I saw him kill her. I watched him push Celeste and I couldn't stop it."
Maya climbed onto the bed, pulling Lila into her arms. "It was a dream. Just a nightmare."
"No." Lila shook her head violently. "It was memory. It has to be. The fear is too real. Too specific. I know that shadow. I know him even though I can't see his face."
"Who is he? Can you describe anything?"
Lila tried to grasp details but they slipped away like smoke. "Tall. Strong. His voice is familiar but wrong. And his hands..." She shuddered. "His hands are stained. With blood. With chemicals. With death."
"We need to tell someone. Keal. Commander Marcus. His Majesty."
"Tell them what? That I have nightmares about a faceless man?" Lila wiped her face roughly. "They already know someone killed Celeste. They're investigating Gerrit. My nightmares don't add anything useful."
"They confirm what Keal suspected. That you witnessed the murder. That your memories were suppressed to keep you from identifying the killer." Maya's voice turned fierce. "Lila, this means you're in danger. If the killer knows you're starting to remember..."
"Then they'll try to silence me permanently." Lila finished the thought, her voice hollow. "I know. But what am I supposed to do? Stop remembering? Hide until they solve this without me?"
"Yes. Exactly that." Maya gripped her shoulders. "Let Keal and Marcus handle the investigation. Stay safe. Stay alive. Don't give this shadow man another chance to reach you."
But Lila shook her head. "If I hide, if I stop pushing toward the truth, the memories might never come back. I'll be stuck in this fog forever, with fragments that torture me but never complete." She met Maya's eyes. "I'd rather know the truth and face the danger than live half-alive in ignorance."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"Probably." Lila managed a weak smile. "But it's how I feel."
Maya sighed, recognizing the stubborn set of Lila's jaw. "Then at least promise me you'll be careful. No wandering alone. No accepting anything from anyone we don't trust completely. And you tell someone every time you remember something new."
"I promise."
Maya didn't leave. She lay down beside Lila, her presence a comfort against the lingering terror of the nightmare. They stayed like that until dawn, neither sleeping, both watching the shadows and wondering if one would detach and reach for them with cold, deadly hands.
In his chambers, Adrian stood at the window, unable to sleep. Something felt wrong. The bond pulled at him, urgent and distressed. Lila was in pain. Terrified. And he wasn't there to protect her.
He wanted to go to her. Wanted to break down her door and demand she tell him what frightened her. Wanted to hold her until the terror passed.
But he'd already shown too much weakness tonight on the balcony. Already admitted too much. Going to her now would only make things worse.
So he stayed at his window, hands clenched on the sill, feeling her fear through the bond and hating himself for not acting on it.
Dawn couldn't come fast enough for any of them.