Chapter 62 Nightmares and Ghosts
The palace settled into an uneasy quiet under the confinement. Streets that usually hummed with life lay empty. Markets stood abandoned. Families huddled in their homes, doors barred, windows shuttered against an enemy they couldn't see.
Adrian stood at his study window, watching the last of the sun disappear beyond the horizon. His bandaged arm throbbed with each heartbeat, a constant reminder of how close he'd come to infection. How close his kingdom still was to complete collapse.
The words Thorne had spoken earlier circled in his mind like carrion birds. “The records mention a blood price. A sacrifice required to lift the curse.“
What if the sacrifice truly required Lila?
The thought made his wolf howl with rage. Made every instinct scream in protest. But what if Thorne was right? What if keeping Lila meant watching thousands die? What if the only way to save his kingdom was to give up the one thing that made him want to rule it?
Through the blocked bond, he heard it. Faint but unmistakable. The whimper of Lila's wolf. She was crying three floors above him, separated by stone and duty and impossible choices. Her pain reached him even through the walls he'd built between them.
Adrian's hands clenched on the windowsill. His claws emerged, scoring marks in the wood. He wanted to go to her. Needed to hold her, to feel her alive and safe in his arms. The mate bond pulled at him constantly, demanding he climb those stairs, break down her door, claim what was his.
But what if she was the curse? What if his claiming her had awakened this plague? What if every moment they spent together brought more death to his people?
The thoughts were poison. Worse than any plague. They infected his mind, twisted his judgment, made him question everything the Moon Goddess had given him.
"Your Majesty?" A servant appeared at the door, her voice trembling. "You asked to be informed when the tea was ready."
Adrian turned. "Bring it. All of it."
The servant's eyes widened. "All five preparations, Your Majesty? But the herbalist said even one would be enough to…"
"All of it." Adrian's voice carried an edge that made the girl flinch. "Now."
She fled. Returned minutes later with a tray holding five cups, each filled with dark liquid that smelled of valerian root and poppy and things Adrian didn't want to identify. The strongest sleeping draughts the palace healers could brew.
He drank them one after another. The taste was bitter, chalky, vile. His throat burned. His stomach churned in protest. But he kept drinking until all five cups were empty.
Sleeping was the only way to put Lila off his mind. The only way to stop himself from running to her. The only way to resist the temptation that might destroy them both.
The servant watched with frightened eyes. "Your Majesty, that much tea, it's dangerous. You might not wake…"
"Leave." Adrian's vision was already blurring at the edges. "Tell the guards no one enters this room. No matter what they hear."
She fled. Adrian made it to his bed before the darkness took him. He collapsed onto the mattress, still fully clothed, his bandaged arm throbbing. The last thing he saw before unconsciousness claimed him was Lila's face. Copper-red hair. Green eyes. His mate.
His curse.
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The dream started peacefully. Adrian found himself on horseback in the royal forest, the one where he'd hunted countless times as a boy. Morning mist curled between the trees. His horse stamped beneath him, breath steaming in the cold air. He wore his hunting leathers, sword at his hip, bow across his back.
Everything felt real. Too real. The leather reins in his hands. The smell of pine and damp earth. The weight of the weapons he carried.
Then he heard it. Laughter. Light and musical, echoing through the mist-shrouded trees.
Celeste stepped out from behind an oak. She wore the green riding dress she'd died in. The one they'd buried her in. Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her face held none of the bitterness that had marked her final years. She looked young again. Happy. The way she'd looked on their wedding day before everything went wrong.
"Adrian." Her voice was exactly as he remembered. "Come hunt with me. Like we used to."
She turned and ran into the forest. Adrian's horse followed without him commanding it. Branches whipped past. The mist grew thicker. He could barely see Celeste's green dress flashing between the trees.
Then he saw movement. A deer, perhaps. Something quick and copper-colored in the underbrush. His hunter's instincts took over. He reached for his bow, nocked an arrow, drew back the string. The target moved again. He tracked it. Released.
The arrow flew true.
A scream split the air.
The mist cleared. Adrian's heart stopped. The figure with an arrow through her chest wasn't a deer. It was Lila. She stood twenty paces away, copper-red hair falling around her face, green eyes wide with shock and pain. Blood bloomed across her dress, spreading like a dark flower.
"No!" Adrian threw himself off his horse. Ran to her. "Lila! No, no, no. I didn't know. I didn't see."
He caught her as she fell. Her blood was hot on his hands. It soaked through her dress, his clothes, pooling on the forest floor. Her eyes found his face. She tried to speak but only blood came out.
"Stay with me." Adrian's hands pressed against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Trying to undo what he'd done. "Please. Don't leave me. I didn't mean.."
Her face changed.
Between one heartbeat and the next, Lila's features shifted. Her copper hair turned golden blonde. Her face lengthened, grew sharper. Her green eyes took on that familiar cold edge.
It was Celeste he was holding. Celeste's blood on his hands. Celeste dying in his arms.
"You killed me." Her voice was a whisper. "And now you'll kill her too. That's what you do, Adrian. You destroy everyone you claim to love."
Her hands reached up. Grabbed his wrists. Her grip was iron despite the fatal wound in her chest. Her nails dug into his skin like claws.
"Let go!" Adrian tried to pull away but her hold only tightened. "Celeste, please. You're dead. You're already dead."
"And whose fault is that?" Her face was inches from his now. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. "You wanted me gone. Wanted to be free to claim her. The Moon Goddess heard your prayers, didn't she? Answered them by breaking my neck."
"I never wanted you dead!" The words tore from Adrian's throat. "I never…"
"Liar!" Celeste's scream echoed through the forest. The trees shook. Birds erupted from branches, cawing like demons. "You wished me dead every day of our marriage. Every time you looked at her. Every time you felt the bond pulling you away from your vows."
Her hands were crushing his wrists now. Adrian could feel bones grinding together. He threw his head back and screamed.