Chapter 81 The waking
Time passed and Lila felt like she floated in misted air, uncertain of her surroundings or even if she was still alive. Then the face came. Her dead sister's face appeared through the fog, smiling and laughing at her.
Lila realized she stood in the middle of a forest. Tree branches suddenly began growing from the ground around her feet, wrapping around her ankles like living chains. Her feet felt stuck to the earth and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't move. The branches continued growing, climbing up her legs, wrapping tighter around her body with every passing second.
She begged her sister for help. "Celeste, please help me!"
But all Celeste did was stand there and laugh like a maniac. The sound echoed through the forest, cruel and mocking. Lila's terror grew with each peal of laughter.
She called again, louder this time, her voice breaking into a scream. "Please help me!"
The earth beneath her feet began to crack open. The branches pulled her downward. Just as the ground was about to swallow her completely, Lila screamed and her eyes snapped open.
Three women stood in her room, backed away from the bed in shock. Lila's head was covered in beads of sweat. Her eyes were wide with lingering terror as she jolted upright, gasping for air.
The fear from her dream followed her into waking reality. Her chest heaved as she tried to steady her breathing, tried to convince herself she was safe now.
Then she looked down and realized she was completely naked.
"What are you doing to me?" Her voice came out sharp with panic.
She scrambled out of the bed. The women moved backward in fear, uncertain how to respond.
Lila looked around frantically and saw the room filled with strange items. Series of ornaments hung from the ceiling. Herbal oils sat in bowls around the bed. Candles burned in patterns she didn't understand. It looked like some kind of ritual had been performed while she slept.
She stepped back and screamed. "What are you doing to me!"
Her eyes filled with tears that she couldn't explain. She didn't understand why she was suddenly crying or why her voice sounded so desperate, but she still felt like she was sinking into the earth from her dream.
"Calm down, Lila. We're only cleansing you." One of the women spoke gently, trying to soothe her. "This will help ease your pain."
"My pain?" Lila asked, completely lost and confused. What were these people talking about?
Then one of the women began to laugh. It started soft but grew louder. "No wonder we were instructed to humble your spirit. We must bury that pride of yours. It must go underground where it belongs."
Lila couldn't fully understand the woman's words, but one phrase increased her panic. Just like in her dream where the earth had been swallowing her while Celeste laughed and refused to help.
But the woman continued laughing, finding Lila's dramatic reaction funny and entertaining.
Lila wasn't in the right state of mind. She suddenly began seeing Celeste's face overlaid on the faces of these women. They were all laughing at her, pointing at her, mocking her nakedness and fear.
"No! No!" Lila moved backward until she hit the wall. "You can't bury me. No!"
She looked frantically around the room, searching for escape.
The women suddenly realized this wasn't funny at all. The young woman seemed to be in some kind of trauma-induced state, caught between dreaming and waking. She wasn't pretending or being dramatic. Something was genuinely wrong.
Lila still felt trapped in her nightmare. She was still begging for help that wouldn't come. She looked desperately around until she spotted the door. Without thinking, she ran for it, crying and repeating the word "no" over and over.
The women stood shocked for a moment before chasing after her with blankets and robes. They realized too late that Lila truly believed she was still dreaming, still searching desperately for a way out of the earth that was swallowing her.
Cold air hit Lila's bare skin as she stepped into the corridor. In her confused mind, she saw herself wearing a white sleeping dress, the one she usually wore to bed. But in actual reality, Lila was completely naked.
The cold struck through to her bones. Her face went pale from the temperature shock. Yet she kept running and crying and looking for someone to save her from the earth and the branches and Celeste's mocking laughter. The path looked misty to her even though it was actually bright daylight, just bitterly cold due to winter.
Servants screamed in shock at seeing a grown woman running naked through the palace halls. Some covered their eyes. Others ran past her in terror. A few thought she'd gone mad and rushed to find blankets or cloaks.
But no one could catch her or calm her down. The three women ran behind Lila trying desperately to prevent her from reaching the public areas. It was an abomination for an unmarried woman to be seen naked. Yet Lila's bare feet slapped against the stone-cold floor as she ran, holding herself against the intense cold but not fully understanding that she wore nothing.
She continued running from the women who chased after her until she collided hard with a solid figure coming around a corner.
Her body hit so hard that they both fell to the ground.
Looking up in shock at who might be running so wildly through the palace, Keal saw Lila. The cursed woman. Completely naked and devastatingly beautiful despite her obvious distress. Her eyes held so much sadness and terror. Her face was pale from cold. Her breath came out in visible puffs that showed just how freezing she was.
He could sense her intense fear. It rolled off her in waves so strong that he understood immediately she believed she was dying or being killed.
He quickly held her shoulders to keep her from running again. He removed his long coat and wrapped it around her body in one smooth motion. Lila had run all the way to the main lobby of the palace, far from the women's ward where she should have been confined.
Lila was shocked into momentary stillness when she saw beautiful brown eyes staring at her with concern, felt strong hands wrapping a thick warm coat around her shivering body. Sudden warmth flooded through her. She stilled and calmed slightly, though her face and hands still shook with cold-induced tremors.