Page 50 of The Nightmare Queen

The room goes still, awkward tensions rising at her brazenness. I lay my hand on her shoulder leaning down to whisper in her ear. “I think they get it,Nightmare.”

She straightens at the nickname peering up at me through her lashes. “Well, I’m just saying. I mean honestly the plans are laughable and—” I grab her chin between my thumb and forefinger, raising her gaze to mine.

“Stop telling us what we’ve done wrong and tell us what to do next.” Her face is full of contradictory feelings. A war between irritation and compliance. She opens her mouth to speak when one of my infantrymen bursts in the room.

“THEY’RE—” He takes a sharp breath as his hands wave frantically behind him, “THE FRONT LINES.” An explosion sounds off close by and everyone in the room ducks down out of instinct. I wrap my free arm around her pulling her to the ground with me. “I fucking told you we should’ve already retaliated.” She snaps.

The two of us are a tangled mess on the ground for a moment before she’s wiggling out of my grip and barking orders at everyone. She’s out of the tent before anyone else is, leaving the group to scramble after her and into the throng of chaos. Once outside, Eveera looses her Wield freely. Her tendrils are leaking from her palms, flooding the ground where she steps.

Based on her Wield’s residual path she’s headed straight for the fields with no horse and only a few weapons on her. I don’t need to tell Eveera’s men what to do, they’ve already taken off ahead of me.

“Would it kill you to wait for backup?”I snap, the words are thrown into her mind as Bennett passes my horse off to me.

“Wasn’t a part of my itinerary for the day.”She retorts.

My horse follows the river of black magic leading towards the explosions. The field looks like it’s been bruised. The purple of Baelor’s military is a stark contrast against the gold and black of our men and women. I grip the hilt of my sword freeing it from the sheath at my hip, my horse and I taking off at a breakneck speed, my blade at the ready.Once down in the battle the wails of the injured, the squelching of a blade slicing the skin, and the clank of metal on metal ring throughout my ears.THUD!I land a kick in the face of a soldier aiming to gut my horse. My steed swivels back to trample over him the before I run back towards the thick of battle.

Pain laces up my arm almost costing me my sword, “Fuck!”I look down to find where I’ve been struck only to see the rune engraved into my flesh glowing a bright and angry red.Eveera.My eyes don’t have the luxury to scan for her long before my sword is meeting flesh again. What’s left of my kills continues to meet the hooves of my horse and as the pain intensifies I lose my grip on my Wield. The panic to find her has superseded the need to control it and soon the familiar symphony of those choking on air echoes out. Bodies drop to the ground one by one around me, fighting for their breath.

The little wraith is still evading my sight so instead I try reaching for her, mind to mind. “Eveera?”

A few seconds pass and her breathy voice filters in, “LITTLE”Pant. “BUSY”Another. “HERE!”Relief at hearing her response gives me enough reprieve to pull back my Wield.Unnatural screams erupt from the left of me so I take off in the direction of them. The closer I get the easier it is for me to see that there are a few soldiers lucky enough to be a little more resistant to her magic. Their swords are poised at her back. From my right, a distant flash of blonde rushes towards her. The larger of the two Guards closes in on her first she spins on her heel at the last second her concentration snapping on her Wield as she narrowly blocks his blow. I can’t make this damn horse go any faster. Ezra is at her back fighting off the second Guard. The Guard takes a slow swipe at Ezra’s knees, I watch in horror as he jumps back colliding into Eveera. The next moments seem to go by almost in slow motion. Ezra’s body knocks heroff her balance and in that same moment the Guard she’s fighting slices his sword across her abdomen. “NO!” I shout. Against my will an image of her mother’s gutted body flashes through my mind.

“How poetic.”Her voice echoes quietly. I scramble off the back of my horse, running to her. Ezra having finally slain his opponent notices her bleeding and torn body in a heap on the ground. Rage clouds both of our faces at the Guard who gutted her looks down proudly. A whistle whips through the air followed by a,THWWUUMMP!Her assailant’s body crumples next to hers. From the corner of my eye I see Bennett breathing heavily and lowering his crossbow.

I hold a vice-like grip on my Wield as I watch Ezra fall to his knees next to her and drape his hands over her body. His wails echo as he presses down on her stomach trying to keep her together.

“GET OFF OF HER!” I shout, dropping down opposite of him. With a shove I tear him away from Eveera and gather her into my arms. Those golden eyes are already glassing over and her breaths are getting shallower. My foot lands a blow into Ezra’s side, keeping him down on the ground. My Wield is volatile underneath my skin, desperate to be allowed out as I carefully put her across my horse’s back, doing my best to hold her stomach closed. “Come on, Nightmare.” I mutter over her. “You’ve got to live, so you can tell me how much you hate me. You’ve got to live long enough to do that, to say that, okay?” I don’t know why I say it, if it’s more for myself or for her. But I repeat the words over and over again as we power back to camp. Ishouldbe concerned with the casualties, Ishouldbe concerned with what this will mean for further attacks, I should be concerned with anythingbutEveera. But right now, looking at her splayed open - nothing could be of more importance than her.

“WE NEED A DAMN HEALER MAGE!” I carry her limp body into the nearest tent. We’re both soaked through with her blood. My eyes are trained on the rise and fall of her chest where her breaths are still too shallow.“Come on, Nightmare! DO NOT CLOSE THOSE EYES.”I scream through the seal, I’d shake her if her organs wouldn’t spill out at the motion.

Mages rush around us. They pull at my hands, but my grip only tightens on her body not wanting to release her. They settle on shoving me in the direction of their work table for me to lay her on. Relenting, I step back from her and let them work. My teeth saws my bottom lip between them. The commotion around me sounding like nothing more than white noise. I stare at her face - her eyes are closed now. I don’t know when they shut, if her body gave out or if the mages closed them.

“Oh, E…” Axel whispers, I glance back at him in enough time to see his face fall. His hand outstretched towards her but he doesn’t move from the entrance of the tent, no doubt to avoid getting in the way of the only people who could fix her.

I dip my head, turning towards him as Armond joins us in the tent. “Where is he?” I growl out.

“He feels bad enough, princeling.” Armond snarls back at me.

“I assure you, he doesn’t.” Axel’s eyes are glassy as he looks at his queen cracking something in my chest. The looks he has on his face is…that look…is pure devotion. Which is why gives up the answer for Ezra’s whereabouts.

“Sitting with the brothers outside. Berating himself.” His gaze never leaves her torn body. I peel out of the tent so fast I almost knockover Will who is standing outside. He opens his mouth to speak but thinks better of it quickly as he follows my gaze towards my target.

Ezra - is sitting out with Maxwell and Orem just like Axel said. His head is in his hands, blood dripping from the blonde strands. “Get up.” I bark. Both the brothers stand up and move in front of their commander who doesn’t budge from his spot. I ram the hilt of my sword into Orem’s shoulder pushing him out of my way. “I said. Get. Up.”

He reluctantly looks at me. His stare is red and his cheeks have tear tracks down them.Pathetic,I think.This is the man she had a relationship with?My stomach twists at the thought, anger bubbling in my chest.

His words come out in a low hiss. “Excuse me,princeling?”

“Did I fucking stutter, Wake? I said— get up.” When he doesn’t move quickly enough after the third command, I grab him by the nape of his neck and drag him along with me. I drag him all the way into the tent where the mages are still frantically working. “Look. At. Her.” My hold on his neck yanks his head upwards but he fights to keep his eyes cast down.The coward.

My hand moves up from his nape and tangles into his hair. With a swift tug I yank back hard, jerking his chin up. “I SAID LOOK AT HER!” His eyes finally snap up. “Youare the reason she is like this.” The struggle to get away from me intensifies. I loosen my handle on him enough that he spins himself into my chest putting his knife against my throat. “ME?! I’M THE REASON? She was on that fucking field because of her stupid damn agreement with you!Youare the reason,princeling.”

I dig my throat into his blade, “she knows how to handle herself, and you hate it. So you treat her like a petulant child. In fact, shewashandling herself andyou”I stab my finger into his breastplate, “you cut her concentration.”

“She was open and vulnerable!”He shouts back at me.

I shake my head, “you were supposed to have her back! Not collide into it! Gods, do you know how to fucking fight spine to spine? Should’ve left that to me we do a great job at it.” I taunt, his face contorting into rage. “You’re callous mistake left her impaled on someone’s blade. You want to blame me for her being here? Fine, but you only have yourself to blame for her being on that table.” I’m spitting into his face at this point.

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