Page 76 of Staff of Nightfall

Oh.A deep heaviness settled into his chest. He gently shook her shoulder. “Wake up. Come on, wake up.”

“Leave him alone,” Adelaide mumbled. Her terror tickled his mind as he touched the bare skin of her arms.

Regulus sighed and closed his eyes, trying not to panic. Instead, his panic increased when her nightmare leapt into his mind. Figures stood outlined in eerie green light as he looked out of Adelaide’s eyes.

A rope bound Adelaide’s hands together, the palms against each other, and disappeared into the darkness. The sorcerer stood before her, both hands gripping the Staff of Nightfall. Carrick stood next to him, one hand on Alfred’s shoulder, the other on Tamina’s shoulder. Alfred and Tamina knelt with their wrists chained.

“I made you a promise, mage.” The sorcerer extended the staff toward Alfred.

“No! It’s not their fault! You can’t do this!” Adelaide lunged toward her parents, but something caught on her neck and yanked her backward. “You’re not king yet.” Desperation rang in her voice as she stared at the tip of the staff hovering over her father’s chest. “You said after you were king!”

“Iamking.”

Adelaide’s eyes flicked up to the sorcerer. To the crown on his head that hadn’t been there a moment before. “No. No!”

Regulus forced his eyes open and the nightmare vanished. “Adelaide! You have to wake up.” He shook her, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Wake. Up!”

Her eyes opened wide, the whites stark in the darkness. She grabbed his arms and her fingers dug through his sleeves as she looked around.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe. Your father and mother are safe. The sorcerer and Carrick aren’t here.”

Her face relaxed and she leaned into him. He stroked her back, her chest heaving.

“Wha goin’ on?” Alfred mumbled.

“Nightmare,” Regulus said. “You can go back to sleep.”

Alfred mumbled something, and a few moments later, his breathing deepened again.

“Wait.” Adelaide pulled back to look into his face. “My parents?” She bit her lip. “Did you...see my dream?”

“I closed my eyes while touching you. I didn’t mean to,” he added, hoping she wasn’t offended. “It just happened.” She didn’t respond. “Do you want to talk?”

She shook her head.

“Okay.” He wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her heart still racing. “If you change your mind, I’m here.” He held her while her breathing and heartrate slowed and wished he could do something more.

“Kirven...” Adelaide’s voice was barely a whisper. “He promised to torture my family in front of me until they went mad from the pain. And you. But not until after he’s king, so I thought we could stop him. But... I don’t know if we can.”

His fingers brushed against her bare arm. The fear and hopelessness he sensed seemed so unlike the woman who just a couple weeks ago looked at him and said she would help free him. Who said if the sorcerer went back on his word, they would find another way together. She had been through so much, and it made his heart feel squeezed and hung out to dry.

“I’m not giving up.” Regulus rubbed her back. “You have endured so much. Don’t give up now.”

She nestled closer to his chest. “It’s just...hard.”

“I know.”Etiros knows just how much.

Adelaide reached under his right sleeve and her fingers rubbed the scars from his attempts to remove the sorcerer’s mark. “How did you stay strong and keep hope for two years?”

“I didn’t.” He sighed. “Dresden wouldn’t let me give up. He...”

Honesty. He needed to be honest. He had seen all Adelaide’s fears, all her pain. He couldn’t hide his from her. Maybe it would help, somehow, to know she wasn’t alone.

“Shortly after I took the oath, I refused to rob a cathedral. The sorcerer...if he’d maintained control a few seconds longer, I would have murdered Dresden. Harold barely escaped, too.” Regulus gulped against the lump lodged in his throat. “I went to the cathedral after that. Killed an innocent monk. While I was gone, Dresden somehow convinced Harold to stay. Later, Dresden found me after I tried to cut out the mark, and when that failed repeatedly, tried...” His mouth felt dry. “I tried...”

His throat closed as the locked-away memory came crashing back, along with the recollection of his pain. His wretched hopelessness, fear, and self-loathing.

“Please, Drez.”

---