Page 150 of The Nightmare Bride
I hesitated. Time already ran short, but...I couldn’t abandon her like this.
“Hey.” I sat, my body denting the mattress while Amryssa’s merely floated atop it. “I’m sure your groom’ll be fine. He’s probably coming up the road as we speak.”
Or not. I hoped he was miles away. I hoped he died screaming.
“In which case I’ll have to marry him.” Amryssa’s voice quavered. “Tomorrow.”
“Well...yes.”
“Which frightens me, Harlowe. What husbands expect of their wives, it’s...” A shudder rippled through her, one I knew had nothing to do with the nightmare bearing down on us. “I find it difficult to think about. Much less desire.”
“I know.” I brushed a white tendril back from her brow. “Which is why I’d spare you, if I could. I’d marry Kyven myself, if it meant you wouldn’t have to.”
She managed a watery smile. “Would you really?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Then I could beyourkeymistress. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
I echoed her smile. Marrying the prince would be the exact opposite of nice, but itwouldget me close enough to slide my dagger between his ribs. Which I’d find a way to do, regardless. This bullshit arrangement Olivian had entered into on his daughter’s behalf would never see fruition.
But I couldn’t reassure Amryssa of that. She’d only try to stop me.
Precious seconds died one after the next. The nightmare rumbled, close enough now that its sinister energy leached in through the shutter-gaps. The candlelight took on a hissing quality.
“You have to go,” Amryssa pleaded. “Sound the alarm. If not for the prince’s sake, then for the townspeople’s.”
I sighed, not the least bit put out by risking hundreds of lives in order to caress her cheek one last time. The people of Oceansgate could look after themselves. Or perish, for all I cared, and take their dagger-sharp stares with them. Those, and the whispers ofwitch, witch, witch.
I really didn’t give a shit.
But Ididhave to get myself to safety, so I rose and kissed Amryssa’s forehead. “I’ll be back when it’s over. Once I can stand. All right?”
She nodded.
I made for the door. I would have just enough time to sound the bells at the house’s far end before scuttling back to my chamber, which neighbored this one. By now, I could chain myself in a minute flat.
“Harlowe?”
I paused, my hand on the knob. “Yes?”
“The storm, it...calls to me.” Amryssa closed her eyes, sealing herself into some private darkness. Her thin chest heaved under her thinner nightgown. “It tells me to go outside. To let it overtake me. Call me home.”
Outside, thunder boomed. The chamber flexed and contracted; Amryssa’s words seemed to stagger toward me from across a handful of miles.
Nausea threatened, but I willed it down.“That isn’t real, Am. Nothing that’s about to happen is. It’s just the nightmare, twisting your mind.Trickingyou.”
“Right,” she said faintly. “You’re...right. Of course.”
I hovered on the threshold, hating myself for doing this to her. I could have unlocked her restraints. Tossed them aside. Iwantedto. But anyone who wandered out into a nightmare would never do it twice. The storm would invade their mind, showing them imagined horrors, turning their darkest fears against them. They’d be driven to end that misery any way they could—whether by jumping from a tower window or clawing out their own heart.
Not the kind of thing anyone came back from.
No, my job was to keep Amryssa safe, so my hand rose to the dagger at my waist, seeking its reassuring hum of magic. If I concentrated, I could make out its whispered words.Protect, protect, protect.Guard her where she belongs.
I squeezed the dagger in acknowledgment. Iwouldprotect. After all, Amryssa had done the same for me, once. She’d saved my life when not a single soul had cared if I’d lived or died. She’d risked herself and asked nothing in return.
Outside, thunder cracked. The buzz in my blood reached a fever pitch, spilling over into a tight smile.
