Page 97 of The Nightmare Bride
“I love you,” I said, aiming my words into the gap between screams. What would Ky have said? Something profound, probably. “And I want you to know your friendship saved me. I didn’t deserve it, but you gave it anyway, and that means the world to me. So just...try to remember that. Even when this thing is beating down the doors inside your head.”
That must have meant something, because her next scream guttered in her throat. “I love you, too,” she gasped. “Always. But go, Harlowe. You have togo.”
The world wobbled and surged. Chittering insects spewed from beneath the bedskirt, transforming the floor of Amryssa’s bedroom into a heaving black sea. Outside, the nightmare roared, making the entire tower sway.
My insides swayed along with it, but I took Amryssa’s face in my hands. “Listen. You’re going to get through this. We both are.”
Pain rippled across her brow. “I don’t know if I can. Not this time. I want... Out. Ineedto go outside.”
My lungs pinched. I growled a denial and unsheathed my dagger, calling the magic I’d used a thousand times before.Help her. Carry her through this.
The knife flared and sizzled, snarling at me in a way it never had.Guard her where she belongs. GUARD HER WHERE SHE BELONGS.
My lip curled. All this time, that hadn’t meant what I’d thought it did. “I will, but she doesn’t belong in the swamp. She belongs right here.”
The dagger pushed at me, and I pushed back, in what amounted to an invisible clash of wills. Amryssa bucked against her restraints. The nightmare screamed. The shutters rattled in their frames, the slats groping toward us like fingers.
I gritted my teeth so hard my mouth flooded with the taste of metal. Ironclad. Ky had called me that once, and I believed it now,mademyself believe it. Zephyrine could fight all she wanted, but I’d bend her.
I’d break her, if I had to.
The dagger shrieked.GUARD HER WHERE SHE BELONGS.
A cry tore from my throat as I plunged the knife into Amryssa’s headboard. “You guard her, for fuck’s sake! You’re her mother!”
Whatever shred of Zephyrine lived inside capitulated. Ifeltit recoil like a kicked puppy. Then it circled back, more softly this time.Yes, it sighed.Help her. Guard her.
The dagger glowed violet. Skeins of magic unfurled and slid down the headboard, seeking Amryssa’s skin. The tendrils seeped into her, and within moments, her brow smoothed. The straining line of her throat softened. “Harlowe? It... What did you just do?”
“Kept you...safe...” I said, then threw out a steadying hand, because her coverlet had melted. Caustic goo adhered to my skirts, burning my skin wherever it touched. The room kaleidoscoped around me.
Panic flickered, but I pressed its spiky edges flat. I could last another minute. Iwould. After all, I’d just cowed a goddess, or a piece of one.
If I could do that, what else was I capable of?
“You have to go,” Amryssa whispered.
“I know.” I kissed her forehead, then scrambled off the bed. Black beetles swarmed my shoes, their tiny mandibles snapping, snapping, snapping.
“I’ll be back in the morning,” I gasped, and ran.
Dark thoughts chased me from the room.You’ll die here, and no one will care. Nothing will mark your passage from this world but a heap of picked-clean whiteness.
“Shut up,” I hissed as I locked Amryssa’s door and stumbled toward mine. The hallway rocked like a raging sea as blood welled from beneath the baseboards.
I ducked into my room and slammed the door. Ky awaited on my bed, wearing nothing but breeches. My chains and manacles were already assembled, needing only my wrists and ankles for completion.
His lips tilted. “Another few seconds, and I would’ve come for you.”
For a moment, I just stood there, buttressed by the sight of him. He’d ironed himself out since our confrontation in the swamp, and now confidence glowed off him, brighter than the myriad candles, more solid than the inhuman shapes scaling the walls.
Because those weren’t real.Hewas.
I was, too.
The moment I realized it, the nightmare’s illusions dulled. I took a tentative step, then another. True steadiness escaped me—my legs wobbled and my muscles squirmed atop my bones—but I made it to the bed and planted my hands atop Ky’s shoulders. And...goddess, he was so intensely solid. Like sun-warmed stone beneath my palms.
He peered up, wonder in his eyes. “You feel it.”
