Chapter 18 #4
“Tomorrow,” I agree, though part of me wants to pull him into my room and forget about supernatural training and nightmare kings and everything else that threatens our fragile new beginning.
I reach up, my hand cupping his perfect right cheek. “Please,” I whisper.
He closes his eyes, and I see him draw in a long, deep breath. For a moment, I’m certain he’s going to shut me down again. Instead, he nods toward the door. “Inside.”
I hesitate only a second, then unlock the door and usher him in, and since standing in the little entrance alcove is beyond awkward, I plunk myself down on the bed, clutching my pillow just so I have something to do with my hands.
A moment later, Chase sits, too, the mattress dipping under his weight, and I’m suddenly, acutely aware of the geometry — him on my bed, in my room, the door closed, the fairy lights casting soft shadows across his jaw.
If he shifted six inches to the left, his thigh would touch mine.
I’m aware of those six inches the way you’re aware of a lit match near your skin.
Not dangerous. Not yet. But warm. And getting warmer.
I hug the pillow tigher.
“We’re connected,” Chase says, and I know he’s not talking about us, but about him and Adric, the Nightmare King.
“How?”
He drags his hand through his hair, making it stand on end in a way I’m finding inappropriately sexy for the moment. “You could say we’re brothers.”
I frown. “Could say?”
“He shrugs. It’s the closest thing you’d understand. In truth, we were the Guardian—one being whose job was to hold up the barriers between realms and keep them from collapsing. An eternity of guarding those all-important walls. An endless job of holding back a dam that wants to burst.”
“An eternity,” I repeat. “You’re not exaggerating.”
“Well, since the universe still exists and I’m no longer a Guardian, I’m exaggerating a bit. But millennia upon millennia. More time than a human mind can conceive.”
“Oh. Wow. Okay.”
His mouth twists, and he reaches for my hand, his thumb brushing my skin as he continues to speak.
“A thankless but necessary task. But after countless ages, Adric got tired of it. Thought we were too important to spend forever as a cosmic janitor. I had the opposite view. As I saw it, no job was more important than keeping the realms from collapsing upon one another. That would bring chaos. And after chaos would come…well, nothing.”
I lick my lips. “Well, we’re here, so the nothing result didn’t happen. What did?”
He touches his cheek where the scar is in dreams. “He used the Guardian’s blade—an ancient weapon we carried to fight off those who would attempt to breach the barrier—and he cut us apart himself.”
I try to picture it, but I’m pretty sure I’m failing. “You were like conjoined twins?”
He shakes his head. “No, but if that helps you understand, you can picture it like that. In fact, we were a spectral being, formless and yet formed. Only the Guardian Blade and our own innate magic as the Guardian could have performed the split.”
I nod. “Okay. That makes sense. Sort of.” I wince a little. “You were spectral, you said. So it didn’t hurt?”
“The pain was greater than you can possibly imagine. It took thousands upon thousands of earth years to fade. Even now, I still feel the sting in my brother’s presence.” He meets my eyes. “And you have seen the scar.”
I draw in a breath, suddenly understanding why both their faces are scarred. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something.”
“You do,” he says, and I hear the heat in his soft voice. “You soothe so much of my pain.”
“Chase, I—”
He presses a finger to my lips, then continues. “You do,” he repeats.
I nod, then kiss his fingertip. “What happened after he cut you apart?” I ask. “I mean, the barriers are still up—weak, you said—but still up. Yet you’re not there, and he’s not there. Is there a new Guardian?”
“No,” he says.
“Then what happened?” I’m picturing the silver-eyed king and his brother Chase on a fluffy cloud at a medieval-style wall with a huge gaping maw in it. It’s not what happened, of course, but I figure it’s the best metaphor my human mind can grasp.
“At first, I tried to do the job myself, but that wasn’t possible.
Together, we were the Guardian. Apart, we are not.
Now neither of us can do what the Guardian did.
As for Adric, he was banished by the Emperor’s last breath to the Nightmare Realm, destined to exist only within the confines of the castle and its grounds.
He can’t even dreamwalk. When you’ve seen him, it’s because he’s summoned you to him. ”
“He can just do that?”
Chase hesitates, then meets my eyes. “No. Only if the subject is willing.”
I look down. “Oh.”
Chase uses a finger to lift my chin. “He is magnetic. Enticing. Hell, even I feel his pull sometimes. But you cannot trust him. He is determined to bring down the barriers.”
With a sigh, moves to look out the window. “My brother is a fool. And he’s dangerous.”
“You said the barriers are weakening. Does that mean they’re going to fall anyway?”
He turns to face me, his expression grave. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen. Many species would survive, but the Realm of the Real…” He trails off with a shake of his head. “The mortal world would be utterly decimated.”
My mouth goes dry. “What can you do?”
“Very little without Adric’s help. There are other ways to reinforce the barriers, but they require constant work.
Constant vigilance. I’ve trained many a Dreamwalker to help with this task.
Meanwhile, the energy that holds the barriers in place is weakening, and more and more creatures are slipping through the cracks.
That’s bad enough, but unless a way is found to reinforce them—to replace the fading energy—the barriers will fall. ”
“Just like the Oneiroi expect. You said unless a way is found,” I repeat, feeling suddenly cold. “Does that mean no one knows how?”
“The greatest minds in every realm—including a few rare physicists in this realm who understand the true nature of our universe—are searching for an answer.”
“But?”
“So far, we can only hope and try to slow the damage. And in the meantime, my most important role is to hunt the things that slip through the cracks.”
“And Adric? What am I to him?” I glance down, realizing I’m spinning the ring on my finger. I give it a tug, but it’s still not coming off. “This whole Bride thing. I don’t really get it.”
From his expression, I can tell this isn’t a subject he wants to talk about.
“I need to know,” I say gently.
He drags his fingers through his hair, then nods.
“From Adric’s point of view, the barriers coming down would be ideal.
The Nightmare Realm thrives on chaos, so he has put no effort into helping shore up the barriers.
He wants them down. And that’s why he wants you.
That and because you’re the only one who can free him. ”
“Free him?”
“Adric can’t travel between realms. He’s bound to his castle and his grounds.”
“I know.”
“ Once you are betrothed to him, he will be free.”
I take an involuntary step back. “Um, okay. Why?”
“Part of Adric’s punishment for destroying the Guardian was to bind him to his castle until he was betrothed. The Emperor is long gone, but his curse upon Adric remains.”
“Betrothed,” I repeat. “That means engaged.”
He nods. “Adric’s freedom is dangerous enough. But once he marries the Bride and the wedding is consummated, the barriers will fall and Adric will be able to swarm the Realm of the Real—this realm—with all his forces behind him.”
“And I’m the last Bride.”
He nods, taking my hand. “You’ve seen the havoc that even one mare in this realm can do.
Think about all the creatures that inhabit the Nightmare Realm bursting into this world.
The tricksters in the Unseen. The monsters trapped in the Realm of Retribution.
This realm is unique. It’s not armed to fight that kind of invasion.
If humanity is to survive, this realm must remain an island. ”
He pauses, then says gently, “Adric must know that, and yet he pursues his course. Don’t trust what he says if he finds you in the dreamscape. Trust what you know the result will be. Chaos and death for this realm and the people in it. He knows that. He has to know it.”
I sit perfectly still, trying to wrap my mind around everything he’s said.
“This wouldn’t be the King of England ruling over Britain and Scotland,” he continues. “This would be the King ruling Britain and Hell, with every monster you can imagine not needing a passport to get to St. Augustine or anywhere else, for that matter.”
I taste salt and realize that a tear has escaped. I nod, then wipe it away. “Hell on Earth,” I say. “He can’t truly want that.”
Chase shrugs. “Can’t he? He is the Nightmare King, after all. Doesn’t it make more sense to believe that he’s acting exactly as expected?”
I hug myself, but I don’t answer. I don’t need to. The answer is obvious.
But it feels so wrong.
He leans forward and kisses me again. Not deep and wild like our earlier kiss, but soft and sweet, like a tender promise.
“This world is worth saving,” he whispers, “for so many reasons. The fall isn’t inevitable.
We can fight, and we can win. We can push back the mares.
We can keep the barriers up.” He squeezes my hand.
“But you have to stay away from Adric. Don’t trust anyone.
Don’t fall into his trap. Because you are the key he needs to send the barriers tumbling down, along with everything we both hold dear. ”
“I promise,” I whisper, as he pulls me close.
He’s right. The world that Adric wants is a world that no human could survive in.
But what I don’t say is that fighting to keep the barriers up seems like a battle that could never end.
There has to be another way. And I’m going to make it my mission to find it.