Chapter 47 A DreamA Nightmare
Chapter forty-seven
A Dream Or A Nightmare
Alaceandra
Istand outside in a blue, silken slip dress.
My hair cascading in ringlets down my back.
The sky is dark and filled with angry storm clouds.
The plants around me are blackened and brittle and there is a chill in the air.
A castle towers in front of me made of black stone and joined together by a burgundy mortar.
I am barefoot and alone. All is quiet and still.
A gust of wind causes the trees to sway and snap, and I jump at the noise.
As quickly as the wind rushes through, it is gone rendering my surroundings once again immobile.
Only with a key difference. I am no longer alone.
Instead, there is a cloying presence at my back.
Nausea turns in my gut as my spine straightens.
Try as I might to look behind me, I remain in place, my body frozen by some unseen force.
"Ah, there is the princess."
"Who are you?" I try to fight back the terror clawing up my throat.
Haunting laughter fills the air. "You will find out soon enough. You are a hard one to find. Those guards of yours do well at disguising you, although I should not be surprised, they do mask their own identities and motivations well. Even from you."
Mask their identities? "What do you want?"
"Only to reveal the truth, little princess. Those who you surround yourself with only want to hide the truth from you. I think it is time that changed."
I struggle against whatever is holding me. "And why should I trust you to tell me the truth? I do not know you nor will you reveal yourself to me."
"I think you will find I am probably the only one you can trust. It is not yet time for me to reveal myself, but that does not make what I say any less true."
I scoff. "I find that hard to believe."
A chuckle tickles the back of my neck. "Oh really? Try asking that Sam of yours what he has been up to over the past couple of days while your prince has been keeping watch of the border. Or better yet ask him what his motivations were for joining the king's guard."
How does this man know about Sam? "He has told me that before. He wanted to serve his kingdom."
"He is not even from Tikilium, if he wanted to serve his kingdom he would come back to it."
My brows knit. "You are a liar."
"Am I?" He laughs. "He seemed to appear so suddenly in your life.
Have you ever questioned why?" I do not answer, because no I had not, not really.
"As I assumed." His presence leaves my back and I once again try to wiggle free from whatever is holding me still, but I am held firmly in place from the neck down.
"It seems all the men around you like to keep secrets from you. From that prince of yours to your dearest childhood friend. How sad for you. Don’t you worry, Alaceandra it will not be too much longer. The day of reckoning shall come."
"Why are you telling me this? Why am I here?"
His presence returns to my back, but now it is accompanied by an electric heat. "I will not allow their secrets to continue. Nothing can hide here."
"Where is here?"
A finger traces up my back, causing my skin to breakout in goosebumps.
"That's up to you, Alaceandra. Is this a dream, or a nightmare?
" A searing pain travels through my spine and into my wrist as a dark portal opens in front of me.
"I will see you soon," he whispers before shoving me into the darkness.
Screaming, I bolt up in bed. My hair is matted to my skull. The prince wakes with a start, his eyes wild as he stares at me.
"What is it, Alaceandra?" He jumps from the bed and looks around while I try to ease my pounding heart. After a moment he comes back and kneels at the bedside, grasping my face between his hands. "Alaceandra, please tell me what is going on?" He brushes a finger over my cheek.
"N-nothing. It was just-" A dream or a nightmare? It definitely felt like a nightmare. "It was just a bad dream."
"Must have been pretty bad to have you screaming like that. What was the dream?"
I shake my head. Those who you surround yourself only want to hide the truth from you. The mystery man's voice rings through my thoughts. "I-I do not know."
He blinks at me, his brows scrunching slightly. "Alaceandra, dreams can be important in more ways than you know. If… if something happened in your dream. If you saw something. If you spoke to someone. It could be important. You need to tell me about it." He continues to rub his thumb over my cheek.
From that prince of yours to even your dearest childhood friend… The mystery man's voice continues to ring through my head. "I might have," I whisper.
"Might have what?" He keeps his tone gentle, something that is very uncharacteristic of the prince. His eyes encourage me to divulge more, his expression encouraging. I give in.
"Spoken to someone," I continue to whisper and pull away from him, hugging my knees to my chest. He sits beside me on the bed, his chest on full display and I try to ignore it. My brain whirls at all the information- or lies- I remind myself, that the mystery man told me.
"What did they say?" The prince coaxes me.
"What all do you have planned for me?" I ask the prince looking up at him.
"What?" His face is filled with confusion.
"You mentioned that I was a pawn for you, but what is that game? What are the plans?"
His face shutters. "What does that have to do with your dream?"
He is avoiding the question. "You refuse to tell me? Even after all that happened yesterday?" I try to hold back my emotions but can hear my voice crack.
"It is not a refusal, little dove. I am just concerned about the origin of the question."
"Am I not to be concerned with what our marriage does to suit you?
Why you chose to follow us here? Especially now that-" I have had your cock between my lips.
I cut myself off as tears gather in my eyes.
"When we first met in those gardens you were clear about your intentions with me.
Your intentions to use me. Regardless of our current state: The sleeping in the same bed, this gentle, protective persona of yours, or your countless declarations since we got here, I cannot help but wonder if this is just the same long game to whatever plot you were hatching.
All I am asking for you to do is let me in on whatever plot that is.
" I look towards him, knowing my gaze is desperate.
"I can help better if I know the end goal.
I could want to help. I do not have to be an unwilling pawn- we can work together. "
He sighs, looking towards the ceiling before his eyes come back to meet mine, his expression a mask. "You should be careful in asking things with answers you are ill-prepared for." I feel as if I have just been stabbed.
"Ill-prepared?" My sadness quickly morphs into anger.
"How can I ever be prepared if I do not have answers?
I just have puzzle pieces to a future and no way to see how they all fall together.
There is no way I can grow stronger when I just keep being fed minimal information-" I clear my throat as the tears come crashing down as my anger grows.
"I cannot go along with a plot that I have no knowledge of! "
The prince stares at me, but after a moment answers, his voice a bit hollow.
"Revenge, Alaceandra. My father has done nothing but make my life miserable since the moment he took the throne.
He has killed countless people, kept me under his thumb, and has destroyed Helomasi from what it once was.
I will defeat him and restore it— restore the life around it, but for that I need you. Without you, I cannot come into power."
I deflate. "Come into power? Does Helomasi require their monarch to be wed?
" That would be odd seeing as I have not seen the queen in the entirety of my time there, but maybe there is a reasoning behind that.
"If so, you could have married any girl for that once Sorin, Sam and I disappeared, why follow me? " My voice is filled with skepticism.
"No, I couldn't. He is not just going to give up the throne once I marry, he's…" he breathes. "It's complicated. Who you are plays a big part in everything, it had to be you."
"Who I am?" I give him a bewildered look. "Who am I that it would be important that you marry me? There are other princesses…"
"I cannot tell you who you are, Alaceandra. You need to decide that." He rubs his face. "That is all I can say."
"That is it?"
"Yes."
I think about this. "I do not know if I can live with just that answer forever."
He nods, tiredly. "I will tell you more when I can… if I can," he says almost under his breath.
I nod. "Okay."
He looks at me. "I do not believe this line of questioning has come out of the blue though.
If you spoke to someone in your dream it is paramount that we know who it is.
It could be nothing, but… there are those who walk through dreams as a means to control others and seeing as this is not your first nightmare, I am nervous of what these dreams could mean.
I want to be sure you are not in danger. "
"It definitely did not feel natural," I say, picking at my thumb.
The prince places a hand over mine to stop my picking. "That is what I assumed. You can keep your secrets for now, but if it happens again… we will have to inform the others."
A creak sounds at the door causing us both to look over.
Baldar slinks inside and crawls onto the bed with us.
Laying himself on our conjoined hands he speaks.
"I felt a disturbance. Although I am trying to be considerate of Alaceandra's progress outside of training.
" He gives me a look. "I think it might be better for her safety if I was able to watch over her tonight. "
The prince jerks his hand from mine and stares at the ferret. "So that is what you sound like." His voice is surprised.
"What kind of disturbance?" I ask Baldar.
"I am unsure of what exactly it is right now, but I will see if anything happens again. Please sleep, Alaceandra. I fear there is a long couple of days ahead of you." He runs over to the bottom of the bed and curls up.
I feel the tendrils of sleep reaching for me once again. "Okay." I curl back up under the covers. The prince follows, getting into bed behind me.
As I start to drift off, he pulls me close and whispers. "My plans will forever change when it comes to you, let's hope we both choose correctly when the time comes."
Before I can question those words, I am asleep.