“No.” I look at Bree’s unconscious form, remembering those years in the dark. “I was dying. Magically starving. There was nothing to feed on out there—no fear, no connection, no life force. Just… emptiness. It doesn’t kill you quickly, but it hollows you out until there’s nothing left but desperation.”
I pause, choosing my words carefully.
“That’s when I found them.”
“The Nightmares,” Theo breathes.
I exhale slowly, choosing my words carefully.
“There are things that live in the Void. Most of them hunt. Some of them feed. A few of them… remember what they used to be.”
I pause, letting the weight of that settle.
“I thought I was hallucinating at first.” The memory is vivid even now. “Creatures that looked like myths—like unicorns pulled inside-out and remade in shadow. Black as the Void itself, but when the lighthit them right, they shimmered silver. Two horns instead of one. Eyes that glowed like molten mercury.”
Jace’s blade stills in his hand. “You’re describing dream-steeds.”
Theo looks at him, eyebrows raised. “How the hell do you know that, Jace?”
“Hey, I read too, you know.” Jace shrugs, but there’s an edge of defensiveness in it.
“That’s what they are.” I meet his gaze. “Nightmares. They feed on fear and terror, but they were something else too. Something majestic. Wild.”
“And you just walked up to one?” Rhett sounds skeptical.
“I collapsed in front of one.” The truth is far less heroic than they probably imagine. “Hollowed out by hunger, barely conscious. Should have been trampled, or possibly consumed. But one of them…” I shake my head. “It didn’t kill me.”
“Why not?” Wes asks.
“Because I offered it something it wanted more than my death.”
“What?”
“Order.” The word tastes strange after all these years. “Purpose. A reason to exist beyond hunger and fear.”
Thane’s silver eyes narrow. “You taught them to serve you.”
“I taught them to survive.” I meet his gaze. “They were going feral, consuming each other when there was nothing else to feed on. Magnificent creatures eating themselves alive in the dark.”
“So you gave them structure,” Theo murmurs.
“I gave them discipline. Rules. A way to exist that didn’t end in self-destruction.” I look at the veins pulsing through the floor. “It tookyears. But eventually, they trusted me enough to help me find a way out.”
“How many?” Thane’s voice is cold. Calculating.
“Enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.” I turn to face him fully. “Their leader eventually grew strong enough to tear open a way back to the mortal world. A few dared to follow me through. The rest stayed behind—too afraid of what waited outside, or too changed by the Void to leave.”
My jaw tightens. “I promised them freedom, someday. They swore they’d ride for me again if I ever called.”
Understanding ripples through the group.
“That’s the debt,” Rhett breathes.
I nod. “That’s the debt.”
