To her, and we can do so many, many things. Don’t you want to learn?
No, I reply.
That was what I felt. It washer—Chelsea's magic—flooding through the bond Nightmare created when it touched her.
Nightmare didn't just reach out to her. It connected us. Started forming a bond without my permission.
“Sorry, ladies, I’m closing this balcony.”
They duck their heads and step back inside. I shut the doors behind them and exhale hard, slumping onto the railing.
And this is when I realize I’ve got a bigger problem on my hands than I thought. It isn’t simply that Nightmare changes around her.
It’s that now, Nightmare has become uncontrollable.
What fresh hell is waiting for me next?
I drop my hands on the railing and dig my fingers into the stone.You crossed a line. You touched her without permission. You’ve never…you’ve never done that before,I grind out.
I know.
Where is she now?
She left.
I swallow hard.She left? Because you scared the hell out of her.
I didn’t mean to,it says, sounding sheepish.
Well you did. Now she’ll never talk to me again.
I can find her.
No!I straighten, drag my fingers through my hair.No,I reply more calmly.You don’t need to look for her. We’ll find her together.
I drop to one knee and pluck a gold rose from the stone and inhale deeply. It smells like her—vanilla and floral.
Do you think she’ll taste as good as she smells?
Stop it, Nightmare.
Stop what? Do you want me to go back to how I was?
Is that a trick question?
You don’t, and I know it. No, we need her. If you don’t find her, I will.
The wall of roses suddenly looks like a blanket ready to smother me.
I can’t go back to the way we were, and if you don’t find her, I’ll find her on my own.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Nightmare will unbind itself? It will go off on its own? First, there’s no way to know what that will do to me, and secondly, he’ll scare her to death—scar her.
Or worse—it'll bond with her completely and leave me behind. Take the one thing that's made me feel alive in ten years and keep her for itself, leaving me with nothing.
The thought makes my chest hollow out.
