Wait. It’s not supposed to do that.
Before there’s a chance to think about it, the white magic grows, consuming the dream until it?—
The nightmare explodes.
Light erupts outward in a shock wave. The windows shatter, glass spraying into the night. The blast throws me backward, and I hit the floor, hard.
My ears ring, sharp pain stabbing through my skull. I’m on my knees now, hands pressed to my ears, but it doesn’t stop Nightmare’s voice screaming inside my head.
What was that? Are we dead? We can’t be dead. We just got married! I haven’t had a chance to ask Chelsea about her nightly beauty routine. Chelsea—where is she? Is she okay?
The door to my chamber flies open, and a blur of pink rushes toward me. I blink and there’s an angel—blonde hair, blue eyes steeped with worry—gently grabbing my hands that are still stuck to my ears.
“Eryx? Are you okay?”
The stabbing sensation slowly fades away. It takes a moment for me to put all the pieces together. The white magic, the pink dress.
Chelsea.
Chelsea.
“Eryx?”
“I’m okay,” I say slowly.
“Let me help you up.”
Before I can argue that kings don’t need help getting up, she wraps an arm around my waist and leans into me. Her hair tickles my cheek, and her sweet scent takes hold and won’t let me go.
The heat of her body rolls over me as I stand.
Oh my God, she feels so good. She smells even better!
When I’m standing, she slowly releases me, but unlike other times when we’ve been close, she doesn’t step back.
She cranes her neck back to look me in the eyes. “What happened?”
“I was dissolving a boy’s nightmare.”
She touches her chest.
She loves us,Nightmare purrs.
“And the shadow was powerful.”
Chelsea drags her gaze away to examine the windows. “You can say that again.”
“Sir!” Stave charges into the room. Spots me. Spots Chelsea. Spots the broken windows. “Do you need healing?”
“I’m fine.” I wave him off. “You can go. I’ll fix the windows.”
Stave nods and leaves.
I turn back to Chelsea, who stares at me with a curious look on her face.
And then it hits me—the white magic inside the shadow dream. It burned like sunlight.
Likeher.
