Missing something doesn’t equal being broken.
No,Nightmare says calmly.It just means there was space for you.
There’s a hole in Eryx? Like, a hole in his heart? That makes my own heart ache for him. There’s no doubt I’ve been drawn to him as well.
Because he’s the darkness to your light,Nightmare murmurs.
Do you listen to Eryx’s inner thoughts, too?
I can’t help it.
And it probably can’t. But I go back and think about what Nightmare said.He’s the darkness to my light.
Nestled inside him is this dark, cold magic, and he’s been waiting for something different,someonedifferent to complement him.
Maybe that’s why I’ve been drawn to him since the first moment we met—because he complements something missing inside of me, too.
Something I always longed for but was too afraid to ask—the part that thought marriage meant being taken advantage of. That it would be joyless.
That wasn’t a future I ever planned for myself.
And even though I barely know Eryx, he saved me from a monster.
When he didn’t have to.
Are you ready to learn how to tame nightmares?it asks.
Who knows if I’ll ever be ready, but I can try.
You’re more than ready. Teaching you will be easier than teaching Eryx.
Why’s that?
Because your magic already likes mine.
With only those few words, I’m taken back to the last time our magic entwined.Did you do that with my magic? You know, when we, um…
It was me and your magic together. But I promised Eryx I wouldn’t do anything like that again…not unless you want me to, of course.
There was something intensely arousing about our magic combining, but letting Nightmare have its way while its inside me almost makes me feel like?—
You’d be cheating on Eryx?
Yes, um. Thank you.
Then we will move on, and I will wait for you, Chelsea Nightshade, to come to me.
Because it knows I will.
Something settles into my bones, heavy and certain. This can't be undone. Once I use Nightmare—even briefly—we'll be connected.
Not just married. Not just magically compatible.
Bonded.
I'll have held his power. We'll know each other in ways we can't take back. There's no going back to the way things were. To being strangers who made roses. To separate bedrooms and careful distance.
This changes everything.
