Page 90 of Guarded By the Nightmare

“Mina!” I shouted, catching her, as the bones of the other forgotten women poked against her sides. I pushed them away from both of us, so that we could have space. “Why are you here?”

“Because you’re a dick for leaving me!” she said, turning into my arms at once. “How could you?”

“I was trying to protect you, and—” I began, then paused.

“Oh yeah, I know about the baby, and I’m still here,” she said, pounding a fist against my chest. “And if you think I’m going to raise your asshole offspring without you, no. Just no.” She was still breathing hard, for some reason she was dressed in an all-black uniform, her hair was in a severe bun, there were inexplicable blue streaks beneath her eyes, and she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

“What’re you thinking?” she said, before biting her lips.

“How you are in the ninetieth percentile now, for certain,” I teased.

That made her give me a choking laugh. “You just like me when I shout.”

“Yes,” I said, bowing my head to hers.

“How could you leave me, Sylas?” she asked quietly, holding me close.

“Because I love you,” I said, pulling back. “Show me your arm.”

It took some wriggling, during which she muttered, “I’m just really trying not to think of what all’s down here,” before rolling up her sleeve. Her life was now spilling out, from the top chamber to the bottom, catching up for all the time that we’d lost. Seeing it made me gasp—and she caught my head in her hands.

“You’re not going to hurt me, Sylas.”

“My queen, you do not know that,” I said sorrowfully, as she gave a gentle nod.

“Haven’t you ever had a dream?” she asked.

“No. I am a Nightmare. We do not dream, ever.”

“Well, can I tell you what I’ve dreamt of? You already know, some,” she said, taking her arm back to wrap around me. “Normalcy. Having a best friend who is awake. Having a boyfriend who loves me. Maybe even having a baby. But none of that could’ve happened without you. So you can’t kill me, Sylas—and I need you to make all of my dreams come true.”

“Mina,” I whispered, as all of the abandoned fates I’d incarcerated myself with started to roil.

“Just trust yourself, please?” she asked, leaning forward to kiss my cheek, making the light between us burst. “And failing that, trust me,” she went on, moving to catch the corner of my lips.

I turned my face towards hers to kiss her properly. I could feel and see all of her light racing into me, and I had no idea where she stored it, wondering if it, like her tears, was an infinite property.

And then there was the tiny, little tether between us both, a light that we were supposed to share, and knowing I would be the death of it broke my non-existent heart.

“Don't make me kill you,” I begged her.

She shook her head. “Then don’t make me live without you.”

I opened an eye on my back to see where the sand was on her mark—and then realized that was how I might have a chance. If I could crawl back into my hourglass somehow without hurting her...

“Stay here,” I said, wedging her into the bones, peeling myself away from her and diving down to get it from where I’d set it on the ground, near the waning stone. I returned with it and put it between us like a shield, and at seeing it Mina laughed with a sad sniff.

“Is this like one of those rulers they use to keep kids apart at school dances?” she said, while the sand inside of it was pouring out—same as all of her light was pouring into me. The cloud of fates twisting and knotting behind her would’ve been absolutely breathtaking to watch, except for knowing hers would join them, severed from all the life she’d never get to lead. Moments of joy, love, and pain, all denied her, because of me.

I only wanted to watch her eyes, but her sand running out was mesmerizing, even if the quote written atop the hourglass was painful to read. Her eyes followed mine, reading it too. “Sleep and dream of me, till dreams become reality, huh?” she said, then gave me a brave smile, even as the light started draining from her eyes, while the hourglass sank down to the few bits of sand. “You’re my dream, Sylas,” she said—and I did the last thing I could.

I slowed time.

Out of all the tortures I’d ever concocted, had there ever been one as cruel as this? Watching the woman I loved die, because I was made of greed, and no force on earth could stop me?

How long could I keep her trapped here with me? In my embrace? Growing colder the stopping of one atom at a time?

I didn’twanther fate.

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