Page 107 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Death triumphant,she thought. Like nightmares given reign.

Garrik had spent the better part of those five restful days in her tent, seated at a table, scanning parchments when he presumed her to be sleeping. Only when she had stirred, he’d settled in her reading chair and attended to her simplest requests with a thoughtful smile.

And now those usual dark circles under his eyes were gone. Apart from the first two nights, where he insisted on staying awake to watch over her despite her blaring disapproval, he’d folded her into his arms before guiding her by shadows into his mind. Allowing her starfire to create that fortress of flames, to quiet the screams so he could rest too. A rest, he admitted, he hadn’t had since before they forced him into his dungeon.

Three nights he held her in the safety of his embrace.

Three nights he slept. True, real sleep.

And she couldn’t admit to him that, in his arms, was the best sleep she’d had in a long time, too.

Garrik’s eyes were on her, but he spoke to Aiden with the urgent, dismissive tone of a High Prince preparing for battle. “Find Thalon. Attend to the prisoner.” He was on edge. She felt it.

When Aiden whispered away in camp’s direction, Garrik strode to the edge of the cliff overlooking the morning sky. A heaviness settled on his shoulders when he brutally sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then down the back of his neck.

Alora wanted to go to him. Instead, she waited there, eyes tracing golden sunlight parting the clouds. Lighting up the peaks and valleys and silken gray hair that glistened in the beams and cast his monstrous shadow to her boots.

“You will not like who I have to be in there.” The mountains seemed to tremble in the wake of his words. “The wall at Alynthia… It wasnothingin comparison. All of it, an illusion. This will bereal. I am not sure I can bear it—you seeing me. What I was Made to be. What I will enjoy doing.” Garrik kept his gaze fixed on the mountains, speaking to Kadamar as if talking directly to her was more than he could bear. His voice dropped low in warning. “You have not witnessed the truest evil within me. And when you do, you will see me for the monster I am.” Inked eyes flicked over his shoulder and returned to the sunrise too quickly.

She stepped forward, dared to extend her hand, but instead dropped it to her side. “You still believe I’ll fear you?”

He didn’t turn. “You should … will.” Speaking the words so slowly as if he underlined them in a contract, securing the future. "I will kill, Alora. And I will revel in it. This kingdom … thisking… his court … they conceal terrible pain I will seek revenge for—and without a single thought of remorse.”

She sensed a ripple of delight warring with the turmoil inside him. Saw the way his fist tightened. His abdomen too.

But this time, that warm palm dared to grip his shoulder, gently turning him to gaze in ember-lit eyes. She wasn’t angry, but after all this time. After all they’d been through. He still thought himself the irredeemable monster. The vision of nightmares lurking in the shadows and stealing away dreams.

If only he knew.

He was the one who awakened dreams. And that vision of nightmares standing on the cliff’s edge was actually the one who scared nightmares away.

Alora laced her fingers in his.

Garrik seemed to stop breathing.

Calmly squeezing, Alora turned to watch the sunrise with him. She repeated the words he’d so often spoken to her, “You should know by now,” and nudged her shoulder into his biceps as the corners of his mouth twitched, “I’ve lived my entire life in darkness. Yours doesn’t scare me. Itneverwill.”

One moment,they stood on a cliff’s edge. The next, dark winds swallowed them, and they were carried through an empty abyss—the Dawnspace.

As Alora transcended from whorling darkness, she steadied her footing on a pristinely cut grassy path. They landed at the center of three paths separated by tiles of granite-edged streams.

Surrounded by visions of shadowy figures misting into the courtyard, adjusting to the cascading gleam of light, she gaped up at the center. Her eyes settled on a large star-shaped whitefountain bursting with thin crimson liquid. Its luster and lack of thickness were enough to determine the contents. Water, not blood. And centered in the spray stood a statue; A roaring blackstone bear with ruby eyes.

The sun blistered its warmth and warred against the earthy breeze. It called her lungs to expand and inhale the scent. Alora tilted her head, the movement slow, disturbing the receding shadows around her.

Castle Karanagar expanded in front of them.

An illusion like a city of buildings appeared, yet they were all one connected structure.

The main entrance sat on the lower level in which they stood, flanked by winding staircases that extended into the mountain behind it. It towered high, the turrets and crimson flags almost tickled the cloudless sky. White granite buildings connected to one another by curved stairs, gardens, and cloisters nestled within vast forests that hugged every stone wall.

The dusty-blue roofs crowning each tower gave the impression of the castle being merely a reflection of the sky. Shadowed not by thunder clouds but by mountain massifs, raising onyx peaks all the way into the crests.

Garrik dawned them inside the castle gates with no warning, as planned.

Veiled by surprise to execute their arrival and set the precedence of their ruthlessness and power.

After all, in all the rumors, the arrival of the Savage Prince wasn’t anything less than sadistic. His visage alone clouded the skies in despair. But an unannounced arrival meant his intentions were merciless, not peaceful. Random, as if on a vicious whim, and not scheduled.

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