Page 38 of Nightmare's Dance

“Well, I guess I should have just brought up sex and Geraint and maybe we could have gotten you out of the silks yesterday without Nic having to do his weird shadow shit,” Ash said.

I hadn’t noticed myself get down, but now that Ash brought my attention back to the present, I was standing on the ground below my lyra with a serious case of wanting dick.

“Yeah, that worked, but holy crap, I need my vibrator now.” I hugged myself, though the reminder that Geraint was beyond my reach felt like a cold splash of water to the face.

Ash gave me a quick hug. “Go see if Robby is here yet. I’ll put the hoops away. We’ll keep working on this until you’re good again.”

“Thanks, Ash. You really are the best.”

“I know. Now get out of here.”

Before I could continue to dwell on the past, I did what she said, hurrying out of the gym toward the house.

Nic

After so many years away, being in the conscious realm both invigorated me and drained me. The constant draw on my energy wouldn’t kill me, but eventually I’d run out of all my extra shadow essence and risk getting stranded in the conscious realm. For a relatively powerful dream that could take weeks or months. For a prince, that danger wouldn’t manifest for years. In the short term, being surrounded by vibrant life reminded me how much I’d enjoyed coming here as a child, even if I didn’t like direct sunlight.

If Baz hadn’t freaked out, and if so many other things hadn’t happened, I’d have spent more time here over the last few years instead of doing my best to protect the nightmare creatures that had fled Baz’s sudden depravities. I had no idea where Dio had disappeared to, shirking his duty to his people, but if I ever found him…

I turned my attention away from the troubles in Nightmare and back to using the shadows to watch Ember while she practiced in her hoop.

Maybe I shouldn’t be lurking, watching without her knowing, but it wasn’t like I was watching her shower. Though, the sensual way she moved through the poses in her hoop stirred emotions I wasn’t sure I wanted to confront.

When the guardians had originally told us the silly game we’d played with Ember was binding, I’d been furious. The future was supposed to remain unknown and hidden until we uncovered it. Dio and Baz, on the other hand, were convinced it was the best thing ever—their words. I’d also guessed that Ember might not be so happy about it either, so I’d done research. We could dissolve the bindings we’d placed upon one another, but all four of us would have to be present to do it. That it was possible had alleviated some of my anger until I’d found out we were also forbidden from seeing her again until we were all considered “of age.”

Even with that restriction, confronting this situation we found ourselves in would have been much easier if Baz hadn’t had a strange breakdown, or whatever had happened, splitting the three of us and driving Nightmare into a dive toward ruin.

Instead of the three of us banding together with the princesses of Dream and fighting the nothingness that was eating away at the edges of both realms, we were fractured. Dream was holding on better than Nightmare, but they were whole. And I couldn’t do anything about it stuck in the conscious realm.

My duty warred with my surprising desire for this woman who flowed through her metal hoop as if made of liquid. How any human could move so fluidly, I wasn’t sure. Red fingers of jealousy curled through me when I thought of the knight we’d created to keep her safe with his hands on our princess. I knew they performed together from the pictures and drawings I’d seen on the wall in Ember’s room. He had no right…

I took a breath. Ash was correct. It was Ember’s heart and her body and her choice. Just as I initially hadn’t wanted to accidentally be bound to Ember, she had every right to not want to be bound to us.

I’d convinced myself of this until Ember’s trauma reared its ugly head and she got stuck. Ash’s tactic of distracting her to talk her down out of her reaction was brilliant, but the subject made me see red. I had to back out of the shadows before I stepped from her bedroom directly into the gym and got irrationally angry with the woman who’s fault this all was. Not that she’d known. Not that we’d known. Really, it was no one’s fault.

Ember had offered me the use of her bed, and I’d almost accepted, though the chair was comfortable enough. A primal part of me wanted to take her up on the offer just to surround her with my own scent and drown out the knight’s. Dio would have done it without question.

The rational part of me wasn’t feeling especially rational at the moment, but I forced it to take control and I wrenched my thoughts away from my surprising desire to possess Ember, and back to the more immediate problem. Getting home. Freeing the damn knight. Protecting my people. Those were the things I needed to focus on. Not the way Ember’s legs had felt wrapped around me when I’d rescued her from the top of her silks, or how having her sobbing in my arms had triggered my protective instincts.

I was going to kill Baz for doing this to her. I’d bided my time long enough, hoping he would come around. Once Ember and her knight were safe, I’d see Baz dissolve into shadow essence, or I’d die trying.

I sensed Ember and Ash come back into the cabin just as another presence neared. I couldn’t feel most humans in the conscious realm unless I was directly interacting with their dreams or using my ability to control shadows to remain aware of my surroundings. My connection with Ember allowed me to track her movements as if I were standing next to her. Ash, surprisingly, glowed to my senses, though she was from the waking world. This new person was from the dream realm. I could sense beings from my realm when in the conscious world. At home, it varied by circumstances.

Curious about this new dream, I pulled my awareness back and solidified myself as much as was comfortable, before heading toward the living area of Ember’s house.

I’d rested enough.

Ember had her arms around the new dream when I came into the room. I guessed she had no idea this person was as inhuman as her knight. Ash watched, as did Ember’s parents.

“Robby,” Ember was saying. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“You too, Spark.” The man holding my princess was average height and build for a human, distinctive enough as he appeared now with slightly longer wavy black hair and a neatly trimmed beard, but it wouldn’t take much for him to blend into a crowd. He was not of Nightmare, or I would have known who he was. This being was from Dream.

I leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, and waited for him to acknowledge me. There was no way he’d missed my presence.

He held Ember until she released him. My princess wiped a few tears from her eyes and startled when she saw Robby’s attention turn to me.

“Ah, uh, Robby, this is Nic.”

---