Page 57 of Nightmare's Dance

Geraint hesitated before sighing and looking away.

“Lay down, knight, before you fall down,” Nic ordered. “You do none of us any good if you are too tired to fight.”

Geraint bit his lip before lying down on the edge of the mat, not touching me. He curled up on his side, back to me.

I shut my eyes, but I was too tired to deal with any of this right now. One wolf laid down on the other side of my knight and pressed into him. I shifted so my back was against my knight’s, and Ghost lay down on the other side of me, partially on the mat, squishing us together. I quickly warmed, surrounded by musky wolves.

Geraint had fallen asleep almost instantly. It took me longer. Just as I drifted off, I heard Robby ask Nic, “What are you going to do?”

“She’s in love with the knight. What can I do?” The pain in Nic’s voice tugged at my heart.

“The three of you meant to share her. What’s one more?”

Sleep claimed me before Nic replied.

Ember

Sometime in the night, both Geraint and I had shifted until I was cradled in his arms, wolves pressed against our backs, my head resting on my knight’s shoulder. Except for the wolves, this was how we normally slept, and waking in his arms settled everything in my mind. At least for the time being.

Wolves snored loudly, and when I stretched my leg, I bumped into someone else. It didn’t take much movement to see that Robby had curled up at the end of the mat. I didn’t see Nic, but some sense of him made me think he stood over by the entrance.

Fireflies danced above us, and the air had warmed considerably and staled slightly.

“Is the storm over?” I whispered.

Wolf ears flicked toward me, but the creatures stayed asleep.

“Yes,” Nic answered from the direction I’d sensed him. “We have time. Get some more rest.”

I let my eyes flicker shut, since it was obvious no one else was ready to wake. Truthfully, I didn’t want to move from Geraint’s arms, afraid this might be my last chance to be held. My entire life—the perfect life that Geraint and I had worked so hard to build—was changing by the minute, and I didn’t like it. What would happen to our business? Not to mention, what would happen to us?

My knight tightened his arms around me, as if sensing my distress. He reflexively kissed the top of my head and threaded his leg through mine before going still again.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I let them streak down my face, quietly displaying my pain to any that would notice in this dark, firefly-lit cave.

Crying myself to sleep was not my favorite, and waking up with my eyes glued shut by sand was even worse. To top that off, I was no longer cradled in my knight’s arms. Ghost still lay against my back, but otherwise, I was alone.

I scrubbed at my eyes until they were clear and slowly climbed to my feet. Sore muscles protested, and my thighs ached from riding Ghost.

Nic had cleared the shadow door from the entrance, and it looked like everyone but Ghost had left the cave I’d imagined for us.

“Thank you for warming my sleep,” I said to the wolf.

He nodded and shoved his enormous head under my hand. Laughing, I scratched behind his ears and gave him a big hug.

“Are you coming with us to find these guides you suggested?”

He shook his head. “They are not far, and we must discover the extent of this storm’s damage.”

“What could possibly want to destroy the dream lands?” I wondered as I headed for the exit.

“We do not know. You cannot exist without us, and we do not exist without you,” the wolf said.

“Holy crap,” I breathed as I stepped out of the cave. It was as if someone had taken a giant swath of gray and smeared it across the landscape. The only thing wasn’t awash in gray was the cave I’d created. Though even parts of that were erased away. We might not have been as safe as Nic had suggested we were, but we’d survived, so I guess that was something. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a next time, but if there were, I’d do better.

The other three wolves, Geraint, Robby, and Nic, stood nearby, surveying the damage.

“Will this ever recover?”

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