Page 69 of Nightmare's Dance

She nickered, whiskers tickling my hand as she touched me with her muzzle.

“Let me give you a leg up,” Geraint said, coming over behind me.

The heat from my knight’s chest warmed my back, and I took a step backward until I was pressed against him.

“What do I do?” I whispered sadly.

“Right now, we concentrate on getting home,” he said. “Then we figure out the rest.”

Nodding because I couldn’t speak for the damn lump in my throat, I let Geraint help me on the horse. I gave her a pat and wrapped my fingers in her mane. Though I didn’t regret the short marathon sex with my knight, I was a little sore and sitting on the back of a horse made me acutely aware of it.

She whickered and once Geraint was mounted, the horses moved off. Camila rode easily and sexily. I would have been amused if I hadn’t had so many other worries on my mind. Nic had no issues with the horse, but Geraint and I probably looked out of place on the backs of our forgiving mounts. At least we had years of aerial and gymnastics to help our balance and athleticism. That had to count for a lot.

When the horses increased their pace, I squeaked in alarm but held on. I felt bad for my horse, but she kept her ears forward. I hoped that meant I wasn’t doing too badly.

Our tireless mounts cantered along the dirt track, the soft chime of their hooves like music I wanted to dance to. I wondered what sort of dream had spawned these horses.

Could I learn to love it here? This insane land of menacing clouds and friendly wolves? Maybe. Did I want to stay? Maybe I could visit sometime? But, if I weren’t the princess, I’d be dreambound, and I’d never leave.

The luxury to come and go wasn’t one everyone had access to. But if I wasn’t going to be the princess, I had no right to hang on to the title and the freedom, not to mention my hold on the shadow prince.

The thought of giving up Nic hurt more than it should have. We had history together. Childhood games and summers spent running wild in the forest. Was that enough?

I glanced at Geraint, riding next to me, and wondered if any of my thoughts were obvious. He looked troubled, which was such a foreign expression on his usually carefree face. I wanted to soothe the wrinkles from his brow and kiss the worry from his down-turned lips.

Yet I also wanted to massage the tension from Nic’s shoulders and fold myself into his arms so he could keep me safe from the nightmares that lurked in the darkness. Resolving those two conflicting desires was beyond me, at least currently. The simple route was to go home and put this behind me. That was the path we were on, and deviating from it involved danger I couldn’t even fathom. I’d stay on the easy road. The road that left me in Geraint’s arms, and without the responsibilities of caring for a land I didn’t even understand.

Feeling guilty, I tried to focus on the beauty of the strange land around me. For a moment I was excited about the chance to see Dream soon, then remembered we were going back to the conscious realm. I likely wouldn’t see Dream ever.

I clenched my jaw and tried to corral my unruly thoughts.

They refused to be ignored, but finally the horses slowed. We’d come to the cliffs, and we were most certainly going to be climbing.

The horses halted. I stared up at the ledges high in the air above us and my hands shook. Surely, Nic could use his shadowy power to sweep me up the cliffs in no time. Right? Was it even fair to ask him to carry me? And what about Geraint? As civil as Nic was being about my knight, I doubted he wanted to haul Geraint up a rock face. Could Robby?

The ledges jutted out over the road, casting dim shadows that blended in with the surroundings, obscuring the edges of the darkness. The flat tans and whites of the bare rock contrasted with the green forest we’d just ridden through. I was getting used to the lack of shades in the color palate here, but it still caught me off guard every time the landscape changed.

“How do we get up?”

“Since you will not take the easier route,” Robby said. “You and Knight will have to climb. Perhaps I should scout ahead, anyway. If The Lady isn’t there, we have no reason to scale the cliffs.”

“Your highness, we need to get off the road,” Camila said. “We’ll find her farther in.”

Nic studied the succubus before nodding. “Very well.”

It might have been my imagination, but the idea of leaving the road seemed to make Nic a little nervous.

“This way.”

We followed our sexy guide from the dirt path and onto a narrow stone trail. The horses’ hooves rang and echoed around us as we wound through this world’s equivalent of a slot canyon.

I was relaxing into my mount’s easy gate, rocking my hips with her motion and loosening my back. The scenery was beautiful, and I looked around while we rode.

A quick darting motion caught my attention. I twisted to look behind me. Geraint stared off to the side.

“What are those?”

Something scampered up the rock wall.

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