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He’ll never want you. You foolish girl.
She stripped him of his clothes, and seconds later, their bodies connected. He was all over her and I could only watch, frozen where I stood. He released her lips long enough to join in Reyna’s heckling.
You must be an idiot to think I could ever be attracted to you. Look at you. You are nothing.
Wind blasted through my mind and their images swirled like shadows, reforming with Ladon kneeling on the ground and Reyna standing over him. She cackled while he writhed in pain.
Look what you’ve done, Emilie. You’re killing him.
No. That wasn’t possible. She needed to stop. I needed to stop her. He was dying, blood spilling from his eyes and ears. I lifted my hands to make her stop, and his cries worsened.
My hands…my hands were glowing white. Black vines still decorated my wrists and stretched all the way to my fingers. Something dark and evil was flowing from them.
I was killing him.
His screams were unbearable. I heard the sound of bone snapping and his arms and legs bent at odd angles. He curled into a ball on the blood-soaked floor.
Make it stop. Make it stop.
Ladon looked at me, face contorted in agony. His skin was burning and peeling off in flakes, like ashes falling to the ground.
Make it stop. Make it stop.
I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing I could do. Reyna’s laughter filled the chamber. What did she want? I’d do anything to stop her. To stop myself.
Make it stop. Make it stop.
“Make it stop! Make it stop!”
“Emilie. You’re having a nightmare. Wake up, Emilie.”
Rough hands were on my cheeks. A dark figure bent over me.
“Stop! Please stop! Don’t hurt him.”
“Hurt who, Emilie? No one is here. It’s only me. It’s Ladon.”
“Ladon?”
“Yes. Look at me.”
My vision began to focus. The cloudy haze of sleep began to fade, and I was able to take in my surroundings. Back in our room, with Reyna nowhere to be found. Ladon was hovering over me, studying me with concern.
“Ladon?” I said again. He didn’t feel real. I reached out to touch his face, and he cupped my hand with his, leaning into my palm.
“Yes, Emilie. I’m here.”
“It felt so real,” I whispered. But there he was—skin, muscle, bone—all intact. No sign of the blood spewing from his insides.
“It wasn’t.” He brushed my hair back, and I shivered. It felt like a part of me had been left behind in that nightmare scene.
Ladon laid down next to me and cradled me in his arms. Slowly, the shivering subsided. My fingertips trailed down his bare chest, to a patch of fine hair on his lower abdomen. He inhaled sharply.
I wanted so badly to continue moving my hand, but thought better of it. I looked up and caught him staring right back at me, stealing my breath away.
“Thank you,” I said.
He smirked, alleviating some of the tension between us and his voice was feather light across my cheek. “Anything for you, princess.”
