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Rhys needs me.
At last, the fraying cries led me to him, crumpled on the pitiless stone with heavy chains bolted to his graceful wings, now bent at unnatural angles. His proud marble features were gaunt and jaded, but Rhys yet lived. That alone kindled hope’s fragile flame inside my battered spirit.
I collapsed at his side, desperate fingers combing matted hair back from his beautiful face, now creased with pain even in unconsciousness. Raw grief clawed up my throat. What fresh devilry was this? Who could commit such cruelty against my gentle love?
“Rhys...” I cradled him close, tears spilling onto his ravaged skin. But my phantom touch could not break the merciless chains or ease his anguish in this shadow realm. I was powerless to halt his undeserved suffering.
At my broken whisper, Rhys’ tormented eyes cracked open, pupils blown wide with agony. They struggled to focus on my face as I wept and pleaded uselessly for him to hold on. He should not have to endure this hellish torture!
When our gazes finally locked, urgency overrode his own wretchedness. “You must flee this place, my heart!” Rhys cried hoarsely. “It’s a trap...” He spasmed against the cruel spikes pinning his ruined wings.
Cryptic warnings of treachery froze my frantic motions. I stared helplessly around this void ringing with Rhys’ still echoing screams, understanding nothing. Our wedding day had been shattered, my love stolen away. And now, too late, the truth dawning—we had been cruelly deceived, betrayed. But by whom? To what vicious ends?
“Please, Seraphina... get yourself to safety!” Rhys begged desperately. But his face was already fading, receding into the shadows, steadily engulfing us. I clung to him harder, though my phantom grip passed uselessly through his agonized form.
“I won’t leave you!” I swore fiercely over the roaring dark. But the void had claimed him, wrenching Rhys from my arms no matter how I sobbed and wept. Alone in this chill hell, his screams yet rang, poisoned darts piercing my shattered soul. I had failed him again...
* * *
“RHYS!”
With a gasp, I jolted awake, clawing against the sweat-soaked sheets. My breaths sawed painfully past the vise around my chest as I groped blindly in the darkness. The lingering void seemed to cling still, dragging me back towards its maw.
But slowly, my wild pulse steadied, and my frantic mind recognized my familiar chambers bathed in moonlight. No hellish abyss or cruel chains—only another vicious dream. I collapsed limply to the pillows, pressing both palms over my stinging eyes.
“Only a nightmare,” I whispered hoarsely. But despite repeating that desperate prayer, the vivid impressions tormented me. Blood-slicked granite skin... beloved features contorted in agony... the black abyss threatening to swallow us whole... Every detail had felt terrifyingly real.
I could not shake the premonition these twisted visions carried—Rhys was in immediate danger, somewhere. Somehow. Our blissful path had always held shadows, but we were meant to walk together into the light beyond. This present darkness was unnatural, threatening to sunder us violently before fate’s design could unfold.
As everything fell back into place, my gaze landed on the wedding ring adorning my finger. Rhys’ vow crystallized in my mind. For a brief moment, the ancient silver band glinted with a subtle spark of magic before growing dim once more. A reminder of the love and bond that not even this darkness could break. I had to hold on to hope. Rhys needed me to be strong.
I rose on unsteady legs, movements jerky with razor-edged urgency. Dawn’s fragile light still clung to the horizon, but I could endure these phantoms haunting me no longer. I needed truth and comfort more than rest.
Pulling a cloak tight against the pre-dawn chill, I slipped silently into the deserted corridors. Most of the student body still slumbered peacefully.
The path to Lily’s chambers passed in a blur. Ever since the wedding’s disastrous collapse two days prior, I had sequestered myself away, shunning food and company alike. The pain was simply too raw, my shame at such public abandonment crippling. Only Lily’s patient devotion had drawn me back from the brink of utter despair during those first wretched hours.
I prayed she was already wakeful this morning as I knocked urgently on her ornately carved door. My composure hung by the thinnest of threads, ready to shatter again beneath this awful dread.
To my immense relief, Lily herself eased the door open, cornflower gaze gentle with sleepless shadows. “Oh… Sera,” she sighed, gathering me swiftly into her arms. Her embrace was a balm to my battered spirit, steadying me as nothing else could.
When my uneven breaths finally calmed, she drew back, studying me intently. “Another dream?” Lily asked. I could only nod mutely. She gently led me to sit by the still-smoldering hearth, draping a soft quilt around my perpetually chilled bones. I managed a wan but grateful smile. Bless her for knowing precisely when comfort required deeds over words.
While I slowly sipped the heated cider, she pressed into my hands, Lily perched near me, radiating soothing calm. But her eyes remained solemn, sharply intelligent. I knew she turned over each scattered fragment I had conveyed of these dreams, seeking the hidden pattern veiled in madness.
“They’re getting worse,” I rasped finally, eyes shut against fresh images of Rhys’ tormented visage. “More vivid each time. Like visions, not mere subconscious shadows.” I still could not unearth their meaning, but refusal to heed their warnings felt dangerously foolish.
Lily took my chilled hands firmly in her steady ones, grounding me again to the moment. “Then you must not ignore them,” she pronounced calmly. “The Sight manifests in many ways, as you well know. These dreams may hold truth, however dark.”
I shuddered. “You believe Rhys is... truly in such danger, then?” Giving voice to the grim notion made it more real. A stone in my belly. But denying the relentless nightmares racking me was also folly. I could not cling to the fragile hope that my beloved was simply...goneof his own volition, without a word of parting. Something far more sinister was unfolding in shadows beyond my limited vision.
Lily’s thoughtful gaze turned inward. “I cannot say for certain,” she admitted. “But I do know your love for one another is no passing flight of fancy. Such bonds do not shatter easily... not without outside influence.”
Her words sparked a glimmer of desperate hope amidst the dread. Perhaps these visions were no abstract nightmare, but a direct plea across the veil from my captive love. If I had the power to see and hear Rhys still, faint as the connection was... then I yet kept the power to save him.
But Lily’s somber words reined back my galloping thoughts. “I feel a malevolent hand in this, though their motives remain obscure.” Her eyes flashed with grim purpose. “But we will bring Rhys safely back to you, have no doubt.”
Despite lacking any clear course ahead, her resolute vow kindled my own banked determination. Together, we would walk through fire and blood to wrest Rhys from the merciless dark. I must cast aside all vestiges of doubt and self-pity now. If our dream of happiness were to emerge unbroken, I needed to be strong. Resilient as a diamond. My love deserved no less.
