Chapter Twenty-Five
There was a trail leading from the top of the plateau to the vast carnival below. It was made of cobbled stone, and damned it all if it didn’t look like carved, smooth onyx cabochons the size of watermelons, shot through with veins of either garnet or – she wouldn’t be surprised at this point – ruby. The truly surreal thing was that the perfect, dustless gemstone trail was bordered on either side by dirt, and wound down along the edge of the cliff like something from Lord of the Rings.
It was a long trail, however, cutting back and forth many, many times so that it could be relatively flat. Despite that, the sheer drop on one side made her distinctly grateful for her rubber-soled boots.
When they’d gone around one-third of the way down, a vision hit Addie. She froze in place, this time managing to stop herself before the vision completely took hold. It was the same vision from before… molten red eyes, swirling and hypnotic. Lights blurring around her, making her deliciously dizzy. There were crystalline shapes carved into glass, and this time she could tell they were animals: a lion, a horse, a dragon. She felt hands on her, on her arms, on her waist, and finally wrapping around her throat, gentle but possessive. She felt the thumb on her pulse, and heard words whispered in her ear.
She swooned in the vision, and hoped she wasn’t swooning in real life, given the sheer drop on one side of the walkway. Then she felt the hot brand of a kiss on her throat, and once more saw fangs… and blood. All coherent thought fled when she felt a pain in her wrist, this time the other one –
“Addie?”
Adelaide opened her eyes and blinked. Nicholas was standing over her, his arm around her waist, his gaze narrowed and calculating. “Another vision?”
She swallowed hard, wishing she had a drink. Her throat was dry, and her heart was hammering. She chanced a sound and pushed a few words between her teeth. “Yeah,” she said softly. “A vision.”
He seemed to consider that and nodded slowly, pulling his arm back a bit to let her stand on her own. “You okay now?”
She nodded, let him step back completely, and her gaze slipped to the sheer drop.
“What happens when I fall off this thing?” she asked, thinking of the slipperiness of smooth stones, of the general clumsiness of humans, and of things like visions trying to kill her.
Nicholas let her go completely and said, “You won’t.”
She moved to the center of the walk and looked back up at him. “How do you know?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Go ahead. Try to jump off.”
Her eyebrows hit the heavens. “You serious right now?”
But instead of respond, he simply smiled bigger and began leaning out toward the cliff’s drop. Addie’s eyes widened. “No, don’t!” She rushed forward, intent on pulling him back toward the trail, but as it happened, she needn’t have bothered. He leaned only so far before he simply stopped, and it was as if he were leaning against an invisible wall.
She stared at the image a while – him, completely diagonal to the trail, grinning ear to ear and absolutely nothing holding him up. Then she said, “How the hell?”
“The Carnival was created for me when I was a child,” he said. “The Realm made it. And to protect me, safeguards were built into the spell that built it. You literally can’t be hurt here. He straightened and dropped his arms. “That’s how I knew you’d be safe from Nero.” His smile was gone now. His eyes had lightened into silver again.
“What if it only protects you?” she countered. “I’m not the Nightmare King. What if I’d leaned out and fallen to my death?”
He chuckled. “Believe me, it wouldn’t happen.” He shoved himself back up with one hand and strode past her on the path, looking over his shoulder every now and then to continue their conversation. “I can invite anyone here I wish, and the Carnival will protect them. I’ve had thousands of people visit since it was created.” He had been moving fast, and she’d had to move faster to keep up, but now he stopped again, put his hands on his hips, and looked out over the turning, twinkling lights.
She couldn’t blame him. It was a breathtaking sight. She wished she could sprout wings and fly over it.
“You want to fly over it, don’t you?”
She looked over to find Nicholas watching her closely. The beauty of the man struck her again in that moment. His thick jet-black hair was tousled by the wind and made him look a little like an anime character the way it shaded his glowing eyes. His chin was strong, his shoulders so broad. The outline of him against the night sky was worthy of Wuthering Heights desire. He looked raw and powerful. A fallen angel. That’s what he reminded her of.
Suddenly, she felt a little uncomfortable having him pay her so much attention. So she looked away. Once again, it was hard. His gaze pulled at her sometimes, as if it were a physical thing. “Of course,” she said whimsically, tossing her messed up hair and shrugging as nonchalantly as she could. “Who wouldn’t?”
He was silent a moment. So she looked back at him.
His eyes had only become more intense.
He strode toward her, slowly and with purpose. “I can arrange that, Adelaide.”
Addie stared up at him as his presence washed over her, warm and tingly. She felt a heat make its way through her body and her legs went weak. She backed up against the cliff side, but he didn’t stop until he was standing over her, tall, strong, and indomitable.
“What… do you mean by that?” she asked. Her voice was tiny; it pissed her off, but the man before her was so massive in stature.
His gaze was hot on her skin as he looked from her lips to her neck, and back into her eyes. His hand cupped the side of her face. It was like a brand it was so hot. He was so hot, and suddenly she felt as if she’d been cold her whole life and here was the man who could warm her to the marrow of her bones, defrost her spirit, and comfort her as no one else ever had.
“I can make you fly, Addie. I can give you wings.”
She laughed, a tight nervous chuckle. “S-sure,” she said. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
When in doubt, quote Meatloaf.
“Not even close.” He slowly lowered his hand, then stepped back, drawing near the ledge of the walkway. He was so close, debris broke off from beneath his boots and tumbled into the nothingness below. But she continued to watch as a breeze picked up, brushing through his hair. The glow in his eyes went from silver to pink, and then red. He raised his arms out at his sides and turned his face to the night sky. The ground rumbled. Lightning split the Cosmos in the distance.
Thunder rolled low and long overhead. Addie wanted to say something, to do something, maybe even run, but she was held immobile in fascination. A black smoke-like fog rose from the ground, thick and hypnotic, and began to swirl around Nick’s form, wrapping around him like the coils of a snake.
As she looked on, his form vanished beneath this curtain of black, and the black expanded, developing wings of smoke on either side. They unfolded, stretching eight feet in either direction, massive and beautiful.
Little by little, the smoke drifted off, caught on the breeze to be carried into oblivion. Leaving behind the tall, larger than life form of Nicholas Wargrave – with wings. Addie knew her eyes were enormous, knew her mouth was open, and knew that she was staring dumbly. But she couldn’t help it.
They were like a raven’s wings, composed of thick, shining black feathers and strong muscle, and Addie would have given anything in that moment to run her hands over them. The sparkling lights of the Carnival of Night glittered behind him, and his face was in shadow. But for those glowing red eyes.
She felt breathless.
Breathe, she told herself. Breathe now.
“All Nightmares have wings, Addie,” he said smoothly, his voice deep and melodic and as tangible and real and beautiful as those wings. “So you will have them too.”
What? she thought haplessly.
“You’ve been dying to ask the question, so ask it,” he told her, his eyes blatantly hungry. “Why you?” He stepped toward her. “Why did Minnaea and Andros and I single you out? Why are we protecting you? Why did the Challenger go after you? And why,” he said, gesturing to the Carnival without taking his eyes off her, “have I brought you here?”
“Okay,” she breathed, her voice a mere whisper. “You got me. Why me?”
“Because, Addie,” he said, his expression becoming earnest as he came into the light of the overhead full moon, and she could finally see his entire face.
He was a being from the depths of a woman’s darkest fantasy, a secret and tearing desire, a desperate longing, magnificent and deadly and impossibly unreal. His handsome brow furrowed, and his lips parted again, revealing bright white, perfectly sharp fangs. “You are destined to rule this realm beside me, Adelaide.” He paused, possibly waiting for the words to sink past her mind and into her soul. “You are the Nightmare Queen.”