Chapter Forty-Two
The first thing Adelaide heard when the universe decided to return to her was the voice of Andros, Nicholas’s preceptor. She recognized it at once, deep and powerful, the voice of a protector. Not only Nicholas’s protector, she realized. But hers too.
“My liege, you really must return to your human form!”
She opened her eyes, pushing at them as if they’d gained weight. When she could finally see, she found herself staring up at a massive, dark and blurry form. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision.
There were actually several forms around her. But the largest, the darkest, and the one that had her attention and held it fast, was most certainly the Nightmare King. In all of his Nightmare glory.
She parted her lips and tried to speak. But her throat felt gunky. So she closed her mouth and cleared her throat again.
“It might be hard to talk at first,” said the woman beside her. “You probably had blood in your throat, though I hope I cleared most of that out.”
Adelaide recognized the voice, but vaguely. She looked at the woman to find light purple eyes staring back at her. Now she remembered. She was the woman from the airplane. Eva… or something like that. Evangeline. That was right.
She tried to say her name, but it came out very scratchy. She cleared her throat again and looked back at the Nightmare King.
“Your majesty, the queen is okay. She will be fine. Now I must insist that you –”
“Shut up, Andros,” said Nicholas. His voice was deep, dark, and wonderfully frightening. Adelaide found herself smiling. She felt a warmth in her eyes and knew they were changing colors.
Nicholas stared down at her through red glowing orbs and grinned, flashing his long, sharp fangs. “There’s my girl.”
Eva turned where she was kneeling and looked up at the monstrous form beside her. “Dude, you’re enormous.” She laughed, sounding a little tired. “That’s pretty bitching.”
Nicholas’s smile stayed in place as he leaned in, scooted his arms underneath Adelaide, and pulled her gently into his lap.
She cleared her throat again and said, “Hi.”
“Hi back,” he growled.
Eva cleared her own throat. “This is sweet. But your bodyguard over there is probably right. You should probably shelve the awesomeness for now.” She seemed to be looking past Nicholas at something else, and she looked a little worried suddenly. “I have a feeling this stasis spell isn’t going to last much longer.”
Nicholas rubbed his thumb over Adelaide’s cheek, gently brushing a lock of her curly hair from her face. Then he nodded and closed his eyes. His shadow seemed to lengthen. It grew longer and darker, bigger and thicker, until it consumed the light around him, wrapping him in a protective veil of black. Addie felt that darkness against her skin since he was holding her. It was cool and soft, like those black satin sheets on his massive bed.
And then it lifted away, wisps of shadow turned to tendrils of fog that dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind Nicholas Wargrave in his very handsome, but once more human form.
“Damn,” she teased softly, since softly was the only way she could speak at the moment. “Gone too soon.”
Nicholas chuckled. “I can fix that later. Think you feel well enough to sit up?”
“I feel fine,” she said, speaking the truth. She knew she’d been shot. She remembered the impact. But at the moment, nothing hurt, and her limbs felt fine, and – “Oh crap,” she said a little louder this time. “Where is Rachel?”
Nicholas blinked. Then he frowned. “Actually, I don’t know,” he told her as he looked up, and she used his body to help her get into a sitting position. Now she saw everyone who was around her.
Including Rodney.
“Rodney?” she asked, confused.
He smiled. “Hi boss. We have a lot to talk about. But not now. We’ll talk later.”
She wanted to smile back at him, but something was different. There was a white-pink aura, for lack of a better word, around his form. It shimmered a little like the pixie dust sparkle that enveloped the Crystal Carousel in the Carnival of Night.
“He’s a mage,” supplied Nicholas. “That’s what you’re seeing.”
Rodney looked at Nicholas, and Nick shrugged apologetically. “She’s noticing the aura around you. She’s gaining her ability to see souls.” He turned to Adelaide. “You’re becoming the Nightmare Queen. You’re going to notice a lot of new things,” he told her. “And… I have a feeling that’s why you were able to outrun me back there.”
“She outran all of us,” said Andros. “I’ve never seen anyone move so fast.” He shook his head, his expression bewildered and impressed. “All I can say is, I’m glad the queens are supposed to be so much stronger than the kings, because with moves like that, Minnaea and I won’t be able to protect you.”
“You won’t have to,” said Nicholas. “I will protect her.”
Addie shook her head. “That’s my caveman.”
“Girl can protect herself,” came a new but familiar voice. Addie turned around on the floor and looked up. Minnaea was walking toward them, smiling. “Now that she seems to have made the switch, I don’t think she’ll have any trouble seeing to her own safety.”
Addie blushed a little when her face grew hot. Because she may be changing and growing stronger – but all it had managed to do so far was get her killed. Or very nearly, anyway. And they all knew it. Fortunately, they were kind enough not to say anything.
Minnaea was holding a young girl by the hand as they approached. Adelaide recognized her at once.
Rachel.
Rachel Reyes had red-rimmed eyes, slightly puffy from what had clearly been a bout of serious crying. She looked up as Minnaea led her down the hall, but just after making eye contact with Addie, she looked back down again, and her upper lip quivered. She was a mess.
Addie’s heart broke. This was a huge fucking mess. And in the end, deep down, she couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was really Rachel’s fault.
“Adelaide, you already know Rachel Reyes,” Minnaea said as they stopped beside them, and Nicholas helped Adelaide get to her feet. She felt good. Unusually strong, actually. She glanced at Evangeline, and caught her gaze. Eva smiled, nodding just once.
Addie turned back to Rachel. Her aura burned bright as a star, but it had tears around its edges, as if it had been brushed with sandpaper on a dry day. It was damaged. She was hurt. Far more hurt than Adelaide was now. She was as hurt as Adelaide had been twenty years ago.
“You already know about her bullies,” said Minnaea, who turned around and settled a burning mad gaze on several young women caught in the stasis spell not far away. “We’ll be dealing with them soon enough.” She turned back to Addie. “What you don’t know is that Rachel here… is a seer too.”
Addie looked from Minnaea to Rachel, who again met her gaze, this time just a touch more confidently. Rachel took a shaky breath, one inhibited by a pent-up sob. “I… I saw you,” she said, a mere hair’s width away from breaking down again. “In-in my d-dreams. And then, when you were here, and s-suddenly in the hall….” She broke off, and the sob escaped. She lowered her head, placing her face in her hands.
Adelaide was moving before she could even think about what she was doing. At once, she rushed forward and wrapped the young girl in her arms. “I’m okay,” she told Rachel. “I’m okay. Alright? I’m alive. I’m just fine. Everything is going to be okay.”
She squeezed the girl tight as Rachel sobbed into her shirt. “I’m so sorry!” Rachel screamed. “I didn’t even know what I was doing! I barely remember it… only in flashes, r-red and dark… and then I pulled the trigger, and… you were there!”
Adelaide closed her eyes. “And I’m here right now too,” she told her. Then she pulled back and grasped Rachel firmly by the upper arms. “Look at me, Rachel.” There was power in her voice, power she’d never heard there before. It was new – but it was good.
Rachel hiccupped – but her sobs calmed. She gave a shudder and looked up into Adelaide’s eyes.
“Rachel, you’ve been terribly mistreated, and everything that happened here today happened because of that. So listen to me now and hear me. No one is ever going to mistreat you again. Do you understand?” More power laced her words – more magic.
Rachel nodded, and Addie noticed that one of the ragged edges to her aura smoothed out. A warmth flooded Addie’s chest. She smiled. “But there’s more, Rachel. The world is so much more than this tiny bubble of hell you’ve been subjected to. There’s magic out there,” she told the young seer. “And you’re a part of it.”