Page 28 of Renegade Kingdom
The nightmare stirred in my mind, suddenly alert. Interested. Wary.
“If you hurt this man,” Alyssa said, each word a blade wrapped in silk, “if you don’t leave him now, I will find a way to reach inside his mind and tear you apart. There will be no escaping the pain I will unleash on you. I will make it feel like an eternity before I finally let you embrace death.”
The nightmare recoiled.
I felt it. Actually felt it flinch away from her words, from the promise in her voice. This ancient thing that had tormented me for months, that had laughed at every attempt to fight it, that had seemed so utterly invincible...
It was afraid.
Alyssa looked at me one more time, her expression softening.
“I’m going to get stronger,” she said. “And then I’m coming back for you. One way or another, Damon. I’m going to save you.”
Then she turned and climbed the ladder, leaving me alone in the darkness once more.
But this time, the darkness didn’t feel quite so absolute.
The nightmare was still there. Still watching. Still waiting. But something had shifted between us. The balance of power had tilted, just slightly.
Because the nightmare was afraid of her.
And for the first time since this whole ordeal began, I was the one laughing.
What’s so funny, little human?
The nightmare’s voice was sharper than usual. Defensive. Almost... uncertain.
“You,” I said. And I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my face. “You’re afraid of her. You’re actually afraid.”
Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not afraid of anything.
“Liar.”
I closed my eyes, still smiling, and let myself drift toward something that might have been sleep.
The nightmare didn’t have a response to that.
And somewhere deep inside me, in that place where the last fragments of hope had been hiding, a tiny flame sparked back to life.
Maybe, just maybe, I was going to survive this after all.
Chapter Eight
Alyssa
Icouldn’t stop thinking about Damon.
The way his eyes had looked when my magic pushed the nightmare back. That single, perfect moment of peace on his face before the darkness crashed back in. The desperate hope I’d seen there, and the way it had shattered when he realised it wouldn’t last.
I’d done that. Somehow, without any training or understanding of how, I’d reached inside his mind and given him silence. Even if it was only for a few moments.
My magic hummed beneath my skin, restless and eager in a way it had never been before. Something had changed. Something fundamental had shifted inside me, and I didn’t know when or how. I was pretty sure it happened since I’d stepped into that ring of stones and opened up the portal to Nymeria. It had been so slow at first that I hadn’t noticed, but I could feel the difference now. It was impossible not to.
The potential of it thrummed through my veins. It almost felt like it was waiting. Like a storm building on the horizon, full of power I didn’t know how to control.
What if I could save Damon myself?
The thought seized me with a sudden, desperate intensity. What if we didn’t need to risk him with the bite at all? What if I could get strong enough, fast enough, to reach into his mind and tear that nightmare out by its roots?
