Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 416

Chapter 416: Timing is important
Anaisa felt ill. Somehow the journey back through the tunnels was far worse than the way out. She didn’t even know how.

By the time she was deposited on the strange black stone bridge, she began to dry heave.

A completely undignified posture to have in front of royalty.

“Pardon me,” She gasped, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Sapphira, meanwhile, seemed as green as Anaisa felt.

“You didn’t tell me it would be that bad,” She complained with a wrinkled nose.

“It’s impossible to describe how bad it is. You can’t blame me for that.”

“Surely I can.” Sapphira cut a glance at her. “I can blame anyone for anything I want to. That’s one of the benefits of being a princess.”

“Those days are long past when it comes to me,” Anaisa remembered the earliest time of their acquaintance, when she was Sapphira’s body double and maid. Blamed for everything from candles burning out to food not being exactly what the royal wanted.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sapphira rose to her feet and brushed herself off grandly, assuming the posture of a young royal. “Let’s be off then. Darling, are you all right?”

Ben had his right hand clenched into a fist and pressed against his mouth. Anaisa almost giggled at how serious Ben tried to appear sometimes. He was a perfect fit for the flighty and carefree princess.

Witty enough to match her, steady enough to ground her.

“I’m quite well,” He cut out the words quickly, in such a way that Anaisa knew he likely wasn’t.

He rushed to the edge of the bridge suddenly, and then lost his stomach contents over it.

Anaisa felt it would be cruel to giggle at the man, and so she turned away, casting her eyes back towards the parapets of the black place.

“Darling!” Sapphira rushed to his side. “Oh dear. You poor thing. Maybe you’re with child!”

Anaisa broke at that, laughing out loud as Ben coughed and sputtered at the bizarre, mocking conclusion of his wife.

“Sapphira!” Anaisa chided. “That was too mean.”

“It’s what he says to me every time I’m ill,” The princess defended herself lightly.

“Never again,” Ben vowed with a queasy glance.

“Come.”

The single syllable from the wight’s mouth dampened the levity of the two women. There was serious work to do. Anaisa waited patiently for Ben to find his feet, then walked alongside the ghostly figure, leading the royal couple through the halls of the castle.

“What a strange place!” Sapphira exclaimed. “Did they build it themselves?”

“Diplomacy, Darling,” Ben reminded gently.

“Strange is a compliment. I have no idea how they made it, nor of what. They obviously possess great architectural talent.” Sapphira tilted her head. “Did you build this… Sir?”

She paused, examining the wight more closely. “Ma’am?”

A panicked glance at Anaisa could only be met with a shrug. The former countess had no clue.

“Is there any information you can provide to aid us in successfully calming the Emperor and reinstating peace?” Anaisa asked calmly.

The wight paused its progression through the hall and turned to face her. Its deep black eyes and milky white pupils seemed to bore into her.

She refused to be cowed, maintaining a neutral expression. The wights had kidnapped her husband and kept him from her. Forced him to work tirelessly to contain their leader’s rage.

That was something that they should be responsible for doing themselves, in her opinion.

Still, humanity had not been destroyed, and so she could maintain a polite working relationship with these enigmatic beings. At least, that was what she hoped for.

“Hates humans. Beg.”

It was the most words Anaisa had heard at one time. Encouraged, she pressed for more.

“If he hates humans, what persuaded him into the treaty the first time?”

She knew the fairy tale, but that particular detail was glaringly absent in light of this new information. Why would he make a treaty with less powerful beings he hates?

The wight stared a moment longer, then turned down the hallway. “Come.”

Anaisa suppressed a flash of irritation. Perhaps it was going to show the humans something, rather than ignore her question entirely. She could hope.

Her hopes were in vain, she realized, as they came closer to the enormous door she recognized.

“Did I mention that the Emperor is incredibly large?” She said over her shoulder to Ben and Sapphira.

“Are these hallways made for his size?” Ben gestured around, and Anaisa nodded with a wry expression. He gulped. “I’m glad we’re only facing him asleep.”

“Well, that’s the plan, anyway,” Anaisa was suddenly nervous.

In theory, Trace could take her into someone else’s dreams. He’d taken her to his own often enough. But the dangers in the Emperor’s dreams were far greater than anything she had ever faced with her husband.

And could he take more than one person? She didn’t want to send Ben or Sapphira alone, with such limited information. Not that she didn’t have confidence in their abilities, it was just that… Well, she had trouble trusting anyone else to do something she thought herself suited for.

If Trace could have talked the Emperor out of his destructive mood, he would have done so already. The best he could do was contain the horror inside the dream.

Anaisa desperately wanted to help. She’d helped retrieve an ambassador–two, in fact, who probably would have attacked the dragons if she hadn’t been there to talk them into coming.

But was that contribution enough? Surely she should do more?

They came to the room itself, and Anaisa paused.

“Denholm is probably in there with them. Ignore him as best you can. He should be executed, but… if you want my opinion, Your Royal Highnesses,” She used their formal titles to soften the advice she was about to give, “I think we have higher priorities than taking him down at this precise moment.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, for she wasn’t their superior and couldn’t demand one. When she turned into the room, it was with a false air of confidence.

Until she saw blood dripping from the edge of the coverlet.