Beautiful nightmares, p.79
Beautiful Nightmares, page 79
What they’d known was coming, I thought again. The next light on the path inside my head was Savannah. I saw her tear-streaked face and the mad light in her eyes as she spat, Someone is coming for you. The aura is closer now. That night, you opened a door that shouldn’t have been opened, Fortuna. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?
She’d been talking about the Door I opened by making a deal with a demon. A Door to Hell.
Hell. The next light shone eagerly, pulling me toward it. Feeling numb, I thought of the sulfur smell Vulen had detected within Belanor’s mind. What we’d mistaken for demonic possession had just been manic devotion. Belanor was nothing more than a tool, a pawn. He’d been a vulnerable child, scorned for his weakness, and someone had seen potential in a young royal’s pain. That someone had sent a witch to carry out his bidding. The terrible spell that had been forcibly performed on Belanor wasn’t to allow a demon to take hold… it had been to give someone access.
The spell. The brand. Yet another light came on along the brightening path. I remembered Jacob’s horror when he realized the binding on my power was gone. His laughter rang in my ears. You think our kind has been pushed to the brink of extinction because of hunters?
It hadn’t been hunters, I could see that now—it had just been one. One creature who could communicate with anyone that performed dark magic, like Åsa and the witch from Belanor’s violent childhood memory. I’d already figured out that Åsa and Belanor had both been desperate for Nightmares because they’d both served the same master; I just hadn’t put together that it had involved my entire species. All of us hunted and slaughtered for one agenda, one sinister purpose. A powerful individual with access to a variety of Fallenkind to search for Nightmares, far and wide, like Jacob Goldmann, Fortuna Sworn, and a countless number of others throughout history. Fallenkind that included Belanor and the cherubim.
Another light winked into existence within my head. The cherubim.
Just before Laurie killed Arcaena, the faerie and I had spoken briefly. I’d blamed her for the creatures that destroyed Bea’s bar, and even then her surprise had seemed genuine to me. Cherubim, you say? They are the mongrels of the underworld. You have made some powerful enemies, little Nightmare, if cherubim are after you.
She must’ve known, damn her. In that moment, she’d known what I was up against, and withholding it from me was Arcaena’s final revenge for killing her twin. More consequences to the reckless choices.
There had been one other person who could’ve told me, I thought with a rush of helpless frustration. He hadn’t withheld the truth from me out of pettiness, at least. I pictured Jacob’s face again, just before he’d left in a lurch of car exhaust and terror. Sometimes, he can reach you in your dreams.
My dreams.
Arcaena and Jacob weren’t the only people who’d known about the one hunting me. My parents had figured out the truth, somehow, and they’d done everything to stop him. Even binding my power and making it useless, as Dad had said in that cave. He was protecting me. Just as he’s protecting me now, I thought slowly.
Reliving the last time I spoke with my father, I saw his wide eyes, felt the desperation in his fingers as he grabbed my hands. He’d seen that golden-haired person in my head and realized what was happening. Wait. Fortuna, hold on. That wasn’t me, in your dream, do you understand?
Matthew Sworn was long dead, and not even the bleak divide of death had stopped him from being the brave father I remembered from my childhood.
There was no time to linger near the warmth of this light, because I was realizing there was one other person I was forgetting. One other person who’d learned of the danger lurking in my future. Nym had also tried to warn me, in his own confused, desperate way. In my mind’s eye, I saw all those broken clocks and the ancient faerie standing in the middle of them, his skin white, his body frail. Still beautiful, despite the tragicness of that moment, or maybe even because of it. I heard his hoarse, terrified whisper. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
My eyes flew back to the golden-haired stranger standing in that mirror.
I was at the end of the mental path now. There were no more lights, no more blinding truths to lighten the dark. We’d only been standing there a few seconds, but it felt like a small eternity had passed since I opened the door. The male smiled, slow and smoldering. The sight of it evoked such an instant, powerful response from my body it was immediately followed by an avalanche of terror that sent a rush of cold through me.
There had been so many signs. So many painfully obvious clues. I should’ve seen them sooner. Why hadn’t I fucking seen them?
Survival instincts scrambled to gain purchase. I thought of everything I knew about the figure currently filling my doorway. His faces were legion. His names even more so.
“It’s nice to finally meet in person, Fortuna Sworn,” he said warmly, interrupting my desperate efforts.
That voice—it made me think of silk bedsheets and bare skin. Something in me clenched. I held the door knob tighter, fighting to hold onto reason. Names, I’d been thinking of names.
Serpent. Tempter. Beast. Adversary. Wanderer. Dragon. Rebel. My mind whispered one more, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. The stranger’s smile widened, as if he heard it anyway. I took a short, shuddering breath and let it out. At that moment, I heard it, too.
Lucifer.
END OF BOOK FOUR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K.J. Sutton lives in Minnesota with her two rescue dogs. She has received multiple awards for her work, and she graduated with a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Hamline University.
When she’s writing, K.J. always has a cup of Vanilla Chai in her hand and despises wearing anything besides pajamas. K.J. Sutton also writes young adult novels as Kelsey Sutton.
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K.J. Sutton, Beautiful Nightmares
