A Singer Queen’s Nightmare
It was in her mind again, cackling, laughing, dragging at it with dark talons. She’d lost count of how it’d been going on for, and could remember nothing but the agony pounding at her mind. She couldn’t do anything but press her temples in her hands and sob, the tears running sticky tracks down her face as her head split open from the inside, the claws latching onto the walls of her mind and dragging, dragging, dragging…
With a scream, Coriane Jacos bolted upright and clutched a hand to her chest, drenched in sweat, gulping great mouthfuls of air. It was just a dream, she reassured herself between gasps, None of it was real, Coriane, calm down.
But she knew, despite her feeble attempts to calm herself down, that it wasn’t. And, even worse, she knew exactly who’d done it…
Her head snapped around at the sound of her name, but her breathing calmed at the sight of her husband, Tiberias VI, reaching over to her from across the bed. Worry shone in his eyes, even as she tried to smile reassuringly at him. “It’s ok, Tibe, it was just a dream. Go back to sleep.”
He shifted upright and rubbed at his eyes, and Coriane smiled at how handsome he looked, hair disheveled from sleep and cheeks flushed. Tibe wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into his warmth, burying her head in his chest. She couldn’t escape the nightmares that plagued her every time she slept, but at least she knew there was someone there for her, to hold her when things got too bad. “It was another one of those, wasn’t it.”
She hugged him back before she replied. “Yes.”
He sighed deeply into her hair and stroked her back rhythmically, soothing her. “If only there were something I could do. I can’t just exile Elara, she’s too important and the repercussions of me doing that unprovoked would be disastrous, especially if House Merandus-”
With a pointed look, he whispered back. “No, darling, it’s not. You and I both know who’s behind this, and I’m still powerless to stop her.” He pressed his forehead into her shoulder before muttering, “Some king I am, if I can’t even protect the woman I love.”
Warmth bloomed in her chest as he said that. He had told her that he loved her before, but even now it was still unbelievable to her how she had actually married Tibe, regardless of the outrage of the Houses at having no Queenstrial.
“Tibe, you’re a great king. All of Norta knows it, and I do too. Don’t be so hard on yourself- it’s Elara’s doing, not yours.” She cupped his face and leaned up to press a kiss against his warm cheek, as he mumbled, “I still wish there was something I could do.”
She smiled softly. “Just hold me.”
They settled back into the sheets, her back to him and his arms wrapped around her middle. For a few moments, she couldn’t feel anything inside her head and drifted off to sleep, in the warmth of her husband’s embrace.
But, before long, there was an echoing laugh and the scraping of claws, and suddenly, she didn’t feel warm or safe anymore.
Coriane Jacos just felt trapped, inside her own mind.
