Song of Blood and Reign

Chapter 40

But Dark Lyv only chuckled. "Not yet."

***

Lyv sat up, heart pounding in her chest as she struggled to breathe. Her hands were clutching the sheets, hair sticking to the side of her face. She was shaking as she pulled her knees to her chest, resting her forehead against them, and inhaled through her nose and out through her mouth. It took her a moment, but she was finally able to calm herself enough for her to think straight.

"Lyvi?" a whispered voice said from beside her.

Lyv looked over at Elys, still half asleep in the bed beside her, cuddled up with his stuffed dragon. "It's all right, baby. Go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."

The little boy sighed and buried his face back into his pillow, falling back to sleep in an instant. Swallowing hard, Lyv settled down beside him for a few more minutes before she got up for the day. She could lie here with him for a few more hours if she wanted. She knew he wouldn't have minded if it gave him time to have her all to himself.

After leaving Jai at the party the night before, Lyv found herself fading into the semi-darkness of Elys's room. Posy had spent the night in Elys's room, too, having had someone move her bed to the table beside his. Both the little boy and tiny pixie were already tucked in and fast asleep, but Elys woke just as she was pulling back the covers to slide in beside him. He snuggled into her as soon as she did and she held on as tightly as she could before she fell asleep.

But then the nightmare began. The same one that only seemed to get more and more real with every night it came.

And she couldn't stop the shadows from curling around her forearms to her wrists, weaving through her fingers. Closing her hands into fists, she was able to smother them, suffocating them with light.

Jai's face came into her mind then, the worry that coursed through him and he finally let her see. He had a right to be worried about her, but she hadn't old him why. He was figuring it out, though, especially after what happened the night before.

It wasn't like Lyv was trying to learn the darkness. She was doing it unwillingly, trying to learn it to control it and keep it contained. No matter what she did, though, it only seemed to be getting stronger.

Along with the glow of the obsidian stone beneath the skin of her forearm, which was glowing just a little bit brighter after what happened the night before with both Jai and her nightmare. So much so that it would be more difficult to hide when she was only wearing a long sleeve tunic. Now, it was showing through the fabric.

Slowly pulling herself from Elys's bed, Lyv padded barefoot over to the bathing room and closed the door silently behind her. After a few minutes of freshening herself up, she used magic to make her leather riding gear and boots appear on the stone counter in front of, foregoing having to go into her and Jai's rooms to grab them from her side of the wardrobe. After changing and braiding her hair into two thick plaits, she kissed Elys's forehead and left the room to let him sleep just a little while longer.

Lyv could hear Jai stirring from inside their room as she passed the door, but didn't go inside. She needed time for herself, time to refocus on keeping the darkness at bay by herself. She knew Jai wanted to help in any way he could, but this was something she needed to tackle on her own for now.

It was early enough that no one else was out of their rooms, so Lyv was by herself as she walked through the palace. Laurel and Michel seemed to be up whenever she passed their closed door, speaking softly as Archer was feeding. Apparently, they couldn't let their son be away with his grandmother all through the night, but Lyv probably would have been able to either. Laurel laughed quietly at something Michel said before there was the sound of a kiss.