A Court of Ash and Necromancy

1. Reoccuring Nightmares

    The dream began as it always did. With Mikael falling to his death. That was how she knew she was dreaming. She knew her mate was alive. She knew he had survived the fall. She knew the male who stood before her now was dead. She was the one who'd driven a stone blade through his skull.

She knew, and yet, the dream kept coming. It never changed. She relived those terrible moments over and over again. There was no relief. There was no end. Again and again and again.

"Say goodbye, Bastard Lordling." Ze'ev's voice grew more unnerving each time she heard it. It was coarse and rough. Low and dark. It was the voice of a male who was dead. Of a male who controlled the dead. 

Mikael clawed at Ze'ev's hand, wrapped around his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head. She knew what was coming. She was screaming already. Ze'ev hurled Mikael's body over the cliff, and she fell to her knees near the edge, unsure of when she'd even begun to run.

    He survived. He survived. He survived.

    The words rang empty in her ears. Mikael was gone. Her mate was gone, dead at the bottom of the gorge. His bones shattered, his neck broken, blood pooling beneath him. His feathered wings, as beautiful and white as freshly fallen snow, crushed and mangled beneath him.

    Ze'ev grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground. She didn't struggle. She didn't try to fight. She stared into his empty black eyes. At the pale hollow features with protruding black veins. At the monster he had become. She stared at the face that haunted her. At the face she could not forget.

    "I told you I would kill him," Ze'ev sneered. "And as for you..." Inky black magic swirled around his fingers as he lifted his free hand. "I am going to tear you to pieces."

    He grabbed her face with his glowing hand, and she began screaming anew as her skin peeled itself from her bones. Ze'ev was laughing. She was screaming. She clawed at his hands, at her own face, her nails digging into her exposed flesh. Through her screams, through his laughs, she heard a distant cry. It sounded familiar. It sounded like...

◦═══✦═══◦

   "Batsy, wake up!"

    Estelle jolted awake, kicking her legs and screaming as she clawed at her face. "Batsy. Estelle! It was a dream." Mikael grabbed her hands, forcing them away from her face. His chestnut eyes were wide with concern. "It was a dream." Her cheeks stung as Estelle pried her hands away from Mikael and bolted to the bathroom.

    She crashed to her knees beside the toilet and vomited, trembling with fear. Shadows brushed across her shoulders and squeezed her arms, whispering words of comfort. We tried to reach you, they said, but we couldn't this time. We are sorry.

    Estelle didn't reply. She gripped the rim of the toilet hard enough to whiten her knuckles. Soft footsteps rustled behind her. "Don't touch me," she rasped as Mikael knelt behind her.

    "It was just another dream," Mikael murmured. "You're all right, Batsy." He stroked the Mating Bond gently. Estelle reached for the gleaming strand in her chest.

    That sensation and the nickname grounded her, but only slightly. She didn't remember her own name when she was stuck in the dream. She didn't recognize it, even when Mikael shouted it in her ear. They'd discovered that she knew Batsy and could always hear it, no matter how bad the dream was, so that was what Mikael yelled now when he was trying to wake her. It's what he called her when he tried to soothe her.

    Estelle flushed the toilet and stood on shaking legs. She rinsed her mouth out repeatedly in the sink, then paused, catching sight of her reflection. Her cheeks were raw with deep scratches. Blood welled up along several of them. Mikael waited behind her, combing his fingers through curly brown hair.