The Thief King

22 | The Moon and the Storm

Once a year, on a cold winter night, in the darkest corner of the Lowies, in a small home bathed in the light from a single window, a girl is ravaged by nightmares. And not just any nightmares; no monsters chase her, no endless drop threatens her, nor is there blood and violence. All she sees is a face. A face Sera wished to see again, but not in her nightmares. Not a scary face. In fact, it's one that evoked comfort, peace, and warmth. A face she yearned to touch, yearned to speak with, yearned to kiss, and yet it was lost to her forever.

Tears streaked down her cheeks as she awoke with a gasp, eyes sore and puffy. The sheets lay in a tangled mess at her feet. She had been thrashing again. Usually, Kole would wake her, pull her to him and ease her out of the nightmare, but no warm body lay next to her. His strong arms were not there to comfort her and hold her. There was no sound of a steady heart under her cheek nor that of a deep reassuring voice at her ear. She shivered and pulled the covers back up, wondering where he was and what trouble he was in.

He'd never missed this night. Never had she woken to him not being there, and the absence stung. He should have been there. He should have known. What had kept him away? She recalled last year. How he had not even slept. She had scolded him.

"You didn't need to stay awake." Her tears had persisted in falling, and he had stroked them away with calloused thumbs.

"And if I had been in the throes of an irresistible, beguiling dream, I would have missed the moment to save you."

She had smiled inspite of her misery and curled against his side. The kiss he had placed had been strong and reassuring. The pull towards him had been magnetic and possessive. The message was clear, her nightmares were his nightmares. Just as she shared his burdens no matter how he tried to hide them.

The year before that she had screamed so loud Hannah had rushed in.

"Go back to bed, Sparrow. Sera's fine," Kole had said, pulling Sera's shaking body towards him.

"But she..." Hannah rubbed at her eyes. "Can I stay for a while?"

Sera had nodded against Kole's chest, and he must have agreed for the next moment, Hannah was rubbing her back.

Waking up alone, in a bed that should have been her harbour felt like a book falling from a shelf it had sat upon all its life. She shivered again and fought off the tears. New tears. Tears of frustration and worry. Where was he?

As if to answer her question, the door opened and Kole stepped in. He blinked, surprised to find her awake. Despite his bruised face and surprise, Sera felt something slip into place, like stars aligning just for a night.

He exhaled and stepped towards the bed. "Nightmare?" he asked, his hand reached for her but then dropping again.

Sera watched it fall to his side, a question on her lips, stilted by her confusion. She nodded slowly and raised herself to her knees. She reached for him, his hand was limp in hers. Detached.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

The question undid him. How was it she could be asking after his well-being after waking from the nightmare? A nightmare he knew gave her nightmares just thinking of. It had plagued her ever since her mother died and unravelled the fragile peace she had made with it. One night a year she broke down. One night a year she allowed her mother to haunt her. One night a year he had never missed. Until now. She had looked so raw, so vulnerable and beautiful lying alone in the sheets. A perfect visage of misery, it had cracked his porcelain guise, and this question, this selfless enquiry, was a chisel poised to strike upon the fissure.