Odesse and Valex sat close together on the edge of the mattress, soft velvet blankets pooled around their waists.

Odesse’s voice was barely above a murmur. "The groom... he was so certain Eryx has been acting differently, my king... for months now."

Valex didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached out, his large, warm palm resting softly on her lap. The grounding weight of his hand drew her gaze downward before she slowly looked back up to meet his eyes. His features were completely soft as he looked at her.

"So, what do you want to do, my love?" he asked, his tone gentle and yielding.

Odesse let out a breath she felt she had been holding all evening, her shoulders dropping. "I do not know, my king. I tried going into the spirit realm to seek guidance from the Moon Spirit, but it... it feels as if it has vanished entirely. The pathways are quiet." She reached down, her smaller fingers wrapping around his hand, squeezing tightly as her eyes searched his. "My king, I have a terrible feeling. A weight in my chest tells me that whatever is coming won’t just affect Eryx; it will affect us both."

Hearing the tremor in her voice, Valex didn’t hesitate. He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close against his chest, tucking her head securely under his chin. His fingers tangled in the long silk of her hair, holding her as if he could shield her from the very future itself.

"No," he said, his voice dropping into a fierce, unwavering vow. "It will not. As long as you are here with me, and I am with you, nothing shall touch us."

He began caressing her arm in slow, soothing strokes, urging her to relax against him. But as Odesse leaned into him, Valex’s gaze locked onto the dancing flames of the hearth, his internal thoughts turning dark and fiercely protective. "Whenever she has these kinds of thoughts, it means something bad is about to happen. Something is coming. I cannot let anything happen to her—not now, not ever. If anything happens to her, it would take my breath away."

Pressed against his chest, Odesse felt the steady, powerful rhythm of his heart, but her hands tightened against his shirt. The anxiety in her mind was suffocating. "My heart won’t stop racing. This dread... it’s choking me. And the feeling keeps pointing to him." To the king. A sudden, terrifying wave of panic made her close her eyes tightly, burying her face deeper into his scent. "No, I won’t allow it. If the world takes him from me, I am as good as dead anyway."

Sensing her tension, Valex rubbed her back, his touch the only calming anchor in the room.

Odesse pulled back just enough to look into his dark eyes, her voice small. "My king... do you think Eryx will return to the palace?"

Valex looked down at her, his expression remaining perfectly calm and reassuring for her sake. "I do not know, my love," he replied softly.

But as he watched the worry dance across her beautiful features, his jaw clenched in absolute, lethal finality. "Even if he does return, he is a dead man the moment I find him. For his sake, it is better that he stays lost in the dark."

Odesse didn’t see the flash of steel in his eyes. She simply shifted forward, resting her cheek back against his chest, listening to the heavy thud of his heartbeat. Valex wrapped both arms around her, his fingers slowly caressing her hair as silence claimed the room once more, leaving them both completely lost in a sea of unspoken, protective thoughts.

...

The heavy oak door groaned as Odesse pushed it open, a torrent of blinding, ethereal white light rushing out to meet her. She gasped, throwing her arm over her face as a sharp ache flared behind her eyes. But before she could step back, the piercing, fragile wail of a newborn sliced through the glare, rooted her to the spot.

Slowly, her vision cleared. The room before her was a breathtaking royal nursery, bathed in a sunlit glow and adorned with delicate tapestries of stars and running wolves. Her heart swelled with an overwhelming wave of affection. Moving as if in a dream, she drifted toward the center of the room where a beautifully carved dark walnut crib stood.

Inside the crib, a tiny infant tossed and turned in distress. Odesse’s breath caught. The child was beautiful—blessed with a tuft of long silver hair, porcelain skin, and pure white lashes that fluttered against her cheeks as she wept.

Tears of pure joy slipped down Odesse’s face. "Don’t cry, my little one," she whispered, her voice a soothing melody. She reached down, her hands steady and fiercely protective as she lifted the fragile bundle against her chest.

She swayed in a slow, rhythmic motion, cradling the infant close to her heart. "Shh, why the tears? Mommy is here."

As if responding to the warmth of her touch, the baby’s cries dissolved into soft hiccups. Her small eyelids fluttered open, revealing a pair of glowing, vibrant amber eyes—the exact shade of the King’s. Odesse froze, completely mesmerized, her soul sparking with a love so deep it left her breathless. The newborn reached up a tiny, warm hand, brushing against Odesse’s cheek with feather-light curiosity. Odesse leaned into the touch, offering her index finger, which the baby immediately wrapped her entire hand around, letting out a sweet, bubbly chuckle.

Then, the dream shattered.

The warmth in Odesse’s arms vanished, replaced by a sudden, unnatural chill. Her smile froze as the baby’s glowing amber eyes suddenly turned dull. Dark, obsidian fluid began to seep from the corners of the child’s eyes, tracing burning black trails down her porcelain cheeks.

"What? No—no, what is happening?" Odesse panicked, her voice rising in pitch. "What is going on?!"

Before she could pull the child closer, the baby’s form dissolved into a cold, volatile mist. Like a flash of gas, the infant vanished entirely from her grasp, evaporating into a thick, suffocating black smoke that flooded the room. The sweet scent of jasmine and wood vanished, replaced by an ash-heavy air that burned her lungs.

Odesse’s knees buckled. She collapsed heavily to the floor, her hands flying to her throat as she struggled to draw breath. The air was too thick, trapping the scream in her chest. Gasping, she looked through the haze and saw the open doorway just a few feet away. She forced her trembling limbs to move, dragging herself across the floor.

Suddenly, an invisible force seized her ankles. With brutal velocity, she was dragged backward, her back slamming violently against the stone wall. The impact knocked the remaining air from her lungs, and she curled into herself, trembling as her vision blurred with pain.

A sharp, deafening crack echoed above her.

She forced her head up. The pristine walls of the nursery were fracturing, deep fissures racing across the plaster like a spiderweb.

"No, please, no!" she shrieked, the terror ripping through her chest. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face as the room began to list. Desperate, she cried out at the top of her lungs, "My King! Valex!"

Attempting to find leverage to stand, she pressed her palms against the floorboards. A dark, crimson stain caught her eye. She looked down at her right arm in horror. Dozens of microscopic punctures had opened along her skin, as if a cluster of needles had pierced her simultaneously. Crimson gushed from the tiny wounds, pooling rapidly around her hands.

"No... how... how did this happen?" she whispered, her mind fracturing under the weight of the nightmare.

A thunderous creaking sound roared from above. Odesse looked up, her eyes widening in pure terror as the heavy oak ceiling beams snapped, collapsing directly toward her. Simultaneously, the solid ground beneath her gave way, shattering into a million pieces.

She screamed in agony as she plummeted into a bottomless, pitch-black void.

She fell endlessly through the dark, cold vacuum, the sensation of gravity tearing at her. In the blackness, her body felt utterly undone, her strength completely spent, and her voice reduced to a frail, broken whisper. "Help me... someone please... I am in pain, I beg you..."

Her eyelids grew heavy, slipping shut as she surrendered to the dark.

Then, cutting through the endless expanse of the void, a voice echoed. It was distant but instantly recognizable, carrying a weight of raw, heartbreaking anguish.

"My love... can you hear me? Please, wake up."

Odesse’s eyes fluttered open against the darkness. A fragile, trembling smile touched her lips. "My king... Valex..."

"My love, I beg of you, please open your eyes. Please..."

The pain in his voice was palpable, so intense she could almost feel the phantom touch of his tears against her skin. Her lips quavered as she tried to reach for him, but the void held fast, her body continuing its silent, heavy descent into the dark.

...

Valex sat bolt upright against the heavy mahogany headboard, his frame tense as he held Odesse flush against his chest. His face was etched with a deep, quiet sadness. Lowering his forehead until it rested gently against hers, he closed his eyes, his breath hitching.

"My love," he murmured, his voice a low, raspy plea. "Wake up. Please, wake up."

Odesse’s eyelashes fluttered open weakly, her cheek brushing against his. At the slight movement, Valex’s ears twitched. He pulled back just enough to see her eyes focus on him. A faint, trembling smile touched her lips.

"My king..." she whispered, her voice barely carrying in the dim room.

The small smile was entirely undone by the sheer agony that followed. Valex threw his arms around her, pulling her tightly into his embrace as the first wave of tears crashed over her. Odesse gripped his bare shoulders, her fingers digging desperately into his skin, leaving sharp, white marks that slowly flushed red. The phantom pain from her dream was too heavy to contain, and she broke completely—wailing out loud, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony that echoed against the quiet walls of the bedchamber.

Valex held her like a anchor in a storm. He let her fingers dig as deep as she needed, ignoring the sting, while his large hand rhythmically caressed the back of her head. "What happened to you in there?" he thought, his chest tightening with a helpless sort of rage.

She wept until her ribs ached, wetting his collarbone with a steady stream of hot tears. She couldn’t stop, and Valex didn’t try to make her. He simply remained her boulder, a silent shield against whatever horror was chasing her behind her eyelids.

...

Minutes slowly bled into hours until the violent tremors in her shoulders finally subsided. Valex was lying back against the pillows now, staring fixedly at the ceiling. Odesse rested her heavy, tear-stained cheek directly over his heart, her fingers tracing slow, comforting patterns across his chest. Her voice, when she finally spoke, was thick and hoarse, her eyes swollen completely red.

"I saw our child, my king," she whispered, her gaze tracking the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. "She... she was beautiful. She had my hair, and my skin... but what made her truly majestic..." A fresh tear escaped, pooling on his skin. "...was she had your eyes. She looked absolutely angelic."

Valex’s hand settled on her bare arm, his thumb tracing a long, soothing line down to her elbow.

"She took my finger," Odesse let out a faint, watery chuckle, the memory bittersweet. "She just... held it and played with it. I thought everything was going to be okay. Until I saw it." Her voice cracked, the warmth vanishing from her tone. "Black blood began rolling down her eyes."

Valex’s gaze snapped down, his eyes widening in total silence.

"Everything about it felt so real," Odesse whimpered, burying her face deeper into his chest to block out the memory. "The pain on my skin... those gruesome hours where I kept falling through a dark void, my back slamming against the stone walls. It was horrifying, My King. It was so horrifying."

Valex squeezed her tighter, his mind completely stunned. The sheer malice of her vision left him temporarily speechless. He couldn’t find the words to counter a nightmare that cruel, so he simply poured all his strength into his hold, hoping the solid reality of his body would pull her out of the dark.

"What if I die truly or you...?" she breathed, the question barely a whisper against his skin.

The words struck him like a physical blow. Valex sat up right away, his expression hardening with sudden panic. Odesse sat up with him, her fragile posture contrasting his sudden rigidity.

"No," Valex said, his voice dropping into a fierce, unyielding register. He grabbed both of her hands, holding them tightly between his own. "Don’t say that. Not ever, Odesse. It was just a dream, my love. It means nothing."

But the reassurance failed to reach her. Distress pinched her features as she pulled one hand away to cradle her belly. "Our baby... she won’t..."

Unable to finish the sentence, she collapsed forward against his chest again, her hands fistfuls of his hair as the weeping started anew.

"My love, you do not need to worry," Valex murmured into her hair, his own chest aching at the sound of her heartbreak. "Please. Nothing will happen to you, and nothing will happen to our child. I will always be here to stand between you and the dark. And if one day... if the worst should ever come, just know that my soul belongs to you. I will always find a way back to your side."

Odesse pulled back slightly, her quivering lips parting as she looked up at him through a blur of tears. "Why are you saying that? Are you... are you going to leave me?"

"No, no, my love," Valex corrected quickly, a flash of panic crossing his features as he realized his words had backfired. "I would never leave you. Ever. But if the world tries to force us apart, I want you to be certain that I will tear through the universe to come back to you, even if the heavens try to forbid it."

Odesse scrunched her mouth, her gaze dropping to the space between them. "You can’t be sure of that."

Valex watched her for a moment, the fierce edge of his worry softening into something profoundly tender. A warm, tired smile touched his lips. "Isn’t it better to remain positive, my love?"

Odesse looked up, meeting his smile. For the first time since she had awakened, a spark of genuine warmth bloomed in her chest, easing the icy dread of the nightmare. She looked down at his chest, a soft, helpless sob escaping her lips—not from fear this time, but from the overwhelming weight of her devotion.

"I love you, my king," she wept softly. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Valex’s smile widened, his heart swelling as he caressed her damp hair with slow, reverent strokes. "I love you too, my brave Queen."

He pressed a long, lingering kiss to the crown of her head, closing his eyes as the quiet safety of the room finally settled over them both.