I ate the assortment that Itarus had brought; a feast of all kinds of meat and vegetables, bread, cheese, there was even dessert - a slice of German forest cake that tasted of heaven and as I stood at the island counter eating, I wondered how he had even known to bring all this food. 

I didn't get a chance to ask or even thank him. By the time I went back upstairs, his door was closed, the light beneath the door dark. 

I slipped into my own bed that night, belly full and drowsy, wondering just what to make of him. He was cocky and rude, but then there was that strange consideration and playful teasing too. I couldn't help but think that perhaps my view of him was too singular, he was certainly a whole range of things and I had a feeling that I'd only barely scratched the surface. 

The moonlight curled around me as whispers of sleep brushed my mind and I felt myself sinking to an abyss that was light and promising. And under the watchful gaze of the moon, I dreamed.  

                                                              ******

A girl stood in the middle of a frozen lake, nothing but winter wind and skeletal trees surrounding her as the snow beneath her feet melted away, hot blood rushing to devour the packed flurries, drop by drop, coming from a wound the girl held with both hands. 

Her face – my face – was pale, but her eyes held fire and death as she looked at the creature inching toward her. 

It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. A scream tore from my throat but no sound came out.

I was yelling into the wind, Run away, go - to the girl – to me – but the girl didn't listen, she stood not moving, facing down death itself. 

That thing - whatever depths of misery and evil it had come from - was injured as well,  oozing a black liquid so thick, it dried on the scales of its hide before it could reach the snow covered floor.

A hiss slithered from the creature and the sound reached my ears, the old whisper turning into an ancient tongue of things long forgotten and buried.

Princess, a foreign thought among my own. 

Princess, it repeated, he will die for you.

The creature lifted a shiny black talon and sliced the air above it, as if cutting between the planes of the realm, and a boy appeared from the invisible incision.

His body dropped onto the frozen lake with a crack that made me wince. I couldn’t see the face, but my heart seemed to know who it was slumped on the floor, unmoving. 

His crown of black hair was matted with sweat and blood, eyelids still as death. 

My heart reached out to his, whispering a name and it spoke and spoke, but the boy on the snow covered ice laid still, too still. 

“Leave him out of this,” I saw myself speak and nothing but anger, dark burning anger laced that voice. 

I don’t want him, the creature hissed, It’s your death I came for. This thing, - the creature leveled a swift kick to the crumpled body, and I felt my heart lurch across the lake with the boy who skidded to a stop in front of my bare feet - is nothing to me.  The creature's voice went silent from my head, pausing a beat. 

He’s dying for you. 

Will you die for him I wonder?  

An oily sheen covered those words in my head, an extension of the creature itself. 

She – I - bent to where the boy lay, his beautiful face paler than the snow itself, and I knew that what the creature had said was true. 

He was dying.

I ran a hand over his face, pushing back his hair back from his closed eyes and I could feel the flutter of his life pulse against my skin. 

So weak, so light. 

He was fading into the mist. 

You feel it don't you, you can feel his life rushing away, the creature clicked, the pincers on his mouth working to make words. 

Don’t worry, you’ll join him in the fade soon enough. It laughed a horrible noise of rot and waste, its pincers clicking like broken bones. It rushed towards me, black talons reaching and I – 

I woke in a rush, my heart pounding from within its ivory cage.

The sunlight stung my eyes, the golden rays streaming in from the uncovered window, and I put a hand over them, letting the touch reassure me that I was awake. 

It was a nightmare, just a nightmare and nothing else.

My mouth felt drier than the desert wind and I shivered as a cool breeze chilled the sweat on my back and brow.

Nightmare – it was a nightmare. 

I could still feel the disgust and pain lurching in my stomach. It had felt so real. I could still see the creature, the bone chilling laughter stuck in my head, could hear that voice that held a thousand deaths - the words it had hissed to me, Princess, Princess, 

“Princess”

I almost jumped out of my skin.

“You’re late for class,” Itarus grumbled outside my door. 

My legs felt like jelly but I swung them off the bed and got to my feet.

“I know you’re up. I can hear your loud breathing. You-” he suddenly paused.

I willed my feet to walk to the door, unlocking it and I opened it just a crack, enough for my eye to peak through.

“You okay?”

Itarus stood leaning against the closed bathroom door across mine, his frame filling up the space. 

His eyes swept over my sweat beaded brow and then pinned my own, as he straightened from where he was leaning and moved to push my door wide open.

“Hey,” I protested, but my arms were still weak from sleep and they slipped from the door. 

His eyes which had been a calm sea just a moment before hardened into winter ice as he took me in, his gaze quick, assessing.

“Do you always look like hell when you wake up?” His words were light, teasing, but something else swirled in those ocean eyes. 

It looked almost like concern.

I rolled my eyes at him, strength returning to me as the nightmare slowly faded away into memory. 

“Always a pleasure talking to you,” I grumbled, “Why’re you bothering me so early in the morning?" 

The ice in his eyes warmed a bit at my retort, and his expression returned to that which I knew so well, smug and haughty.

“Try to do someone a favor and this is what I get,” he clicked his tongue but didn't move to leave as he studied the flush on my cheeks, and the lingering sweat on my brow.

“Your heart was going crazy, thought you were having a heart attack or something.”

I rose a brow at his words. I hadn't expected him to care even if I did have a heart attack.

“Have a naughty dream did you?” he then added, his eyes sparkling with mischief, the corners of his lip tugging up to reveal his pointed fangs.

“You're gross." 

A low chuckle. 

I shook my head in disbelief. Concern my butt. 

I wished it had been a naughty dream but instead … the creature’s talon rose to mind, replaced by the image of the boy’s body thumping onto the ice. 

I shivered despite myself.

“Wait,” I suddenly remembered Itarus’s previous words, “you said something about me being late to class?”

He leaned against my door, calmly checking his nails -the picture of leisure, “First period bell just rang a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh CRON’S eyeballs, why didn’t you wake me sooner,” I half yelled and half sobbed. 

He looked at me as if I had grown a second head.

Late on first day of class. My teachers weren’t going to like that very much. I hastily looked around my room, mentally remembering just what I’d needed to grab for classes. My uniform was hanging in the closet, backpack was ready to grab, all I needed to do was wash up.

“Aghhh,” I growled, pushing past Itarus and rushing into the bathroom. 

When I came back out he was gone and to my surprise felt a pang of disappointment.

I had figured he would wait for me but… I shook my head feeling silly. 

Why would he wait, I wouldn’t wait for him I offered to myself, and as I rushed to class, I wondered why I couldn't remember who the boy in the nightmare had been.