Chapter 735 THE DREAM

RUBY’S STORY

I was standing inside a room I had never seen before.

And yet somehow…

It felt familiar.

The room was enormous.

Larger than any building I had ever stepped foot inside.

White marble pillars stretched towards a ceiling so high I could barely make it out.

Golden chandeliers hung above.

Sunlight poured through tall stained glass windows.

At the end of the room stood two magnificent thrones.

One larger than the other.

Both carved from silver and gold.

I frowned.

Where was I?

My bare feet moved across the polished floor.

The sound echoed throughout the empty hall.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The room wasn’t empty.

I realized that a moment later.

People lined both sides of the hall.

Hundreds of them.

Perhaps thousands.

Wolves.

Nobles.

Warriors.

Servants.

Yet no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t make out a single face.

Everything beyond a few feet remained blurry.

As though a thick fog covered their features.

A strange sadness settled inside my chest.

I didn’t know why.

I could hear their voices but it was a muffled, the exact same way their voice was blurry and yet I couldn’t hear a thing.

Then laughter echoed through the hall.

A woman’s laughter.

Warm.

Beautiful.

The sound wrapped around me like a blanket.

I felt a strange burst of nostalgia.

I turned.

A woman with long red hair stood near the throne.

I couldn’t see her face.

Every time I tried, it blurred.

But something about her made my heart ache.

Beside her stood a tall man.

I smiled before I even realized it.

The happiness I felt didn’t belong to me.

It belonged to someone else.

Someone I couldn’t remember.

Someone hidden somewhere deep inside me.

The woman stopped abruptly

Then she turned and looked directly at me.

My breath caught.

For a moment…

I almost thought she could see me.

A name that I couldn’t hear clearly was called out to me.

The voice was so blurred that it sounded as though she were speaking under water

Someone called.

The voice echoed throughout the room.

The woman turned and laughed.

Everything felt warm.

Safe.

Happy.

Then the dream changed.

Instantly.

The laughter vanished.

The warmth disappeared.

The throne room darkened.

Cold crept through the marble floor beneath my feet.

I looked around.

The hall was empty now.

Completely empty.

No laughter.

No people.

No red headed woman.

Nothing.

My heartbeat quickened.

Then I saw it.

Blood.

A dark red trail stretched across the beautiful marble floor.

I stared in horror.

More blood.

And more.

And more.

A silver crown lay abandoned near the foot of the throne.

One of its jewels had cracked.

The sight filled me with unbearable grief.

Tears burned my eyes.

I didn’t understand why.

A woman was crying.

Grieving.

Mourning.

Somewhere nearby.

The sound shattered my heart.

I turned towards it.

But I couldn’t find her.

Only hear her.

Then another voice echoed through the darkness.

A familiar voice.

Soft.

Broken.

Heartbroken.

The same word that sounded familiar but couldn’t hear.

My entire body froze.

The voice came again.

Closer this time.

The name came again.

I spun around.

A blurry figure stood behind me.

I couldn’t make out whether it was a man or woman.

Only that they were reaching towards me.

My heart thundered.

The figure took another step.

I opened my mouth to speak and then from absolutely nowhere a flash of flooded waters burst through the doors.

It came smashing across my face, swimming me inside the water.

I struggled to swim up, but I couldn’t.

The current of the water was too strong for me.

I tried to scream for help, but the water filled my throat to the point all that came from my mouth were bubbles.

I was drowning and I was going to die here.

This was going to be the end.

The moment I started to let go of fighting, a wave pushed me and my eyes flew open.

My chest heaved.

Moonlight spilled through my bedroom window.

Sweat covered my skin.

For several moments I simply lay there staring at the ceiling.

Then I groaned.

“Oh no.”

I rubbed both hands over my face.

“Not again.”

The dream.

The stupid dream.

I hadn’t seen it in years.

Not since I was a child.

When I was younger, the dreams had happened constantly.

The throne.

The people.

The crying woman.

The little boy.

The strange name that I couldn’t hear.

I had no idea what any of it meant.

Mother never knew either and it had terrified me for a while.

Eventually she had made special sleeping herbs for me.

To my greatest surprise, I didn’t dream about it the next day.

Or the day after that.

The dreams had come to a halt.

Completely.

Five years.

Five whole years.

And now suddenly they had returned.

I sat upright in bed and pulled my knees to my chest.

A strange feeling settled over me.

Unease.

The dream had felt different this time.

More real.

As though it wasn’t a dream at all.

As though it was a sort of memory.

I placed my hands on my head to ease the wave of nausea.

It still felt as though I was waving inside the water.

I felt parched.

I needed to drink water.

threw my blankets aside and climbed out of bed.

Perhaps some water would help.

The cottage was quiet.

The fire downstairs had long died out.

Father wasn’t home.

Again.

The realization no longer hurt as much as it used to.

I quietly made my way down the stairs.

Halfway down I froze.

A light.

There was a light coming from the living room.

At this hour?

Mother should have been asleep.

Curiosity got the better of me.

I descended the remaining steps.

The floor creaked beneath my feet.

Immediately I saw Mother.

She was seated by the reading table.

A single candle illuminated the room.

Mother looked startled.

More startled than she should have been.

Almost guilty.

The moment she noticed me her hand moved quickly.

I blinked.

Mother never hid things.

At least not from me.

“Ruby?” she asked softly.

“What are you doing awake?”

I walked closer.

“What are you doing awake?”

A strange expression crossed her face.

Then it vanished.

“So nosy.” She muttered affectionately.

I frowned.

“What was that?”

Mother looked down at the table.

Then back at me.

“Nothing.”

“It didn’t look like nothing.”

“It was nothing.”

“Go back to bed.”

I folded.

“Mama.”

Something in my voice made her pause.

“What is it?”

I chewed on my bottom lip.

“I had the dream again.”

The room instantly went silent.