It was gone well before dinner. Tolomon checked on three different occasions when Indenuel least expected it, but each time his chest was clear. Even then, he drank three cups of dreamless tea before settling in with Inessa. She drank some too, as per Tolomon’s request.

“Since when have you drank dreamless tea?” Indenuel asked as she cuddled up with him.

“For a while now,” Inessa said.

“Oh. Really?”

Inessa looked up at him with her emerald eyes. “You haven’t noticed?”

“I… I’m sorry, I guess I-”

“I’ve woken up practically every night for the last week,” she said.

He frowned. “Have you?”

She turned around, her back to him. She was acting strangely distant and cold. “Yes, Indenuel. If you weren’t so self-absorbed, you would have noticed.”

His frown deepened. He may not understand women well, but he was quite sure this was odd behavior. “Inessa, I-”

He froze. There was a distinct chill in the air. There was a dread that was far too familiar. He sat up, turning, and saw Garen standing right beside his bed.

Indenuel leapt out of bed to find himself in a dark room. “Shit!” he said, touching his head. “No, no, what’s happening?”

“You’re asleep with a large amount of corruption. It called to me,” Garen said, a smile on his face.

“No,” Indenuel said, clawing through his memories. “The mark is off. I could have sworn I meditated it off.”

“You certainly tried,” Garen said. “You dozed off while you did.”

“What?”

His head snapped up and he found himself in his office, taking a deep breath of the incense. He covered his eyes from the bright afternoon light, then looked down at his chest. It was pink. No, red. It wasn’t supposed to be red. He could have sworn it was already pink.

Garen appeared at his desk, smiling. “I could literally make you believe anything in the nightmare realm.”

“No…” Indenuel said, standing up and backing away. “I—I’m awake. I’ve got to be awake. The incense. I smell the incense.”

“What does it smell like?” the devil asked, floating toward him.

Indenuel tried to breathe it in, tried to understand what it was, but he smelled nothing. He couldn’t smell the incense at all. He just thought he could.

Garen laughed, and they were in the black room. No, a black night, his eyes closed. He heard the screams. “Stop! Garen, stop!” Indenuel shouted. “I will not be deceived by you!”

There was a low laugh beside him. “Deceived? These are your memories, Indenuel. This is all you. I have spent centuries perfecting the nightmare realm. You have no chance. I’m going to drive you insane. I have caused better men than you to lose their sanity in this realm. You will be no different.”

“Stop! Stop!” Indenuel pressed his palms against his ears, but it didn’t help.

“Feel that? The rain? The water all around you? This memory? Don’t you miss this power?” Garen asked, even though Indenuel refused to open his eyes.

“No,” he said.

“Come on, I know you wanted to hurt Darshin like this. Give him a taste of the terror Inessa was put through.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes, spinning around to see Darshin there. “Stay away,” Indenuel said. “You get away from me right now.”

“Do you know how many secrets I’ve already given Navir? You know what a man like that could do with them? It’s only a matter of time before I discover Tolomon, Nathaniel, and Rosa. They may be good, but they’re not perfect. Navir will turn the court against them and tear them apart,” Darshin said with a devilish grin on his face.

“You’re not real. You’re not actually here,” Indenuel said, backing away from him.

“You need me, Indenuel. It’s why you keep coming back,” Garen said. Indenuel glared at Garen who stood right next to Darshin. “‘It will never happen again.’ That’s what they always say. And yet here you are. Completely under my control.”

Indenuel slapped his own face as hard as he could, and he didn’t feel a thing. “Wake up,” he urged. “Wake up!”

Garen laughed, then kept moving the fingers of his left hand. “No, Indenuel. You’re not going to wake up until I let you.”

Indenuel’s arms were pinned to his sides. “Let me go!”

“With that mark on your chest, you are mine to control how I wish. And if I tell you to never wake up, that is how it’s going to be,” Garen said.

“No! You don’t have that kind of power!”

“Yes, Indenuel. Yes, I do.” The devil’s tone was unnervingly calm.

“I don’t have the mark!” Indenuel shouted. “I got it off! I remember! I meditated until dinner at it’s gone!”

“And yet here I am,” Garen said. “In your nightmare. You want to know my secret? Every time you meditated that mark off, the corruption remained, still leaving you vulnerable to my power. I commanded the demons to leave, and I made you believe I wouldn’t bother you. Let you believe you had control, waited until now. When you believed you wouldn’t be bothered by me. I am an eternal being, and a very patient fellow. The corruption runs so deeply in you, I will play with your mind until you’re broken. Of that, I promise you. You will be mine.”

Indenuel gasped, sitting straight up in his bed. It was dark, but the moonlight trickling in helped him see well enough. He tried to catch his breath as he looked over to see Inessa sleeping soundly beside him. He let out a breath of relief before he reached over, able to move his arms again.

His arm went completely through her. Indenuel’s eyes widened as Garen laughed long and loud.

“Shit,” Indenuel said, stumbling out of the bed again.

Garen kept laughing. “Oh, the oldest trick in the book! Every single person falls for it!”

Indenuel gasped as he got up and tried to move away. “Get out of my head,” he said, his voice shaking. “Get out!”

“No,” Garen said. “Didn’t you hear me? You are mine. Completely.”

Indenuel tried to run, but it was like he was stuck. His legs moved, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t move one step through his room.

“Stop it, Garen!” Indenuel screamed.

“You invited me here,” Garen said, his head turning in an unnatural fashion. “You wanted me here. You know what you have to do to beat the High Elders. Admit it, I am the only way to your goal.”

“I will never serve you!” Indenuel shouted.

Garen disappeared, as did his room. He was back in Mountain Pass and saw Lucia.

Indenuel’s heart was full of pain. “Don’t, Garen. Don’t. Don’t hurt her, or so help me…”

“You’ll do what?” Garen asked. “You can’t hurt me in this realm or any realm. There is nothing you can do to cause me physical pain.”

Lucia was walking to Andres and Lola’s house.

“What is this,” Indenuel hissed.

“There is nothing more nightmarish than real life, wouldn’t you say?” Garen asked.

“Stop it!” Indenuel shouted as Lucia knocked on Andres’ door. “I don’t believe you!”

Garen disappeared. Andres opened the door to see Lucia standing there. She handed him the purse and Andres counted every coin.

“My debt is repaid in full. Leave my children alone,” she said.

Andres glared at her. “Understand this, woman. If my sister wasn’t so desperate, we wouldn’t accept one coin of your slut money.” He spat on her face, and Indenuel’s fingers curled.

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“Garen, stop it!” Indenuel shouted.

“You honestly think someone like you would have gotten this without sleeping around? Did you go to the next town? You think you can hide something like this from me? I will find out, and I will get proof.”

“Stop it!” Indenuel said as Lucia wiped the spit from her face and turned the other way, leaving Andres’ house.

“But Andres is right. Your mother did earn that money by being a slut,” Garen said.

Mountain pass shifted to a single room he’d never seen before. He saw Lucia, almost didn’t recognize her with how young she looked and with the dead look in her eyes as she clutched a coin purse. She was in bed, tears in her eyes. Someone was on top of her. The man was familiar somehow…

Indenuel grabbed Garen’s throat. “Change it. Now.” If Garen could somehow die, Indenuel would find out. He would not watch Cristoval raping his mother.

Despite Indenuel’s hand curling around Garen’s throat, the devil simply laughed. “It’s clear you’ve inherited none of the patience and love from your mother. This quick temper and penchant toward darker powers must have come from your father.”

Garen hardly finished when Indenuel swung, trying to hit him in the jaw, but the devil jerked away with a laugh. “Clearly you have your father’s fighting spirit in you.” Indenuel swung again and Garen moved out of the way just in time. “You can’t tell, now that he’s chair bound. Even though you look very much like your mother, you have your father’s murderous rage about you.”

Indenuel hit and connected. Garen laughed as he fell. Enraged, Indenuel grabbed his throat, pinning him to the ground as he punched him over and over. Garen wouldn’t stop laughing, despite him trying to strangle the laugh out of him.

“Careful what you do in the nightmare realm, Indenuel. It might have real life consequences,” Garen said, no hint at all that he was hurt.

Indenuel was back in his room, his fingers tightly over Inessa’s throat. Indenuel gasped, letting her go. She dropped to the floor, her eyes open and sightless. “No!” He looked around, terrified. “This isn’t real! I know this isn’t real! It’s another trick!”

He turned again to see Garen. He lifted his fist and hit Indenuel. He landed on the ground, his jaw on fire from the hit. “I will have you as mine, Indenuel.” Garen hit him again. Indenuel tried to back away, but he couldn’t move. He was pinned. Inessa’s lifeless body was next to him.

“This isn’t real,” Indenuel mumbled, feeling the fire on his cheek. “It can’t.”

Garen hit him again, but there was something odd about it all. He used a closed fist, but Indenuel’s face felt as though it was being slapped.

“What is real is this mockery you make of me. You keep demanding my powers yet never selling your soul. I will have you. You cannot have everything you desire without me!”

Garen hit him again, but it was there, because Indenuel was looking for it this time. He heard the slap. He heard his name, like someone shouted it, but it wasn’t Garen. It was Tolomon. Indenuel struggled in the invisible hold he was in, yet it wasn’t invisible. He felt someone holding his arms to keep him pinned.

“You don’t have a body. You can’t touch me,” Indenuel said. Garen’s eyes widened as he stared at him. “Tolomon?”

“Wake up, Indenuel!” Tolomon said from somewhere else.

“You can’t wake up until I tell you to!” Garen shouted.

Indenuel stared at the devil before him that had no body. “Liar,” he whispered.

He came to himself. He struggled to right his feet on the ground as another hard slap hit his face.

“Stop it, Tolomon!” Indenuel groaned. “I’m awake!”

His bodyguard grabbed his jaw, holding it so he could stare at Indenuel, studying his face. “Tell me something only awake Indenuel would know,” Tolomon said.

Indenuel gasped for air, trying to orient himself. It was nighttime. Nathaniel had Indenuel’s arms pinned behind him. He saw Rosa and Inessa over by the door, Inessa sobbing in her arms.

“I…” he started to say when he saw it. The blood trickling from Inessa’s mouth. “Oh, shit. Shit, I hurt her. I hurt Inessa.” He struggled enough for Nathaniel to let him go. He ran forward, touching Inessa’s shoulder. She gasped, turning toward him. She had a swollen eye and a split lip.

“Get away from me,” Inessa said, backing away from Indenuel.

Indenuel froze, not entirely sure he was still awake. “Inessa,” he said. “It’s me. I’m… I’m awake.” It certainly felt like he was awake. He remembered drinking the dreamless tea. He also remembered getting the mark off well before dinnertime. But how come it didn’t work? How did he still have nightmares? Was Garen telling him the truth? Was the devil himself leading him down a path of false security all these years before grabbing him? “I’m pretty sure I’m still awake.”

Nathaniel was at Inessa’s side, healing her quickly of the injuries. Indenuel watched, sickened as she kept her eyes open, giving him a distrustful look.

Indenuel dug his fingernails deep into his arm, feeling the bite of pain they produced. Tolomon took his wrist, easing it off his arm.

“Don’t, Indenuel. Not that hard. You’re here, I promise,” Tolomon said.

Indenuel looked up again as Nathaniel dropped his hands. Rosa helped wipe the blood off with the sleeve of her dress.

“I… I don’t… the mark was off,” Indenuel said. He pulled at his shirt to see. His chest was clear. “It was supposed to work.”

“Well, it didn’t,” Inessa said with a surprising bite.

“Inessa, I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t-”

“Don’t, Indenuel. Tolomon’s right. Sometimes you really can be a stubborn ass.”

“I did everything I should have. The mark is gone,” Indenuel said.

“No.” Inessa broke out of Rosa’s hug to walk forward, her eyes hardening. “No, you did not do everything. You were supposed to go to Martin. You were supposed to confess to him. You were supposed to go about this the right way.”

Indenuel felt a sting from his soul, whether from chastisement or embarrassment, he couldn’t tell, all he knew was the anger bubbled up again. “Go to that hypocrite and beg forgiveness? Put myself at the mercy of the High Elders?”

“Confession is a part of the healing process,” Inessa said.

“Confess to a man who has his own pile of sins?”

Inessa threw her hands in the air. “All I know is it works! If you had done that, you wouldn’t have hit me! You wouldn’t need Tolomon to slap you until you woke up!”

Indenuel curled his fists, and Nathaniel placed a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, Indenuel. Don’t give in to anger. Not while talking to your wife.”

He tried to be quiet, to control his hurt, but the anger was plain for everyone to hear. “I refuse to trust Martin. The things that man has done is unforgivable.”

“It doesn’t give you permission to destroy Martin’s life!” Inessa said, just as quiet, just as angry.

“Have I?” Indenuel asked, truly curious. “Last time I checked he was still a High Elder. Still a revered member of society. They still hold power; despite everything we’ve done.”

“You know that’s not what I meant!” Inessa snapped. “Good God, Indenuel, Nathaniel is right there! He knows better than anyone the pain his entire family is going through!”

Indenuel didn’t look at Nathaniel. It was easier to pretend there wasn’t an audience for their fight. “I will never confess to a man who lied to his wife for twenty-five years! A man who never had a spine to do what he should! Nothing about this is my fault! If he’s going to live a hellish lifestyle, he might as well get used to it in this life!”

“Indenuel,” Nathaniel said, his voice full of pain.

He turned his glare to Nathaniel. “Your father does not deserve your forgiveness!” Nathaniel winced, but Indenuel ignored it. He wasn’t even finished. “Does everyone seem to forget that he raped Inessa? Raped his own damn daughter!” Indenuel didn’t realize he had taken another step toward Inessa until Tolomon grabbed his shirt, holding him back, keeping a hand on his wrist like he was being arrested.

“You both need to step away to calm down,” Nathaniel said, placing a hand on his and Inessa’s shoulder. “You can’t be talking like this to each other.”

Inessa pushed Nathaniel’s hand away and strode forward. “Just tell me, then. Are you willing to have another night like this?” She pointed to her face where smeared blood remained. “Is this where your pride has taken you! You’d rather accidentally beat your own wife than do what you should! Martin is your ally!”

Indenuel glared at Inessa. “I would rather spend the rest of eternity tortured by the devil himself than go to that spineless son of a bitch for help!”

Inessa slapped him, his head jerked to the side. It surprised Indenuel into himself. He couldn’t feel her slap, because the side of his face was numb, but when he looked back at her, Nathaniel and Tolomon were both standing in front of her. Protecting her like Indenuel was going to hurt her because of what she did. Nathaniel had a hand on her shoulder, placing himself in front of her, and Tolomon had a hand ready to stop Indenuel from walking any closer, keeping him in place. The two men waited, watching Indenuel’s every move like he would kill her for slapping him. Because that was how unstable he had become in their eyes.

Inessa fell to her knees, covering her face as she began to sob. Indenuel couldn’t look at her, not while she was crying. Tolomon grabbed the front of his shirt, physically moving him away from Inessa. “Go open that window over there and get some fresh air. You’re not well,” Tolomon said.

Indenuel pushed Tolomon away, knowing his bodyguard let himself be pushed. Indenuel ran a hand through his hair, heading toward the window, but made no move to open it. He tried to steady his breathing all the same.

Was this all a dream too? Indenuel began scratching his arm, seeing if he could feel it. He couldn’t feel the side of his face, but maybe that was because of how much he’d been slapped tonight. How many times? He wasn’t sure. He just couldn’t feel his face. Maybe he was still asleep.

“Take her to a guest room now. Stay there, wait for our word,” Tolomon said, looking at Rosa. She nodded, helping Inessa to her feet and placing an arm around her as they left. He could still hear Inessa’s sobbing as they moved down the hall.

Tolomon appeared, grabbed Indenuel’s hand to keep him from scratching himself. “Nathaniel,” Tolomon said.

Nathaniel noticed Indenuel’s forearm and reached forward to heal it. Somehow, in that short amount of time, Indenuel had blood and skin under his fingernails.

“I might—still be asleep,” Indenuel said.

“You’re not. You’re awake,” Tolomon said as Nathaniel closed his eyes, healing his forearm of the scratch marks.

“You need to see my father. You must confess,” Nathaniel whispered.

“No.” Indenuel was leaning against the wall, staring at nothing, as Tolomon kept his hand away from his forearm. “I refuse.”

“He feels awful about what he’s done, and he wants to help,” Nathaniel said.

“He’s too late for that. He is far, far too late.”

Tolomon showed him his hand that had the skin and blood still visible. “You’re in a bad state.”

“I must still be asleep,” Indenuel said, staring at the blood and skin. “Still asleep. I’ll wake up soon. I’m still in a devil induced nightmare. That’s all this is. Just a devilish nightmare. Wake me up, Garen. Let me start over. I’ll talk to Inessa again, and it’ll be alright. Pleasant things. Hopeful things. Not about the High Elders. Not about marks, or demons, or evil. Not about murder or killing or rape.” Nathaniel winced, glancing at Tolomon who had a face full of compassion.

“Indenuel… you’re awake.”

He broke his gaze from staring at the skin and blood under his fingernails to stare at Tolomon, trying to understand what he meant. He was awake, and he’d screamed at Inessa, causing her such anguish. She slapped him. He should feel awful, he should run to her immediately and apologize. Talk it out, give her an opportunity to explain herself. Instead, he began to giggle. He truly had no idea why he was giggling, but once he started, he couldn’t stop. Tolomon loosened his grip against his hands, and Indenuel leaned over, gripping his knees as his giggling turned into laughter. He looked up at Nathaniel, tears trickling down his face. Nathaniel stared, the distinct worry on his face changing to horror as Indenuel sank to the ground, covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Why couldn’t he stop laughing? The tears were as free flowing as if he was sobbing, but he was laughing as hard as if someone was telling a hilarious story. Tolomon did nothing, staring at the ground with tears of his own before looking at Indenuel, the pain clear on his face, which made Indenuel laugh all the harder. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t cry, he simply laughed as his mind shut down.