The nightmares started a week after the battle.

Not every night. Just often enough that I'd wake with my heart racing and Darius's arms already around me before I'd fully surfaced from whatever horror my brain had conjured.

"Same one?" he asked quietly. Dawn was still an hour away, but neither of us bothered pretending we'd sleep again.

"Different this time." I pressed my face against his chest. His heartbeat was steady. Real. "The hallway outside the dormitories. But I couldn't get there ...