A Knight's Purpose (Book 1) ✔️

Chapter 24 - Nightmares and Emotions

I wake in the middle of the night to screams. Bolting from the couch, I'm across the room and into Sereya's before Camden even makes it out of his door. I don't catch my breath until I realize the bedroom is empty and the only thing that woke me were her nightmares.

I carefully grip her shoulders and shake until the screaming stops. Camden sits at the foot of her bed and breathes heavily, clearly having some panic issues of his own.

Beautiful light brown eyes flash sleepily at us. Camden must have hit the lights when he came in given I can make out her eyes as brown instead of night green.

"Eve? What's wrong?" Her slurred voice manages, which prompts me to realize I've probably got wild eyes and panic of my own to deal with. I quickly shove that shit down and smooth my face.

Felix joins us to curl up by her head.

"You were having a nightmare, Sereya. Do you remember anything?" I keep my voice light but my eyes intent as I track her face carefully.

Her brow squishes, eyes narrow, and nose scruntches as she tries to remember what she was dreaming about. A few moments later I feel her entire body going taut.

"I was in a cage and people were... People were outside throwing things at me." She shudders. "But my mom was there so I wasn't afraid. Then, they grabbed her." Her head buries itself in my shoulder.

"Hey, baby bird, you don't need to be afraid of those people anymore." I soothe a hand down her back, the other brushing her hair lightly.

"Camden?" Her soft voice asks as she peeks out to see him.

"Yeah, chickie?" He scoots forward and grips one of her hands.

I move to sit with my back against the headboard to give them more room while she gathers herself.

"Are you going to leave me, too?" Her voice is soft.

There's a moment's pause. Tears leak from her eyes and drip down her chin as I wrap an arm around her shoulders. Gently, I rock side to side as we both wait for Camden's answer. He takes a few deep breaths.

"I can't promise you I'll come back." 

The tears flow in a steady stream and she lets out one sob before burying her head in my shoulder.

"I'm not done, Maia," He says sternly, causing her to sniff and lock eyes with him. "I can't promise that. But, I can promise that I will do absolutely everything in my power to come back to you."

He kisses her knuckles lightly and another sob breaks free, but she's nodding this time.

"Okay." She sniffs, but the tears keep rolling.

We sit like that until Sereya falls asleep on my shoulder, which could have been minutes or hours. When she finally does, I gently lower her to bed and wait to make sure that she stays asleep before we both slip out.

Camden runs a hand through his hair and lets a string of curses fly under his breath. His eyes flash at me and they're filled with uncertainty and other emotions I can't quite decipher.

"Am I doing the right thing, Eve?" He looks vulnerable for the first time since I've known him, which admittedly hasn't been long.

So, I do him the courtesy of actually pausing to think over his question and my answer. The result is simple. "Yes."

He breathes out hard at my answer, then chuckles. "Not that I can really trust your answer since all you want is to be left alone with her." 

"That's not all I want." Though I chuckle too, it really isn't a funny situation. "This is the right decision, Camden. Every chick needs to learn to leave the nest and most kids would have had to learn to be without a parent much earlier on. You can't live drowning in paperwork forever and from what I can tell, which isn't much since you kept me away from all the action," I halfheartedly glare so he understands I'm joking, "you deserve to run this job."