The flowers and dark sky blurred around us.
“Lucille? What’s happening?” Aspen’s form wavered, his voice dropping, as if he were fading away.
“I think it’s some kind of noise… from where I’m sleeping. I’m waking up.”
He gripped my arms. “Waking up where?”
“Hell.”
Chapter
Ten
LUCILLE
Igroaned, rolled over, and hit a warm body. Something tickled my face as an ungodly noise sounded.
Was that a trumpet?
I cracked one eye, finding a face full of Rune’s shadow fur. Curling my fingers in her soft, tickling depths, my soul settled. I didn’t know why, only that I’d come to crave the peace she gave me.
The trumpet blared again, and Oliver whined from Rune’s other side.
“What the hell is that noise, and why is it waking us up at the ass crack of dawn?” Oliver pulled a pillow over his head. “Tell them to go away, Lucy.”
“Like anyone here would ever listen to me,” I grumbled, wishing I could return to Aspen. What he did to me… I shuddered.
Someone knocked on the door to my sitting room. “Wake up! You have ten minutes to get dressed for the Infernal Sixty! Wear something you can exercise in.” Whoever yelled through the door had a deep voice and too-chipper attitude.
Oliver and I both groaned. Neither of us moved until Rune, whose eyes flashed golden, started bombarding my face with slobber.
“Okay, okay,” I said, pushing her away and elbowing Oliver. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have your size in my closet, so get a move on before we’re dragged out by our ankles.”
He groaned again, slid off my bed, and stomped out the door like a toddler. I laughed as I pushed off the comforter. Rune lay with her head between her paws, her tail wagging like she was excited for thealmostday. I couldn’t say I felt the same. I would’ve rather stayed in my dream with Aspen.
Walking into my closet, I stripped off my bed clothes and dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and leggings. Taming my wild waves, I wove them into a low braid, covering my ears.
“Luce, you ready? I just saw the trumpeter on his way here.”
I met Oliver outside my closet. “I’m surprised you’re not wearing green.”
He shrugged down at his T-shirt and black sweats. “Would if I could, but whoever supplied my wardrobe has a thing for boring neutral colors. At least it’s not a tunic.”
Someone banged at my door and blew a horn. My hands jerked over my ears. “Is he using an airhorn?”
“As much as I want to say yes, Hell isn’tthatmodern.”
“Right.”
I laced up black sneakers and walked with Oliver and Rune to my sitting room door. Oliver opened it, and we found a muscular blond guy about to place his mouth on a long animal horn.
“Yes, please blow out our eardrums. Maybe then I can sleep through your noise,” Oliver said.
The blond smiled, lowering his horn. “Get used to it, Nephilim. This will be your new routine for the foreseeable future.”
“Oliver.”
The blond held out his hand. “Alexei, General Ronen’s second. I’ll be seeing a lot of you two. But hey, no complaints here. I’d take castle living over the barracks any day.”
