My eyes drifted shut as lethargy invaded my limbs. Just for a few seconds, I promised myself.
A pair of arms caught me as I started to sag. Liam’s familiar scent surrounded me.
“Where have you two been? I was getting worried.” Liam’s chest was a comforting rumble beneath my ear.
The sound of a door opening, along with the sensation of being carried inside. Somehow, I knew it was Connor who smoothed my hair back from my face a moment before Liam set me down on what felt like a cloud.
A sigh left me. So comfortable.
I snuggled into the clean smelling sheets, losing the thread of conversation as I hovered on the cusp of unconsciousness.
“Lay of the land,” Connor was saying.
Liam’s unhappiness hit the room, leaving me confused before the words “ancient vampire” and “possible devolution” registered.
Frowning into my pillow, I fought to resist the pull of the sun for a few more seconds.
“Are you sure?” Liam demanded.
I didn’t hear Connor’s response, but I felt Liam’s displeasure. It lingered on the air, an oppressive weight that made my chest tight.
I tried to reach for his hand, my arm flopping uselessly onto the bed instead.
Don’t be mad, I tried to say.
The words didn’t come out, my strength deserting me as I slid into sleep.
The last thing I was aware of before darkness closed around me was the bed sinking and a hand sliding into the one I’d just tried to lift.
Liam pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. “Sleep,mo chuisle. I’ll watch over you until you wake.”
The door closed as Liam’s body spooned mine and I finally lost the battle against unconsciousness.
A deep, unrelenting, velvety black surrounded me. A siren’s song tugged at my senses.
I wavered, on the cusp of answering.
On some level, I knew to take a single step forward was to court death and madness. That I risked losing my bearing in the darkness and becoming lost to its embrace.
Better to stay where it was safe. Even if my soul resonated with what was inside this place.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t afraid.
Then again, the darkness had never been a source of terror for me. Even as a little girl, I’d been fascinated by what waited in the shadows. It had been a place of solace and comfort.
Maybe my acceptance stemmed in some small part to my recently uncovered heritage as the granddaughter of a Fae king. A being who sprung from the heart of darkness itself.
Some could say I took after the family line. I’d been formed from the darkness—or maybe of it.
It was why the floaty, white dress I was wearing felt so out of place. The airy fabric and color didn’t match my surroundings.
I plucked the material away from my body with a frown. Why had my psyche put me in a nightgown?
I was way more badass than this. Even in my dreams.
As I puzzled over the incongruent detail, a spot of black on the bodice marred the perfect white.
“What?” I touched the blot. It spread, dying the dress black at a visible speed.
