“My chambers. I wanted to be here when you woke up.”
Tenderness bloomed in my chest. I took in the bedside table next to him, with a glass of water and several wooden figurines shaped like animals. When I squinted, I saw the outline of my glasses. He seemed to read my thoughts, swiftly reaching over and handing them to me.
I pushed them up the bridge of my nose. “How long was I out?”
“Almost a day. How do you feel?”
“Like I’m sick of constantly being the one to pass out.” Igroaned when I took a deep breath and felt a pinch in my side. Looking under the blanket, I saw a bandage going from the side of my breast to my hip. Further down, my thigh was encased in thick gauze.
“You were exhausted, Devora. You needed to rest.”
I sighed and reached up to scratch the injection site on my neck. When I lifted my hand, shadows twirled around my finger. I smiled faintly.
Hello there,I whispered to them. They grew with each breath, curling over my hand.You’re safe now. I won’t let anything hurt us again, I promise.
They squeezed my fingers in a soft embrace. I smiled wider and shut my eyes, the overwhelming relief at having my magic back making a tear track down one cheek. Something that, a month and a half ago, I didn’t even know how to control. Something I didn’t evencareabout, and now couldn’t imagine being without.
“What’s wrong?” Nox asked urgently. “Why are you crying?”
Another tear slipped out. “My magic’s back. I thought after what he did, and that collar—I thought it was gone for good.”
Nox flexed his hand a few inches from mine on the edge of the bed. He kept his distance, not letting our fingers touch. “What happened to you, Devora?” he finally asked. “One moment you were writing about how he took you to the Hollow, and the next…”
“He showed up in my room.” I paused as the memory of Scarven taking off his belt and pinning me to the bed flashed before my eyes. “I hid the parchment under my pillow, but he was…he was on the bed when you sent your last message. He felt it burn and got suspicious.”
Nox went lethally still. His other hand gripped the armrest of the chair, and something splintered. The end of it cracked off and fell to the floor as a hint of his silver claws glinted.
Growling, he asked, “Devora, did he?—”
“No, no, he—he tried, but your message—it stopped him.” I looked down into my lap and took a breath. My pulse raced with residual fear. “He knew I was working with you. He said they foundmy cloak that night at the stables. He’d just been toying with us the whole time. He pricked me with something that made my shadows go crazy. It proved I was lying, and that’s when he took me to the cells.” I glanced back at Nox. “How did you know where to find me, anyway?”
“Silas took something of yours—your sweater—and cast a spell that let us see a vision of you. I saw—” He cut himself off, his nostrils flaring. “I saw you hanging from chains. I sawthis.” Moving forward, he raised a finger to the puncture wound on my neck, but like before, he didn’t touch me. I could feel the heat coming from every inch of his skin, those navy eyes alight with fire.
“I saw you wake up when he got there. I saw him grab you.” Nox’s eyes traced a path over my throat, the top of my collarbone, and to the other side of my neck where Scarven had gripped me. His gaze was as searing as any touch, and when he pulled away to sit back in the chair, he left a chill hovering over me.
“He kept you in the same cell I was in,” he said. My mouth fell open. “There were marks carved into the stone on the wall beside you. Marks I left there over a decade ago.”
It felt like someone had punched me. “Nox, I?—”
“He was using you to send me a message. He hurt you because ofme.” He swiped a hand down the scruff at his chin. For the first time, I registered how tired he was. Purple circles gathered beneath his weary eyes. His tan skin was duller than usual, and his lips curved down at the edges.
I furrowed my brow. “If you knew it was a trap, why did you come?”
His eyes found mine again. Those broad shoulders shifted as he slowly leaned forward.
My heart pounded the closer he got. But not fromfear. The man before me, thisdragon, dripped power and strength. He could level an entire village with a single breath. He was a force of nature, a predator, a danger.
But with him, I felt safer than I ever had.
“Why did I come?” he repeated with a murmur. “For the last ten days, I’ve been unable to sleep. I can’t get you out of my head, Devora. I know what that man does to the people in his possession, and the thought of him hurting you, of him—” He stopped, his jaw clenching as he exhaled sharply.
His eyes locked onto the bruise on my cheek, and his gaze darkened. “I will tear him apart for what he did to you,” he said, voice deathly quiet.
He lifted his thumb and hovered above the mark. His entire arm shook with barely controlled rage. He’d been careful not to touch me this whole time, almost as if he was afraid of what would happen if he did. That I would crack down the middle like his armrest.
Maybe I would.
I reached for his outstretched wrist, needing something to ground me, right as he moved back to his seat.
