CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
My eyes shot open, and my mouth sucked air. Harsh lighting glared overhead, and I squinted against it. My entire frame shuddered, quakes rolling through me. I groaned and lifted my hand, shading my eyes from the glare.
“She’s awake,” Alaric bellowed nearby. His brown head of hair was suddenly over my face. His dark brown eyes scoured mine, whispering, “Faith, are you okay?”
I swallowed with a dry throat. “I think I died.”
My husband huffed out a breath. He replied with a forced calm, “Faith, you’ve been dead for five days. You died many times before you were found. The current kept moving you around.”
My frame shivered…my lungs filled.
I rasped, “I’m hungry.”
I didnotwant to think about the sea.
From behind my head, Poppy whispered, “I’ll get her something to eat.” Her feet pattered away on the run.
Alaric didn’t take his eyes off me. “Does anything hurt?”
“My memories,” I breathed, shutting my eyes.
His hands instantly cupped my cheeks. “You’ve had those eyes closed long enough. Open them.”
I blinked them open slowly.
Alaric nodded gently and brushed his thumbs over my cheeks, petting me. “You’re safe. And you’re okay now. Do you understand?”
I jerked upright, bumping my husband in the process. My feet swung over the bed I lay on. I stood to my feet and walked toward the door on wooden legs.
I smacked my forehead with the heel of my palm.
I hit my head one more time.
I stopped in my tracks.
Then I shouted, “Dammit, okay! I remember!”
Alaric was instantly by my side, rubbing his hand up and down my back. “What’s going on, beauty?”
My stomach growled loudly, but I hissed, “We need to go somewhere. Grab me a sandwich. And Cass. The fucker’s in my head again.”
His eyes flicked red. Then back to brown.
I inhaled deeply through my nose. “Don’t ask questions right now. I’ll answer them all later. Right now, we just need to leave, to go rescue someone. Hopefully, the seer wasn’t lying.”
Alaric stared for a long moment, then shouted, “Cass, get your ass in here!” He grabbed ahold of my shoulder in a firm grip, the sweater I was dressed in soft and silky against my skin under his restraining palm. “We aren’t going anywhere until Cass blocks him. When I know it’s really you, then we can leave.”
I nodded. I was okay with that.
I peered around the room we were in. “Where the hell are we anyway?” This wasn’t our house.
“We’re at Theron’s right now. Everyone’s here. We’ve been searching for you…” He swallowed hard, his eyes tearing up. He pushed forward, croaking, “He’s feeding us, between the searches. And taking care of all our businesses right now.”
“That’s very kind of him.” I shivered, unable to dislodge the coldness in my bones. I peered away from him, asking quietly, “Who found me?”
“It was actually a fisherman.” His lips thinned and trembled. “You came up in their fishing net.”
I swallowed hard. “Fitting, I suppose.”
