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Her voice following us up the stairs and into our room.

I felt Adrian set me on the bed. His face blurred.

I was crying.

When had I started to cry?

“It’s okay,” Adrian whispered from where he knelt on the floor, untying my boots. The earlier seductiveness gone. It was only gentle fingers and protection he offered me now.

He reached around me, working my dress up over my head, giving my body the chance to cool itself from the strain of crying.

“Lie back,” he ordered quietly, adjusting the quilt so I could get underneath it. “You need to get some rest.”

He pulled the quilt up to cover my chest, tidying my hair as my head met the pillow so there wasn’t any tension on my strands.

“I’ll be right here if you need anything.” He bent down, placing a kiss on my cheek.

I should have stopped him.

“Sleep, Bryn . . . please,” he whispered.

And so, I did.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

BRYN

The blond woman from Five stood in the sand. Her dress matching the color of Five’s turquoise tide.

Her mouth was moving, but no words came out.

She was trying to tell me something.

I don’t understand, I wanted to say. But my mouth had been sewn shut, like a doll’s, stitched tight.

The woman looked at me sadly.

Then smiled past me.

To Adrian.

He didn’t look at me. He only smiled at the woman, scorching a trail of sand toward her. Beckoning for her to go to him.

Her eyes shone greedily as she sauntered toward him, winking at my immobile form as I stood in the stand, dumbstruck.

Then, the world tilted, and I landed on my hands and knees inside Leo’s cottage. My mouth still sewn shut.

I could hear noise.

Breathy female moans, and a deep voice ringing out from the bedroom.

I ran across the cottage.

He was making a mistake.

Adrian.

He was making a mistake in choosing her.