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Loren looked across the table at Darien. He was already watching her, like always.
He spoke before she had a chance to. “Would you like to see where you’re staying?”
Loren got to her feet. “Yes, please.”
Her room was on the second floor.
The bed was a king, the back wall covered in a floor-to-ceiling window that showed off the backyard and the night sky. The furniture was made of light-colored wood, the bedding puffy like a cloud. An adorable salt lamp sat on the end table, glowing orange.
That glow was drowned out by the ceiling light as Darien flipped it on. “Ivy’s grabbing your bag from the truck,” he said. He stood just behind her, his presence electric. “If you need any help, she’ll be there.” Loren knew he was referring to the effort it would take her to shower, but she was feeling better after eating. Stuffed, actually. And energetic. She hoped that meant she’d be able to fully make it through a nice, hot shower without falling down or fainting. Or worse.
“The bathroom’s two doors down,” Darien said. “It’s all yours.”
She turned to face him. “Where are you staying?”
“Right across the hall.”
“In that room?” She pointed.
Darien nodded.
She nodded, too. “Okay. Umm—thank you. For…everything.”
The corner of his distracting mouth twitched, but it wasn’t a real smile—not at all. “You’re welcome.”
“Are you…” She swallowed. Cleared her throat. “Are you okay?”
A beat of silence. And then: “Just worried about you.”
Silence stretched between them. The honesty and raw emotion in his statement made her forget, for a moment, how to speak. And the way he was looking at her, his eyes roving her face… He looked like he was afraid he might never see her again.
Finally, she found her voice. “I’ll let you know if I need anything?”
He nodded once. “Please do.”
And then he was gone, shutting the door softly. She listened as he crossed the hall and entered the room across from hers. Heard the sound of a light switch being flipped on.
Now that he was gone, she felt…a little empty. She chalked it up to nerves and the fact that he’d hardly left her side since she had woken up in this foreign place, with these people who were strangers yet not, and headed into the bathroom to shower.
“You look exhausted,” Ivy said as she walked into Darien’s room.
He sat on the side of his bed, elbows on his knees, hands clasped between them. Staring across the hall at Loren’s partially closed door. She’d taken a long shower, but had managed to get through it without any help.
He considered that a win.
“I am,” he admitted.
Ivy sat down beside him. “Here’s what’s going to happen.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I already talked to the others—we’re all going to take turns watching Loren. And you—” She poked him in the shoulder with a glossy black nail. “—are going to sleep. If anything out of the ordinary happens, I promise we will wake you up.”
He just kept staring at Loren’s door, the orange glow of the salt lamp outlining the sides of it. He hadn’t even taken off his jacket yet, or his boots. Had kept them on throughout dinner, in case he had to race her back to Caliginous on Silverway. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep, even if I try.”
“Try,” she insisted. “You’re no good to her if you’re dead on your feet. She’s alive, Darien. She’s breathing. You need to live with this reality right now, and take the opportunity to get some rest. I promise nothing is going to happen tonight, and if it does—”
“You’ll wake me up.”
“You got it.”
He nodded. “Thanks, Ivy.”
