“Diantha, come back to me?—”
“You can’t glamour her! Stop trying. Smelling salts work on everyone regardless of?—”
“Zitta, per favore.”
I can’t open my eyes. Not yet. Instead, I lift a hand.
“Diantha.” A preternaturally warm touch. On my forehead, then my cheek. “Amore, stay with me.” That word confirms who I already knew that touch belonged to. Under his breath, he says, “I told you so.”
I blink an eye open. I’m on the floor, facing a familiar hearth with the last embers of a fire warming my face. My head’s on a pillow, a soft blanket tucked under my chin. I sense people around me, their energy anxious and pulsing. I force myself to roll over.
“I’m here.” The words stick between my teeth.
A collective sigh of relief. I shift around, my limbs slowly awakening as I start to straighten. I still can’t really see anything—the room’s dark and my head is spinning.
“Wait, wait, wait.” A firm but gentle hand presses into my shoulder. “Stay.”
The woman leaning over me is Misha, the beautiful vampire I saw working at Hades House. She’s not dressed like a sexy security guard anymore—she’s in a sweatshirt with the neckline cut away, her long braids plaited together and hanging over her shoulder. Her delicate eyebrows are pulled into a frown, the fire dancing in her dark eyes.
“Drink this.” She presses a mug to my chest. Before I can grab it, Orfeo’s hands are around the cup and he’s lifting it to my lips. The liquid smells medicinal, tart.
I must make a face because they both laugh.
“It’s not going to taste good, but it’ll help bring your strength back,” Misha offers.
I take a long sip, and she’s right. The liquid is hot and sour. It somehow tastes both rotten and fresh.
“Ugh.” I pull away from the mug and shake my head, cringing.
But almost immediately, I feel a weight lifting off my limbs, like the exhaustion has been extracted from my bones. I push myself up and let the blanket fall away.I’m back in my regular clothes. The room swims into focus. I’m in Orfeo’s living room, laid out in front of the fire. They’re both kneeling beside me, concern woven into their expressions.
“Did I die?”
“No.” Orfeo chuckles, smoothing hair away from my face. I let my eyes flutter shut as his fingertips skim my flesh. “Not this time. But you were gone for a while.”
“How long?”
Orfeo and Misha trade a loaded look. “Two hours,” he says finally.
“Fuck.” I drop my head into my hands. An extremely long time to leave my body unattended—definitely longer than theforty-five-minute lecture Bowen had planned. “Was my body here the whole time?”
They trade another look.What the hell?
“No,” Orfeo says, chewing at his bottom lip. I didn’t know vampires could look nervous. And yet, here he is. Nerves and all. “Uh, your body did…disappear. For a moment.”
I reach for the tea and Misha reads my mind, offering me the mug again. I throw back another horrible mouthful. Whatever magical properties this tea has to heal me, I need them ASAP.
“And then, what? I just appeared again? What the hell did Bowen say?”
“Not much. He managed to distract the others while I carried you out. I think he told them you were having issues with claustrophobia and I was escorting you home.”
Usually, I would find this humiliating. But right now, I’m too…everything. Tired, hungry, energized,overwhelmed.
My entire body went…somewhere. For a moment in time, I blipped out of existence here on Earth and resurfaced out in the ether. Amongst the stars. In different clothes.More proof of the fact that I’m…
How the hell am I supposed to tell them everything I just learned?
“We need to talk.”
