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I leaned against the inside of the door, straining my ears for a sound—the guards calling for backup, a guard barging in here to find me.
Nothing.
All I heard was the faint chatter of the two guards outside, still catching up on gossip and making small talk.
I would scold them later, but right now, I was relieved they weren’t doing their jobs.
I turned and looked down the dark hallway that led deeper into the belly of the cathedral. At night, the cathedral was even more spooky and gothic than in the day. The high arches seemed to disappear in the darkness above, and the thick curtains that kept out the light when drawn sent everything into blackness that was complete.
Usually, Nylah had candles burning to bring a flickering, romantic light into the cathedral where the sun couldn’t reach, but all the candles had been extinguished, and the feeling that remained was cold and eerie.
I was just being silly. It was because I wasn’t supposed to be here that everything seemed to be so different. It was my mind playing tricks on me.
Slowly, carefully, I made my way down the hallway and toward the living room. Nylah was probably in bed, sleeping. What was I going to do? Wake her up in the middle of the night? I was a complete stranger to her, if what Ellie said was true.
I hadn’t thought this all the way through.
When I reached the living room, the hearth was lit, a fire crackling, flames licking around the wood. It cast an orange glow into the room and illuminated the small, pale figure that sat curled up on the couch.
“Nylah?” I asked.
She jerked up, her eyes wide. Her long, chestnut hair was loose, hanging like a cloak around her shoulders. It was tangled, and her face was pale. She wore a white robe that made her look even more ghostly.
When she saw me, she screamed and jumped up, crossing the room quickly so that she was as far away from me as she could get.
“Who are you?” she demanded in a sharp voice. Her chest rose and fell, her breathing fast with fear.
“Nylah…” My heart sank. She really didn’t know who I was. “I thought this might have been…”
“Why are you in my quarters?” she questioned.
The fear slowly bled out of her voice as her fright wore off, and I didn’t make a move to come closer to her. I wanted desperately to go to her and take her in my arms, but I was a stranger to her.
The idea twisted my gut, and I felt sick. Everything we had now, after we’d slept together, and before, our whole lives growing up, wasgone.
“I wanted to check on you,” I said. “They wouldn’t let me come earlier, and I had to make sure you’re okay. This whole thing…I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”
“So, you thought sneaking into my quarters in the middle of the night was the wise thing to do?” she snapped.
I blinked, taken aback. Nylah never snapped at anyone. She always spoke calmly, she never wanted to make anyone feel badly if it wasn’t needed.
She had a point. “I just—”
“Get out.”
“Nylah, please hear me out.” I wanted her to know who I was so we could talk about the past. Maybe, if I told her stories about our childhood, it would trigger her memory, and this horrible nightmare would be over. “Let’s talk. Let’s—”
“What part of ‘get out’ don’t you understand? You’re a strange man in my quarters in the middle of the night! This is very untoward, and if you don’t go, I’ll scream. The guards will come running right away. The Queen promised me protection.”
I winced when she referred to Ellie as the queen. I cringed at the thought that she felt she needed protection from me.
I wanted to argue, to fight her on it, but instead, I nodded.
“Okay.”
She glared at me, and that fire in her eyes, the deep gold that swirled with light and magic, wasn’t what it used to be. It didn’t resemble the flames that danced in the hearth next to her. Her eyes were dull in comparison.
I turned around and walked away.
