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Her eyes snap open, their blue clashing with mine.
I stumble backward as my mouth opens in a shriek.
29
Winter
This is a nightmare.
This could only be another nightmare. I didn’t really wake up this morning and I’m having another nightmare.
I screw my eyes shut, then open them again.
Lia is still there, staring, but not at me. Her gaze didn’t follow me when I stumbled.
I pinch myself in a desperate attempt to wake up, but only searing pain greets me.
My entire body trembles as I approach her again. She continues to stare, but nothing on her body moves. Not her hands, not her limbs.
It’s like she’s asleep with her eyes open.
“Lia,” I whisper, afraid anything louder will make her leap out of the bed and slice my throat as she did in my most recent nightmare.
She shows no reaction to hearing me. Her eyes still staring up ahead, caught in a foreign land. I run a hand in front of her face, but she doesn’t follow it.
She’s not even blinking, completely in a trance. Now that I’m no longer in shock, I can see that her eyes are blank, lighter than mine, as if the feelings that made them bright have completely disappeared.
I slowly touch her shoulder, even though my body is facing away, ready to bolt out of here any second.
Lia doesn’t move. Not even an inch.
Is she paralyzed? Braindead? What is it exactly that causes a person to stay in this state without making a single movement?
“Lia…” I murmur again.
Nothing.
But that doesn’t give me relief. If anything, the dread and gloom from earlier slash against my ribcage and tighten a noose around my heart.
My leg vibrates and I gasp, thinking Lia’s touched me.
It’s the phone.Just the phone.
I retrieve it with shaky fingers. The text that greets me deepens my trembling state.
Unknown Number:Have you found your mission yet?
My gaze slides from the screen to Lia and then back again, my heart thundering in my throat.
Does he…does the shadow have something to do with this? I type a response.
Lia:Does it have something to do with Lia?
Unknown Number:You became Lia Volkov for a reason. Find it. Do it. I’m losing patience, Duchess.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I mutter under my breath.
Lia’s head rolls to the side in an unnatural angle as if it’s about to snap. Her eyes blink rapidly and her mouth opens as a long moan of pain leaves it. It’s raw, deep, and so damn haunting.
