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“What do you need?” Saoirse asked.
“Thirty minutes and a silent room.”
“Consider it done.”
Chapter Sixty-three
Rion
Rion pulled her close, breathing in the heavenly floral scent of his mate. Summer lilies, cascading waterfalls, and just a hint of flame, as if she carried a spark of him somewhere deep in her soul. She was here, safely wrapped in his arms where the gruesome remnants of his nightmares couldn’t touch her.
He leaned in and brushed Arianna’s wavy dark hair aside, desperate to catch a glimpse of her sleeping face in the darkness. She was growing it out and he couldn’t wait to see it waist length again. She’d told him that she and Ellie used to—his hand pulled away wet.
Rion furrowed his brow and sat up, reaching for a light he couldn’t find. Didn’t they have a lamp at their bedside?
He pulled for his magic, but it didn’t respond, then the starts of a pounding headache pulsed behind his eyes. He winced and black specks flew across his vision.
“Arianna?” he tried, voice whisper soft. He hated disturbing her, but she’d always assured him he could wake her anytime he needed. He just wanted to hear her voice. Just once.
She didn’t respond.
“Arianna,” he tried again and shook her shoulder. It was cold, too cold and her body was stiff. Dread coursed through his gut and somehow a light he couldn’t locate flickered on in the distant corner, or had it always been there?
Rion rolled her over then leaped from their bed, chest heaving as he stared at her ashen face contorted in pain.
He looked at his trembling hands, heart thundering when he found them red and dripping. The tang of her blood filled the room, choking his senses. Rion stumbled back when his eyes locked on the bite mark in her neck.
Rion licked his lips and tasted her blood.
He’d done this.
His gaze dropped to her arm next and his stomach tightened at the sight of the mangled limb. Not just bent at a horrid angle, but the flesh torn from bone, laying on the once pale sheets—he retched.
Rion backed away further, leaving her lifeless body on the mattress, splayed out as though she were some kind of sacrifice. The darkness swallowed her form then he was falling, falling, falling.
Rion jolted awake and bolted upright. He blinked several times, shielding his eyes from the warm afternoon sunlight, then Arianna was there, her hands on his chest, rubbing soothing circles through his tunic.
“You’re all right, it was just a nightmare,” she assured.
Alive. She was alive.
He reached for her face, cupping her cheeks between both hands and pressed his brow to hers. She offered him a soft, heartbreaking smile. He breathed in over and over again, struggling to calm his racing blood.
They sat on top of a thick blanket in the middle of a meadow surrounded by trees. He blinked against the bright sun and took in the scents and sounds. Nothing seemed amiss. He jolted when she handed him a wrapped sandwich.
Her face fell. “That bad?”
Rion shook his head, trying to clear it. “It’s nothing.”
“We can talk if you need to.”
He offered her a grin and knew it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He couldn’t remember how they’d gotten here or what the occasion was, but she was here, safe.
Rion’s heart slowed and he unwrapped his sandwich only to toss it against the nearest tree. He jumped to his feet, swiping away the squiggling larvae that had fallen from the wrapper.
“Rion?” He met Arianna’s gaze, but her eyes weren’t the deep cerulean blue he loved. They’d turned dull and her face had shifted to a paler shade. She was thin and bony and when he blinked again, blood poured from her neck.
She didn’t seem to notice the change. Arianna just tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”
