AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not someone who deserves to be the god of day and light.”
“Fine.”
With another twist of Ur’s fingers, Luc’s power drained completely. He was nothing. Empty. A man.
Ur—looking suddenly more sad than angry—dropped his hands to his sides. “You will remain here at Sol.”
“I’ve nowhere else to go.”
“When will you stop running, Lucian?”
When Luc didn’t reply, Ur sighed. “When you are ready to accept who you are and who you are intended to be, I will restore your power.”
“What if I don’t want it?”
“You will. Mark my words, Lucian, you will.” And then he was gone, taking Luc’s power with him.
7
Though it was supremely comfortable, Brinna tossed and turned in the gigantic bed. Without Auri’s warmth, Brinna struggled to relax into her exhaustion. It wasn’t that she was cold, exactly, but the emptiness of the bed matched an emptiness pulsing through her heart. She’d never felt this alone before, and it surprised her that she missed her sisters, missed the feel of Auri next to her in bed. What would she do when Auri was gone? Married?
She’d thought she would like feeling independent, the possibility of just being Brinna, not a sister of Jessamine, Tarley, Auri, and Mattias. Butbeing Brinnaup until then had meant never being alone. She was the helper, the nurturer, the one who built and maintained emotional bridges. She told stories and entertained, offered kindness and shoulders on which to cry. She’d assumed alone would mean she could exist for herself, but now she felt like she didn’t know who she was without them. And maybe that was more frightening.
“Sleep. Sleep,” she whisper-chanted. But when she shut her eyes, it was Lucian’s face she saw. Such a lovely face. Her eyes flew open, and she grunted in frustration. She was angry with him, hurt—he was the last thing she wanted to think of. But when she closed her eyes, his face was exactly where her mind took her anyway, the light around him bright and warm. Strangely, the closer she got, the farther he drifted from her. It was day, then night, then day again, and as the sun waned, the darkling’s terrible face with its wide mouth full of teeth and blood, loomed between her and Lucian.
She cried out and lurched up in the bed.
Dreaming.
Her heart raced, thrumming its strong rhythm at the pulse in her neck.
Just a dream. She’d fallen asleep despite feeling like she might never find it.
A knock pounded at her door. “Brinna?!”
With a screech, startled, she flung herself out of bed onto the floor to hide.
“Brinna?” The door opened. “Are you alright?” Lucian’s voice.
She knelt, looking over the bed at Lucian’s shadow in the doorway. “Oh stars.” She took a deep breath and pressed her forehead against the mattress. “You scared me.”
“I heard you call for me. I thought–”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t remember doing it. “I had a nightmare,” she admitted.
“Are you okay?”
Using the bed as leverage, she rose to her feet with a shiver and cleared her throat. “Yes. I dreamed of the darkling.” She shivered again, crossing her arms over her chest.
The brilliance of the stars in the windows beyond did little to light the room, so she reached and pulled the chain next to her bed. The lamp cast a soft glow, illuminating Lucian across the room. His honey hair was the same mess of waves it always was, but the rest of him looked as undone as she’d ever seen him. The buttons of his ivory shirt were misaligned exposing tanned skin and an enticing dusting of hair across his chest, his pants loose around his hips, perhaps unbuttoned, as if he’d only slipped them on as he rushed from his room.
Her cheeks heated, and she looked down at the bed with its rumpled sheets. That didn’t help—her flush deepened, spreading warmth across her body.
You aren’t his type, she reminded herself.
