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This can’t be real. But I see the creatures feasting on my family. Snapping their bones. Drinking their blood. Doing things so terrible my brain can’t process it.
Something inside me splits open, a wail spilling from my chest . . .
19
I come to seemingly floating in the air. There’s no more sky. No more farmhouse or clothes stained red or pieces of my family strewn over the ground. Instead of the metallic scent of blood, the familiar scent of pine and juniper fills my nose.
Arms—there are arms beneath me. I’m pressed into someone’s chest, held like a child, the feeling so comforting and protective that I nearly sigh with relief. By the way my body presses into the cool flesh, I know without looking that it’s Valerian.
“My family,” I croak, trying to shift to look at his face, but agony follows the simple movement.
“Fine.” Valerian’s voice soothes the jagged wound inside my chest. “Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real.”
Wasn’t real. Wasn’t real. Wasn’t real.
I repeat the phrase over and over, each cleansing breath I take clearing more of the horrifying images from my mind until I can finally, finally convince myself what I experienced truly didn’t happen.
He lays me down on a bed—his bed—and that’s when I remember what I was doing before I fell into that living nightmare.
“The test!” I lift up, the sudden movement sending tiny nails driving into my skull. “Ow.” Groaning, I shut my eyes and clutch my head, gouging my knuckles into my temples. “Is there, by chance, a tiny man hammering into my head?”
His cool breath brushes my cheek as he leans down, easing me onto the bed. “You’re going to feel like death for a few minutes until the tormentor spell you walked into clears your system.”
Of course it’s called a tormentor spell. I sigh, some of the tension bleeding from my shoulders and neck. “So all of that was . . . a hallucination?”
“Yes. That particular spell takes your worst fears and brings them to life in macabre ways.”
Wonderful. “Please don’t tell me I vomited in front of everyone.”
Damning silence. Crap. I open my eyes only to slap a hand over them as the light sears into my brain.
“Was it Inara? I’m going to murder her and then have Eclipsa transfer her soul just so I can murder her again.”
He chuckles, the throaty sound hinting that he’s still right next to me. “Whoever set that spell in the doorway hid their mark, so there’s no way to tell, but I’m absolutely going to have a chat with her about it.”
“No, please. I need to deal with her on my own.”
I can hear the hesitation in his silence. I begged the same thing after the incident at the Wild Hunt, too. As much as I would love to see Valerian handle Inara, I can’t let him fight my battles.
My eyes are still squeezed shut, which is unnerving considering I can feel Valerian watching me. “Wait, why am I in your room?”
“I was running late to class, so I only discovered you were hurt when Eclipsa and Asher were already sprinting down the hall with you. The quickest way to break a tormentor spell is to remove the victim from the original spell’s location. When I saw you, Summer, wailing in Asher’s arms, your face contorted in pain—I freaked out. My need to protect you made me see everyone as a potential threat, even Asher and Eclipsa.”
“Did you hurt them?” I ask, startled.
“Hurt isn’t the right word. It takes a lot to injure a dragon shifter and Lunar assassin. But they’ll be sore for a few days and rightfully pissed.” He exhales. “I might have also set up wards to keep everyone out.”
I’m alone. With Valerian. In his bed. The bond between us tugging low in my belly, growing more and more insistent with every second that passes. Flooding my body with a startling, feverish heat.
This feels . . . dangerous.
My eyes pop open as I feel cool wetness on my cheeks. Valerian meets my stare, a gray washcloth bunched in his hand. Without a word, he cleans the puke from my face. My hair. Gently. The act so caring, so intimate that I have to look away.
Once he’s done, I struggle to my elbows once again. “I need to get up. The test—”
“I’ve already arranged a new time for you to take it in the morning. The spell should leave your system soon, but until then, you’re going to rest.”
“If I don’t?”
