Page 136 of The Sinner's Bargain

I pushed back the blanket and slid my legs over the edge of the mattress. The icy floor brushed my feet as I crossed to the windows and peered out at the night. The rain. The miles of wet, bottomless swamps full of bodies, haunted gardens and uncharted wilderness. And that was only the tip of the problem.

Floor boards groaned behind me and I spun, heart leaping at the thought of Naya coming to me. But the room sat in murky darkness. The air still. I began to take a breath when a shadow shifted past the door, blocking the light underneath in quick motion. Too quick to be Cyrus. Too quiet to be a guard on patrol.

She’s running, was my thought as I darted to the door and threw it open just in time to see her unbound locks sweep around the corner.

“Blue!”

I sprinted after her, chasing her down the twisting corridor towards the stairs that took Elena.

“Blue! Stop!”

Her head snapped over her shoulder, eyes big and frightened in the dusty gloom. The pale light of the moon glistened off the pale sheet of satin draped over her as she pumped harder to get away from me.

My cry came too late when she didn’t see the stones. The layers of solid granite plunged into darkness until she was sliding. Arms spinning as she tried to catch something and only snatching air as she slipped and plummeted into the nothing below.

“Naya!”

My scream tore me upright in my bed, cold sweat thick on my skin. Soaking the sheets. My breathing gutted every shred of my sanity as I stared at the windows overlooking the yard and the sliver of moonlight peeking through the clouds. I wheezed. Hands shaking. I wiped them across the back of my eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

My already terrorized heart spiked at the soft voice from the spot beside me. I turned my head to find Naya’s golden locks spilling across the pillow, a stark contrast to the dark navy silk. Her back was to me but I would have recognized her shape anywhere

I expelled the knot in my chest and reached for her. Needing to feel her warm and alive in my arms.

“Fuck, baby,” I practically wept, gathering her back against my chest. I nuzzled the back of her warm neck. Breathed her soft scent. “You came back.”

She shifted. Turning her body to mine and the clouds took that moment to sweep apart. Grimy, yellow light shattered the glass and pooled like curdled milk into the hollow sockets and widening jaw unhinging into a silent scream as she writhed. Her body twisting. Skin peeling off bleached bones and decaying to dust in my arms.

My scream was long as I bolted up a second time. It burned in my throat and bled together with the roar in my ears. I could barely feel my limbs when I threw myself from the bed and thundered to the door. It nearly came off the hinges when I tore it open and pounded to the room next door.

Naya jumped when I barged in without knocking. She shot out of the chair she’d been sitting in by the window, a tiny, pale figure with tears streaking her face and pain in her eyes even as they snapped up to me.

“Thoran?” Her hoarse croak shattered what little restraint I had as I marched to where she stood. “What—?”

I grabbed her and pulled her up over my shoulder, ignoring the soft shimmer of silk catching the light, matching my dream exactly.

Not waiting for my brain to point out why this was such a bad idea, I stalked with her back into my room. Back to my bed.

I didn’t say a word when dropping her onto the mattress. Not a word when I dragged her into my arms, my chest. I didn’t trust the madness still too fresh in my mind as I pressed my clammy face into her chest and listened to the patter of her heart.

“This is your bed now,” I breathed into her skin. “I need you here.”

Her arms started to lift as if to wrap around me but stopped. I tightened mine.

“I don’t think your wife will like that.” I didn’t miss the thickness. The broken quiver.

I squeezed my eyes closed, already knowing I was about to fuck myself. My dreams had been a very clear warning. The house was telling me to stop. To push her away.

To free her.

Otherwise, I was condemning her to death and dust.

“Marry me.”

She stilled beneath me even as her heart jumped against my cheek. “What?”

I forced my head up to see her face. The face my sanity needed every morning and night. The face that meant fucking too much given how short a time I’d known it.

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