Page 43 of Lich's Mate

We’re going to break Gorran’s slave trade together. After that, I don’t know what will happen. I can’t plan for it.

And maybe part of that is liberating.

17

MEERA

My eyes open slowly. My last memory was being ravaged in the garden and falling asleep as we walked back to the mansion. I’m smiling as I wake up and feel my arms stretching out for him.

But my arms reach nothing, my body warm under a thick comforter.

Where is he?

I am not in the courtyard with Kavian beside me. I can’t hear the rustling of trees or the calming wind. The room may be dark, but there's definitely rain on the window I’m hearing.

Somehow, I was carried back inside the mansion.

“Am I still dreaming? Is this a nightmare?”

I bring myself to awareness, sitting up in bed and trying to make sense of my environment. Nausea grips me, panic taking hold slowly.

Perhaps it was all a dream and I am not with Kavian at all, but somewhere horrible that my mind shielded me from.

Maybe there’s a reason it all felt too good to be true?

I know my thoughts aren’t clear or rational as I come to, my mind clouded over. But the past several weeks before meeting him were so terrible, it’s not crazy to think my mind invented its own paradise to cope.

If that’s the case, then I need to escape.

I need to find a way out of here.

I try to calm my breathing, silencing the immediate urge to flee. I’m jumping to conclusions entirely too quickly.

Before I can conclude anything, I need to look around and think. I pinch myself hard on the thigh, feeling a pain that confirms I’m not asleep right now.

So then, did Kavian really carry me all the way here?

Maybe I didn’t fabricate days of memories and I’m still in Kavian’s mansion. Maybe the only dream was the courtyard.

That makes much more logical sense.

Lightning fills the air around me, followed by thunder, and I get a quick glimpse at the tumultuous dull red landscape just outside this window. This mansion has felt like an oasis among a dark red, sprawling desert.

I don’t know how Kavian can stand this realm.

I scratch my head, massaging my scalp.

Part of me feels very sore. It's a pain that radiates through my entire body, but I know it’s coming from something.

At first, I try to identify the source of the dull pain as the rain intensifies outside. Running my fingers along my torso, I feel a throbbing pain in my side.

A light filters in barely from the hallway. It’s the only way that I’m going to get a good look.

Picking myself up from the bed, my bare feet crossing over the floor, I slowly wedge open the door, careful not to alert the monsters plaguing my imagination. In the far distance, I think I hear voices, though they’re barely audible and I can’t make out their sources or what they’re saying.

That’s a problem for later, I think.

A dim candle flickers, and I lift my shirt up over my ribs.

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