Page 57 of Winterfall Destiny

Were the Confederacy involved in the plot to kill my family? The creeping unease moves through me, growing each time I consider Lex's words.

I've told Dorian that his crusade against Oskar and Confederacy isn't our war. But we've known for a long time that we share his aims—free the world from both the corrupt who hold power, and the terrorists who would take that from them.

Otherwise, we'll never be free, even if we do defeat the god-like force trying to end everything,

"Stupid question, but are you okay?" whispers Andrei, nudging my neck. "Your energy's spiked into something weird."

"Don't worry. No shadows," I say quietly. "Just thinking about things."

"We can't solve anything now. Sleep," he murmurs into my hair.

Falling asleep feels like an eternity as I lay awake in Andrei's arms, his strange heartbeat reminding me of everything I wanted to forget, his scent and touch everything I'd longed for. A few days ago, lying here seemed a dream as impossible for me as Andrei's dream to walk in the day.

When I wake, I’m alone in the bed, confused at first where I am. Andrei isn't beside me but the sheet's still warm and bed imprinted with his shape. He's sitting in a chair, now dressed, and facing the window. Knees drawn to his chest, bare feet on the seat, Andrei's still and silent. I squint at his phone. 2AM. Too early for him to watch another dawn.

As I gaze at Andrei, I'm more aware why I mistook him for the First the day he returned to us. The aura the creature carries interferes with the light around the body it inhabits, barely noticeable but there. In the dark, that aura's more visible—and the void this creates in the world hovers around Andrei now. Not in the way the shadows would, but as a complete opposite to the glow Andrei had in the first couple of days.

Hairs on my arms lift. Andrei is different. I sense something in him I can't describe—a tightly wrapped otherness held inside that I sensed when in his arms. What does containing the First's energy mean for him? I don't believe for a moment Andrei's tricking us by not telling us about other changes, but I'm certain that connecting with me isn't the only part of himself he's holding back.

Do I go to him?

"I'm okay, Maeve," Andrei says through the dark in the voice that isn't quite his. "I have a lot to process."

"Do you feel safe?" I whisper.

His silver-green eyes shine as he looks over at me. "Do you?"

“Yes. Do you want to talk about what's happened to you?"

"I would if I could understand what to talk about," he says, and the moonlight highlights his sad smile.

I clamber from the bed, the cooler air hitting my arms as I tread across the floor towards him. Andrei moves his legs and I climb onto his lap, curling into him, arms around his waist and cheek pressed against his hot skin.

"I won't allow that creature to hurt anybody else," he says, kissing the top of my head. "Nothing will happen to you."

"Then the First can't influence you through her blood, otherwise you'd never have thoughts like that," I murmur against his skin.

Andrei stays silent.

The First can't influence and force Andrei to turn me against my will.

But the creature has the power to return Andrei to his living death.

22

MAEVE

Andrei wakes me with a coffee and a kiss, enthusing how he 'fucking loves' being able to do that as he yanks open the curtains. Then he bounds away to make breakfast. I take a moment to sit with my coffee. Do I question him more about why he left the bed last night, or what I sensed around him? Andrei's repressing something and it's more than the fear he'll harm me.

I join the guys in the kitchen, where Jamie isn't subtle about how closely he studies my visible skin for marks, no doubt already asking Andrei if I was with him last night. Tobias sits beside him, his brow pinched as he finishes his coffee. Ash is the only one of the three who doesn't look warily between me and Andrei as the five of us move in and out of the kitchen, preparing for our morning. A morning entailing... what? We've agreed to share the latest of the First's threats with Ash and Jamie, and I'm worried how they'll respond. Both are primed to protect me, the dragon keeping what's precious to him safe, and Jamie's bond putting my life equal to his.

Please keep this rational.

I finish the buttered toast Andrei prepared and join Ash in the lounge, where he's crouched down and lacing up his sneakers. He was never a slender guy, but each day he's noticeably different. His biceps stretch his blue running shirt more than a few days ago, shoulders broader still. I watch him, the swirling attraction to him mixed with concern as to why he's changing so quickly now.

"Don't worry, I can run fast," he says when I halt suddenly and stare.

"Where will you go?" I glance over my shoulder. "Does Tobias know you're headed out?"

---