Page 27 of Willow and the Wraith

“I didn’t sleep well when I was a child,” she finally said softly.

His gaze sharpened, focusing intently on her face, and her heart skipped a beat at the intensity in that dark gaze.

“Why not?”

She had to look away, staring down at her hands instead.

“My parents didn’t want me,” she said, the familiar ache still present. “I was a… mistake, one they did their best to ignore. I always had this fear that one day they would just leave me. That I would wake up and find them gone. So I didn’t want to go to sleep. Just in case.”

He leaned towards her, his expression still unreadable, but his eyes never left her face.

“They didn’t leave me, not physically anyway, but I never stopped dreading it.”

She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling exposed.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” she said with a weak laugh.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again, clearly unsure of what to say. The old embarrassment crept over her and she was about to get up when he spoke.

“I understand being afraid that bad things will happen if you fall asleep.”

There was a heaviness in his voice and she was suddenly quite sure that in his case, bad things had happened. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and assure him it would be all right, but she wasn’t sure how he would react.

“Is that why you can’t sleep?” she asked gently. “Because you’re afraid of what might happen?”

It seemed ridiculous to ask such a powerful, deadly male if he was afraid, but he didn’t immediately reject her assumption.

“Perhaps,” he said finally. “Or perhaps I simply got used to remaining on guard at all times.”

“Even now?”

“Even now.” He gave a reluctant shrug. “It’s part of me now.”

“I suppose we could have worse problems than not being able to sleep,” she said lightly.

To her relief, the corner of his mouth twitched. “I suppose.”

“Maybe we should find something to help you sleep,” she suggested.

“Such as?”

He raised an eyebrow and ideas about all the ways she could help him sleep raced through her mind. She was sure she was blushing again, but she gave him a determined smile.

“How about a story? I always read one to my kindergartners at nap time.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “A… story?”

“Sure.” She settled back in the chair, doing her best to hide her amusement at his obvious skepticism. “Don’t you like stories?”

He hesitated, then shrugged. “I don’t remember any.”

“Then let me tell you one.”

She thought for a moment, then started telling him one of the stories her students loved. She felt a little self-conscious at first, but she fell into the rhythm of the story, the way she would have with her students. Despite his skepticism, he listened intently. Too intently - he was still wide awake when she finished.

“You are an excellent storyteller,”

“Thank you. I have a lot of practice reading to my students.” An unexpected pang of homesickness washed over her. “I miss them, although I think I would miss them even more if I didn’t have Sooni.”

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