Page 149 of Visions of Darkness

My stomach fluttered, that need I couldn’t tamp down fighting for a way to fly out.

His aura covered me as he angled by and went into the bathroom.

Blowing out the strain, I grabbed my bag and tossed it onto the bed so I could pull out a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved tee to sleep in. I changed quickly while Pax was in the bathroom, and once he finished, we changed places.

I used the restroom, washed my face, and brushed my teeth, feeling antsy and probably a little too eager when I stepped out.

He’d already flicked off the lamp, and only the smallest strains of light filtered in through the thin drapes that hung over the windows. The blips grew brighter with each flash of the vacancy sign.

Pax had made a makeshift pallet on the floor next to the bed, one composed of only a sheet and a pillow. He climbed down to lie on top of it.

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor.” It came out as a whisper from where I hovered at the edge of the room.

Lying on his back, he stared up at the ceiling, his words cut into fragments when he forced out, “I think it’s best if I do.”

Tension bound the dense air—the memory of our kiss. The way his weight had felt so perfect against me. I could feel the power that urged us back to the same space.

“You’ll get cold.”

Even in the dimness, I could see him pinch his eyes closed. “Please, Aria. It’s been a long day, and I’m already close to breaking.”

Vulnerability spilled from him. His truth. His struggle.

I hesitated. At war with everything I needed. At war with what was to come. At war with who we were supposed to be.

Finally giving in, I shuffled on bare feet to the small bed, stepping around him before I climbed onto the bumpy mattress and slid under the covers. I pulled them up to my chin.

“I can’t believe we ran into someone who knew what I was. Someone who was married to another Valient,” I said into the lapping night.

Silence pressed down. “Don’t think it was coincidence. I think she was meant to find us. To give you answers. To give you hope.”

He rolled onto his side, lifted his arm, and curled his palm over the side of my face. His thumb stroked so lightly as he affirmed, “You are magnificent, Aria, and this world can’t do without you.”

I wanted to stay just like that forever. With his hand on my face and his thumb caressing soothingly across my cheek.

But sleep called to me.

An unfound promise of peace.

Darkness enveloped and minutes passed, and Pax’s arm fell back to the ground as he twitched and shifted on the floor below me. Tension bound his muscles. An edge of violence firing through his nerves.

I waded there with him, in his anxiety, which thrashed through his insides before his breaths finally shifted.

They turned short and light as he fell away into a different existence.

I closed my eyes to follow him there, to meet him in Tearsith, to follow the call into Faydor.

I drifted. Floated and hovered on the cusp. Where the lights flickered and my spirit danced.

Only at the thud outside the door, my eyes flew back open.

Darkness swam through the room, and a vat of shadows played across the walls and crawled the ceiling. I sat up and angled my ear to listen.

I heard nothing, but I could feel it.

A whisper. A prodding. A call to my soul.

My heart panged erratically, and I shifted so I could peer down at Pax where he remained asleep. His jaw was clenched, and his hands were fisted in a fit of restless slumber.

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