Page 100 of Moon Kissed

I couldn’t cry in my sleep.

Creak.

My eyes snapped open. Some time had passed since I fell asleep, a glance at the clock told me that. It was the middle of the night, so what woke me? Holding still, my sensitive hearing listened close to... what? What was that?

Thud.

I stiffened.Someone’s here.The thought hit me before their scent did.

“Lights on.”

Light flooded the bedchamber, ripping a curse out of my intruder.

“What the fuck do you want?” I snapped, shoving up against the pillows.

Edric froze comically on the first step to the bed. Yes, Dagem had them put in a raised platform for her showy, over-the-top bed. The woman dreamed of being a princess when she was a little kid, and I’d put money on it.

“I uh—” Edric stepped back as if moving out of claw-range. He looked rough—like he’d been chained up for the last twenty-four hours. His clothes were all ripped up and haggard lines marred his handsome face. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously you’re not since I asked Ava toaccidentallyleave your chains loosened when they locked you up for the night, and not to stop you when you inevitably escaped. IF you wanted to hurt me, you would’ve gotten a weapon on your way up here.” I arched a brow. “Unless you’re a bare-hands kind of guy, which I admit, is a bit sexy.”

He gaped at me. “You told her to— You wanted me to escape?”

“I wanted to see what you’d do if you escaped,” I corrected. “And what you did was sneak into my room. Again. So I repeat, what the fuck do you want?”

“Uh... I...”

“I remember you being more articulate than this.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting to chat,” Edric snapped. “I came to leave you something, and then I was going to go.”

“Go?”

“Away. From here. From the academy. From thisAlice in Wonderlandhellscape. All of it,” he said, boldly climbing up and dropping down on my bed. “You offered everyone else a one-way trip over the gates. I was taking mine.”

“But not before you left me something...” I eyed him. “Were you going to take a dump on my pillow? Masturbate in my panties and leave me to find the evidence?”

Edric rolled his eyes. “Will you cut it out with that shit? Luame help me, why are you like this?”

“Trauma,” I replied, shrugging.

He blew out a breath. “Yeah, well... that would explain a lot. And it’s why I have to say I’m sorry.”

I stilled. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

“The letters.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I stopped speaking. Stopped breathing.

“They weren’t supposed to burn them, Volana, I swear. When Paxton stole them, I realized what they were and said he had to put them back. We couldn’t fucking mess with a dying mother’s last words. That’s j-just”—his voice cracked—“something you don’t do.

“Badr refused to put them back, but Orion said it’d be fine. That we’d only threaten to burn the letters to get you to tell the truth,” he said. “I told them that if it’s only going to be a threat, we should take the real letters out of the envelopes and put in blank paper, so—”

“Did you?” I cried, leaping forward and grabbing his arm. “Did you keep the real letters? Where are they!”

“Volana...” Edric looked away. “No, we didn’t take out the real letters. What you saw was real. They’re gone.”

Hope left me like a steamroller flattened my body. There was none left as I slumped over—empty.

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