Page 198 of Flirting with Darkness

House. Please wake us up.

Elaina-Faolán blinked again, eyes staying shut longer this time. Their breaths came slower, shallower.

We turned the knife, bringing the point against our chest.

Wake up.

The threads of my shirt split. Pain pinpricked as blood welled from that point.

Elaina-Faolán exhaled, slowly, slowly, slowly. Everything about it weak.

Not much longer and they’d be gone.

Wake up!

* * *

White.

Then black.

A blur of paint and gold.

A warm hand caught my shoulder.

I blinked up at Faolán. Hazel eyes. Steel grey hair falling in his face, catching on the edge of his beard. Just Faolán. No Elaina.

Sucking in a deep gasp, I touched my chest and found the round swell of breasts, not a broad, flat chest. No blood.

But…

I clutched at Faolán’s shirt, ran my hands over his torso, even though it made my bandaged arm ache, and turned him around, the breath catching in my throat.

The fabric was dry. No torn hole. No blood.

I let out all the air in my lungs, though it came out sounding like a sob as I pressed my forehead against his chest.

“Rose.” His hands planed up my back, claws catching in the fabric of my dress.

I didn’t care. I’d live with pulled threads and little rips. I’d let him shred every item of clothing I owned, as long as it meant he was all right.

“You’re alive.” The words were shaky, and I tugged on his shirt to prove that he was solid and real.

Because I cared about him. Oh, good gods, I cared far too much about him.

I didn’t just need to survive this place: I neededhimto survive it.

There was a momentary pressure on the top of my head—a kiss? And then his arms encircled me and pulled me close. I flung mine around him and squeezed, pressing my cheek against his chest.

“I am.” His voice was firm, reassuring, like he’d never feared otherwise, but the wild thunder of his heartbeat?

It was afraid.

30

THESE OLD BONES

We couldn’t make sense of what had happened in the painting, no matter how much we talked about it. And it didn’t help that there was an element I couldn’t speak of. I saw Faolán’s mouth open and close, too, like there was something he struggled to say. Something about the woman. Hadn’t there been a wolf, too? But I couldn’t…

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