o
dark like something from a drea
in out and give way to open road, long enough for the silence inside the car to settle into something almost textured. I had stopped trying to fill it
ra's face when they took her, and I thought about Lilly walking out with h
about the
eyes had done something before he lit the match. That there was a reason Draco had given that specific instr
that. I almo
llars, swinging open without anyone touching them as the car app
ight. Manicured gardens stretched in every direction, broken up by paths and hedgerows and structures I couldn't identi
I had spent four years in cells and slave quarters where the ceiling was low
e that seemed to absorb the moonlight rather than reflect it. Every window was lit from within, warm gold bleeding
impressed by his house
finished deciding whether to open it myself. He off
hind me and walked toward the entrance,
I trusted him. Because I
ned before we
ed. The one on the left had dark bobbed hair and a smile that reached her eyes. The one on the right was bl
al. That expression said why is he bringing her here and who does she think
Alpha," they
ook that I was already beginning to find deeply aggravating, like being studied
haired one. "Make sure she's co
acie's smile was genui
moved to the blonde.
s did a quick, involuntary flick t
d deeper into the house, and just like that, I was standing in the entrance hall of a stranger's mansion with two wome
ked a
prisms across the walls. The floors were dark hardwood, covered in rugs that probably cost more than most people's houses. Artwork I did
in a tone that made please sou
d her up
was rid
or-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the moonlit grounds, the chandelier overhead casting everything
ed on it. An armchair by the window. A phone on the bedside ta
beautiful room I
w much I n
eft before I could respond which was f
s there anything yo
oom and turned to face her
rring visibly on her face. "There's a phone on
need an
th genuine warmth that I didn't know what to d
e of the room and li
lt honest in a way the silk and the chandelier and the crystal perfume bo
of
orange and enormous against the black sky, consuming the building where they had been, where we ha
being okay were two entirely different things, and I was so tir
n alone in a room, my grief was quiet. Just the pressure of it,
I'd been sitting the
n't a
voice, low through the
s together and stared at the far
r opene
o let him see my face like this blotched and raw and stripped of every de
uching in
ose blue eyes closer than I expected, level with min
uine, unperf
" he asked again,
e out steadier than I
wh
n me wanted to look away. "You took me from that building against my will. Whatever
expression. Not offense s
bit
imate in his mouth, too certain. Like he had already decided
de table threw warm light across his face, softeni
ng it. Like he was deci
," I said. "You had your man burn
s mouth. His
ce of a man who was used to being interrupted by things that demanded his immediate attention. He sto
t finished
ht," I said
l
he ceiling and tried to figure out how I was going to survive a man who looked at me like that like I was something he had bee
ng on it when the
you I do
s Ka
of si
Lil
et before I'd
for what it felt li
lutched to her chest and tears running silently down her face, and for a moment I just stood there,
my shoulder, "We're okay. We're here, we're okay" the same thing, over and over,
side, smaller and quieter, her h
ween them a
th and looked at them cataloguing damage, force of habit and
adn't asked yet. "He got us out before before t
him to," I
he back of her hand. "His words were ta
ction house, Draco's voice flat and certain, and me he
at. Get them ou
The way I had sat beside him in furious silence, belie
lf. He hadn't defended hi
ow what to
cular attention of someone who had spent four yea
ng," I
t meant she didn't belie
. In her neat, careful han
elier, and the window looking out over grounds that went on forever, and the door that led to a h
w yet," I sa
That's okay.
lled us both in again, and I let her, and for a little while the three of us just
t. Not yet, but
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