by Nova Blake
"Thank you," I said, unable to stay quiet. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You don't have to think about that, because it's never going to happen," Colton said. He leaned forward, his arms on the rim of the rug. "I don't know how you got out, but Hunter has to tell you now. He can't deny it's the right thing to do."
"Are you sure?" I asked, my voice wavering. I wanted so badly to know the truth, but after last night I wasn't sure if I could handle knowing. What if it was bad? What if there were things I didn't want to know? Not knowing had been making me crazy, but what would knowing do?
"I'm sure," Colton said with a nod. "He's downstairs. Everyone is here now. So take your time, and when you're ready, we'll go."
I stood up. "Now. Let's just get it over with."
Sheehan reached for my arm, steadying me. I hated that I still felt so wobbly; I had to look strong, like I could handle anything they threw at me. Colton grabbed a large towel, draping it around my shoulders after I'd stepped from the bath.
I frowned, realizing that I'd not had a second’s hesitation about getting naked in front of him earlier, and I didn't care that he could see me now. His fingers grazed my cheek, sorrow in their depths though I couldn't fathom what that was about. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek, felt the sharp inhalation of his breath at the touch. His eyes captured mine, the intense emotion in his gaze almost making me forget everything else. I smiled up at him, longed to kiss him, but now was not the time.
I knew it would come though. There was no doubt in my mind about that.
Turning to Sheehan, I kissed his cheek too. "I'll go get dressed and meet you downstairs?" He nodded once and moved past me out the door, Colton on his heels.
And then I was alone. At least physically. I was never really alone. Not while they still lived and breathed.
It was time to get ready.
I headed to my bedroom, closed the door, and pulled out the only dress in my wardrobe. I needed something feminine, something pretty.
Something that didn't remind me of blood.
MY HAIR WAS IMMACULATE and my skin shone from the scrubbing in the bathtub. I'd applied the only perfume I owned and spent a good five minutes psyching myself up in the mirror.
I was strong. I deserved the truth. I would be an immovable object until Hunter told me what was going on.
At the top of the stairs I paused to take in a deep breath and set my shoulders back. I needed to exude a confidence I didn't quite feel, which was proving difficult. I kept seeing that man's lifeless eyes. That blood.
I'd done that. Somehow.
I started down, wanting to hit the bottom and enter the room before anyone had to call for me. I did not need to be summoned tonight. It was not me in the hot seat. Not this time.
No one was in the kitchen, so I looked into the living room to find them gathered there. Colton and Sheehan had saved a spot for me on the couch and I sat down between them. Felix delivered me a mug of hot chocolate with a cookie on the side and I smiled my thanks, dunking it into the hot liquid before taking a bite.
As I chewed I surveyed the room. Everyone was present, and I had to wonder why this time they'd chosen to do this in the living room and not around the dining table like normal. Sure, it was softer in here, cozier, but I wasn't sure this was going to be a cozy conversation. Uncomfortable things needed to be addressed.
However, I couldn't deny that being cushioned between Colton and Sheehan was a pretty good way to get ugly news.
Hunter paced the room, and I let him, focusing on sipping my hot chocolate. Felix had made it just the way I liked it, and the cookie was from the batch I'd made with Sheehan the other day. When I was done I handed the mug and plate off to Sheehan and folded my hands in my lap.
"Well?" I asked.
Hunter let out a strangled laugh, and I finally noticed how disheveled he was. It was so unlike him. Normally he was dressed in pressed business suits, his long hair sleek and brushed back into a low pony. Now it was coming loose, strands fraying around his face. He stopped pacing and dropped to the floor in front of me.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. Wrong about everything. I should have known this plan wouldn't work, that you'd find some way to break through the barriers, that we couldn't contain you." He sighed, his head drooping.
A trickle of dread wended its way through my veins. "What are you talking about?"
"You know, don't you?" He looked up, brow furrowed. His eyes gleaming amber in this light.
"Know what?" I shook my head. "I'm not messing around with you, Hunter. You tell me what the hell is going on right now, or I'll find someone who will. Last night I somehow wandered out of the house, drugged and dreaming, and murdered two people.
Hunter paused, his mouth poised to speak, but then he closed, considering his words.
"I'm going to tell you, but first-" He stood up, ushering Zephyr to his side. The younger man carried a bundle of fabric. Hunter shook it out, revealing it to be the cloak of one of the people from the woods.
"Why is that here?" I asked, struggling to get a breath.
"I need you to look at something. This." He pointed at the front of the cloak. There was a sigil there, a symbol I didn't know, burned into a wooden badge. "Do you recognize this?" he asked, his voice gentle.
"No." I shook my head slowly but I couldn't take my eyes off it. A sliver of memory sparked. "No, wait... In my dream. The woman. I think she was wearing the same symbol."
He was nodding now. "This is the sigil of the woman who wants you dead. The ones you killed worked for her."
"So I got them?" I looked into his eyes, hope burning through me. "I'm safe?"
"For now, but she won't stop until you're dead, Ebony. We can run from here, find somewhere safer, try harder... But I don't know if that's going to be a long term solution."
"You know it's not," Colton said, his deep voice rumbling through me. "This was never meant to be a long term solution, you can't go making it one now."
Hunter turned to him, his teeth grinding together. "I just want to keep Ebony safe. That's all that matters."
"Ebony can hear you, and she doesn't feel that safe right now. Hunter. I sleep walked into the woods and murdered people. You can feed me all the drugs in the world, you can tie me to the bed, but that's not going to stop whatever the hell is going on with me." My eyes were wide, a surge of wired, crazy energy infesting me. I stood up from the couch, my turn to pace the room now. "Tell me. Tell me everything."
No one spoke.
“Tell me!” I commanded.
Hunter stood up, his fingers making strange motions. The men in the room took a collective gasp.
"Finally!” Felix said, shooting to his feet with comical speed. “You're an actual Princess." I spun to look at him, but his face was serious. "And the woman who wants you dead is a queen. Your step mother, in fact. As long as you live you pose a threat to her throne. Also, you're not human, you're fey, and Hunter spelled us so we couldn’t tell you any of this."
I sighed. "Felix. Not now. Don't muddy the waters. Someone tell him that this isn't the time to be joking around."
I pressed the palms of my hands into my eye sockets, then dragged my fingers through my hair. When I opened my eyes I scanned the room, searching the faces of the others. But none of them were smiling.
And none of them were telling Felix off.
"Guys?” I asked, my mouth going dry. “What's going on?"
"He's not joking, Ebony," Brax said. "It's the truth."
"Cut it out," I said, my voice squeaking. There was a nervous thread in my chest and I couldn't seem to breathe properly. "It's not funny."
"No one is trying to be funny, Ebony," Arien said. He stepped towards me, gripped my shoulders with his hands. It was a small comfort, but it kept me steady. I didn't know what the hell was happening but I didn't like it.
Maybe I was still dreaming.
"I'm going to do something, so you can see that we’re telling the truth. Is that o
kay?" Arien asked. He looked so earnest that I couldn't say no. I couldn't speak in fact, so I nodded my approval. "Close your eyes," he instructed.
It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I did it all the same. He moved his hands so that one covered my eyes and the other held the back of my head. His grip wasn't tight, but after a few seconds heat began to emanate from his fingers. Not unpleasant, but noticeable. He was whispering something under his breath, some language that I couldn't understand, and then he removed his hands.
I blinked. Once, twice, trying to clear my blurry vision. When everything came back into focus I could see... I could see that each of the men in this room had the same glow to their skin as those who had attacked me in the forest. Their eyes were bright, and their skin...
Fear choked me and I put a hand to my throat, my mouth gaping wide as if that would help me gain some air. I spun away from them. From the men I thought I knew, thought I could trust. The men who looked just like those who wanted to kill me and came face to face with myself in the mirror.
My skin glowed too, a soft blue-white that made me seem even paler than before. I watched as my hand lifted to touch my cheek and then I looked down at that hand, turning it over as if it was some trick of the light that might disappear. Like maybe it didn't belong to me.
But it was mine.
We were the same. All of us.
Hunter came up behind me. I watched him in the mirror as he approached and lifted a silver crown adorned with tiny jewels. He placed it on my head and I knew it was mine. It fit just right.
I spun to face the others only to find them all kneeling on the floor, their heads bowed in reverence.
"Princess Ebony," Hunter said, his voice full of a peace it hadn't possessed before, as if finally having the truth in the open had relieved him of his stress. "We are at your service."
The End
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nova Blake is a romance author from New Zealand, and Ebony Slumbers is her debut release. She loves binging shows on Netflix with her husband, hanging out with her kids, and enjoying life as best she can. If she’s not writing, or doing any of the above, she’s probably sleeping, because gods know she doesn’t get enough of that.
While she tries very hard to spend more of her time writing than on social media, you can probably find out more at her website, or on Facebook.
And switching right out of third person, because that all gets a bit stale – THANK YOU! Thank you for taking a chance on me and my book, and I hope you enjoyed it. I’m working my backside off to make sure you don’t have too long to wait between the first and last book in this series because, personally? I hate waiting too ;-)
