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Why was there a pillow on the floor? And why did the pillowcase—a deep shade of gray—suggest that it had come from Darien’s bed?

“Did you bring that here?” she asked Singer. She pointed at the pillow.

The dog stared up at her with big, innocent eyes.

Wait a minute…

Oh gods.

“He didnotsleep out here.” She was in denial. Darienhadslept out here, and she knew it.

Singer glanced at the pillow and wagged his tail with not much enthusiasm—whatever that was supposed to mean.

She sighed.

Voices were coming from the ground floor. Was that Ivyana she was hearing? Had she made it back?

She hurried down the stairs, Singer bounding after her in a streak of glittering darkness. Across the foyer, around the corner?—

The number of people crowded around the dining room table gave her pause. Her socked feet slid across the floor as she came to a sudden stop, her brows shooting up.

“Loren?”

Her head whipped toward the sound of that voice.

She spotted her at the table beside Logan.

“Sabrine?” Loren breathed. She stumbled forward.

“Loren!” Sabrine jumped to her feet and ran to her with a smile, arms opening wide. Loren opened her own right on time?—

They collided, her friend squeezing her in a tight embrace that crushed the air out of her lungs.

She didn’t care, though. She hugged Sabrine back just as hard, the weight of everything that’d happened these past few weeks threatening to snap her self control.

“Sabrine,” Loren breathed, her eyes shutting tight. “I’m so happy to see you! I missed you so much.” There was so much she wanted to tell her. So much she couldn’t wait to get off her bleeding chest. She needed her friend more than ever, needed a shoulder to cry on, an ear to vent to, and she was so,soglad she was here.

“I missed you too, girl! They just told me everything. I can’t believe all of this, this isinsane!”Sabrine pulled back and scanned her with sunset-colored eyes, her hands lightly grasping hers. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Loren said, half-laughing, half-sobbing.Wasshe fine, though? Not really. She was going to die sometime between now and Kalendae, and so would the man she loved. And that awful truth—him dying—hurt more than her own impending death. “Areyouokay?”

“I’m fine!” She grinned and squeezed her hands. “I’m totally fine. I’ve only been obsessively checking my messages every second of every day.” She laughed and gave her one more hug, her hands rubbing her back. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me too.” She sniffed. When they broke apart, Loren gestured to the room full of talking people. “I have all of them to thank.”

She was only just noticingall of them.Putting names to faces. Jack and Lace were here, but that wasn’t all—not anymore. Ivy, Tanner, Kylar, and Eugene had made it out of Yveswich. The latter was sprawled across the couch, completely absorbed by a video game he played on his handheld device. A game show on television had Arthur—the only other person, besides Eugene, who wasn’t crowded around the dining room table—fully engrossed.

Darien sat smoking at the head of that table, looking way too appealing in a fitted black shirt and black jeans. The moment she met his potent stare, he seemed to remember what he was doing and reached across the table to put his cigarette out in the ashtray.

As if she hadn’t seen him smoking a hundred times by now.

As if it made any difference when it came to her feelings for him.

As if he were capable of doinganythingthat she didn’t like.

“Why don’t you come sit down?” Sabrine suggested. Her question had Loren breaking Darien’s stare. “You look a little faint.”

“I’m fine,” Loren said, but she didn’t argue as her friend took her by the hand and towed her across the space. The dining room windows were open behind Darien, a fresh jasmine-scented breeze drifting through the screen and mixing with the hint of cigarette smoke.