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Just… looked.

He looked back.

After a few moments of silence, his lips curved upward. “Looks like I’ve stunned you to silence with my honesty this time.”

I tried to scowl, but couldn’t.

So instead, I turned and continued my walk into the forest.

He kept walking beside me.

I wasn’t going to hand him all of my truths like he had handed me his—I definitely wasn’t there yet.

But I could give him one thing.

“I don’t dream,” I said, my gaze focused on the forest in front of me. “My entire life has been a nightmare. I suppose the kings of sleep pity me enough not to haunt me while I’m unconscious.”

Namir’s fists clenched at his sides, and shadows leaked from his skin. He didn’t say anything, though—and I didn’t push him to.

Instead, we just continued walking.

Chapter7

Eventually,I grew too tired to keep going. Picking out a mossy spot that didn’t look incredibly lumpy, I stepped off the path I’d been creating.

“You’re going to sleep here?” Namir asked, lifting an eyebrow at me. “There’s no bed.”

“Then it’ll be just like my childhood,” I drawled, plopping down on my ass on the moss. “Cold, a little wet, and extremely uncomfortable.”

Namir’s expression darkened, and he sat beside me. “Moss it is.”

“We’re not sharing,” I warned him.

“What is there to share?” he asked, gesturing to the moss. “No bed, remember?”

“Go home, Namir,” I said with a sigh. “You’re clearly not made for the discomfort of the forest.”

He scowled at me. “You’re notmadefor discomfort either, Diora.”

Deciding not to argue, I draped myself over the moss, leaving him enough space to lay on it too. “Don’t touch me. I don’t like to be touched.”

“Alright.” He didn’t sound upset about the revelation, and I didn’t get the impression that he was going to get handsy or anything.

As I closed my eyes and tried to relax, the cold of the moss seeped into my skin.

Trying hard not to shiver, I ignored both the chilly moss, and the icy wind that slowly blew through the trees. Bumps broke out on my skin, as they always did when I got cold, but I ignored that as always.

The shadows continued to swirl around me, comforting me, but they weren’t warm. Not in the slightest.

I tried to rest anyway.

“I can’t sleep with your teeth chattering,” Namir grumbled at me. “Either let me hold you, or let me wrap my shadows around you.”

I scowled into the forest. “No thanks.”

He grunted at me. “You’re so damn stubborn.”

“Says the bastard who followed me into the forest after I told him to turn around multiple times,” I spat back. “Just go to sleep.”