Page 37

“You’re mine now,” he murmured.

As her breathing gradually slowed to normal, he stroked her hair and traced circles across her bare back with his fingertips. Amelie was warm and comfortable, and her eyelids grew heavy. The crackling of the fire and Davron’s sensuous touch lulled her into deep relaxation.

Without fighting to stay awake, she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Amelie awoke to sunshine spearing through gaps in the curtains, and Davron watching over her. She was curled up in his arms in the bed.

“Good morning.” He gently pushed a lock of her hair off her forehead. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmhmm.” She smiled as she recalled the details of the night before. The glorious, incredible, perfect details. “Did you?”

He gave a shrug. “I do not sleep much.”

“That’s a pity.”

“It’s not. My night could not have been any better.” He grinned.

“I agree. I am positively weak, even now.”

He squeezed her. “Good. That makes it easy for me to keep you here, in my castle.”

She wondered if he realized how attractive a threat that was. He was ashamed of his physical attributes, like his tongue, and yet the pleasure he’d given her last night was almost indescribable. She never knew it was possible to experience such sensations.

“I am sorry to hear you don’t sleep well,” she said, feeling guilty for being so self-centered that she’d be pleased about his tongue. It was a side effect of a curse. “Is insomnia part of what the Dark One did to you?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know. Perhaps. I’ll have to ask Levissina.”

At hearing her name, Amelie frowned. “There’s something I don’t quite understand,” she said with a tentative glance at Davron. “You say she’s demonic. And yet sometimes you call her Levissina, as if she was a person like any other. What is she? Because the Sirenstone did not work on her. Is she still a woman?”

He stared at the ceiling, frowning thoughtfully. “I don’t know. What am I? A man, am I not? But not like any other man I’ve ever come across. These things are not cut and dry—not where magic and grief are concerned. I suspect what we see now are the darkest parts of her, marooned here in the mortal realm. She thrives on pain. Her own, and others’. But now that you mention it, perhaps such cruelty is a human trait, after all, rather than demonic.”

“Many people lose the love of their life,” said Amelie, thinking of her father. “Some of them in violent ways, even. They do not all become dark like her.”

“True. But very few people are as powerful as she was.” He rubbed his jaw. “I remember her, you know, before it happened. I was a youth, trying to find my way in Court. Trying to navigate the politics. I loathed it. She would attend the palace sometimes. Even then, she was fearsome. A searing flame, my mother called her. Bright red hair and fiery temper.”

“Red hair,” repeated Amelie, the words bringing a memory to the forefront of her mind. “I dreamed of a woman with long red hair and black fingertips. She seemed lovely, though.”

Davron propped himself up on one elbow, his face thunderstruck. “That sounds awfully like Levissina, aside from the lovely part. And forget how she seems. She is a sorceress. She can deceive in endless ways.”

“That’s true,” said Amelie, thinking how the Dark One took the form of Julie.

“You must not allow her into your dreams, Amelie. Her powers are not limited to the waking world. She could do you great harm. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand. Dreams are hard to control, though, when you’re in them.”

“That they are.” He sighed and let his head fall to the pillow, rolling onto his back. “That they are, indeed. But you must try.”

They both went silent, Davron lost in thought.

“I dreamed of you,” he said after some time. “Before I ever met you. Your heart, your essence. The thought that one day we’d meet was the only hope I had for a long time. The only reason for anything, as remote as the possibility may have been.”

“Remote,” murmured Amelie. “And yet, it happened.”

“Yes. When I found a drunk, fair-haired traveler befouling my castle, I did not immediately think those events would bring you to me.” He guffawed.

“Fate works in mysterious ways.”

In response, he kissed her sweetly on the mouth.