Page 55 of Ballad of Nightmares

Though judging by the wicked glint he got in his eyes then, she wasn’t sure she liked what she’d just agreed to.

“New moon this weekend,” he said. “I have doubles tomorrow and Friday. But Saturday… Saturday, Let’s do something then.”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

But the look on his face just drew darker as he took a step back from her. “You’ll love it.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and Ana was left staring at him as he started to his bike.

“You’re not coming upstairs?” she asked.

Sam swung his leg over his bike. “I don’t think I will,” he replied with a wink that made her shake her head. “See you Saturday. Send me something that will make me wish I’d stayed later.”

And as he revved the bike and sped off, Ana stared after him. Her mind whirled with the orchestra, his every touch and smile, the kiss they’d shared, and the way he’d just promised her danger as she strode up the stairs to her apartment. The door opened, and she locked it behind her, throwing her keys onto the counter.

She pressed her hands into the granite top and closed her eyes, exhaling the last few hours and letting her head hang.

“What the fuck are you doing, Deianira?” she muttered to herself.

She thought back to the meeting she’d had with the King’s Hand the day before, to the woman who was supposedly friends with Sam, and she wondered if the pair had spoken about her.

She wouldn’t see him for two days.

That gave her two days to focus on other routes into the castle, maybe through another groundskeeper or one of the journalists who’d managed to get a few photos.

Maybe the one that had been driven crazy when she’d gotten inside.

Ana scrambled into her junk drawer and fetched a pad and pen, scribbling on it a reminder to search through old newspaper databases for any articles since the press was first put into production.

Time to get to work.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE SYMPHONY DATE still lingered in Sam’s mind long after he laid down in his bed. With the close of his eyes, he replayed how her pulse had staggered, even pleasuring himself to the sound of it once. He’d never seen or felt anyone so entranced by music as he was himself. He found himself more and more intrigued by the woman he was spending so much time with. Maybe that was why he’d been glad that he’d already decided not to see her for a couple of days. He had to have a break to get his head back on straight. She consumed his thoughts more often than he dared to admit now, and he couldn’t wait for the weekend when he would take her to the prison to see how she reacted to genuine fear.

Overnight was relatively quiet for Sam, except for one moment when he’d been thrown out of a nightmare he couldn’t remember. He vaguely recalled a few screams and the state of his drenched sheets as the sweat beaded off his forehead and tried to calm his fleeting pulse. Luna had been in bed with him, lying by his head, and when he finally laid down again, she crawled atop his chest.

But he couldn’t recall any more detail than that.

The last time he’d woken up in such a startle, the castle he’d been imprisoned in centuries earlier had been under attack, and he’d awoken to the chaos of death that he couldn’t keep up with in this bodily form.

And for whatever reason, the first thing Sam did that morning was text Ana.

The most horrifying monsters are those that live within our souls, Sam typed.

He made his way to the bathroom and started brushing his teeth as he waited for her to respond. The phone buzzed just as he’d placed the brush in his mouth.

I like the monsters in my soul, Ana replied.They tell the best jokes.

Sam huffed at her response.You’ll have to introduce me. I love jokes.

What about your monsters?she asked.

Sam thought about it a moment, thinking about all the things he’d seen and done in his past.Maybe I am the monster.

Says my stalker, she said.Last night was amazing.

I had no idea that you would like it so much, he replied.

I loved it, she typed.I love how your darkness speaks to mine.