Page 62 of Haunted Nightmares

“If you do not answer me by the time you get to the foyer…” I growl as Zephyr stomps her way down the stairs. “I will?—”

“You’ll what?” She stops halfway and spins to face me. “What could you possibly do that you haven’t done already?”

And because I have no answer to that question, I just scowl and growl again.

“That’s what I thought.”

“I still want an answer.”

We resume our irritated march down the unstable staircase and when I see that she’s heading toward the sitting room, I quickly dart in front of her. “No.”

Zephyr looks up at me with the prettiest frown I’ve ever seen. “No?”

“You heard me, female.”

“I can’t go into the sitting room?”

I simply shake my head.

Giving me another long sigh, she folds her arms against her chest. “I remember what it looked like the last time I was here and I doubt it’s changed, or did you forget that you were waterboarding me there a couple nights ago?”

Shite.

Ididforget but that’s because she didn’t look like herself at the time, and I’m losing my marbles. Even still. “I know.”

“So why does it matter if I go in there or not?”

“You’ll have time to see the cleaning I’ve done, to really look at the filth I eliminated in your absence.”

“And if she looks too long, we will add her to it.”

I shake my head as Zenlothanai begins speaking for the first time in hours. “No.”

“But we must,”they say as they quickly appear in my mind’s eye, close and in clear view. “She betrayed you, she deceived you. The queen doesn’t love you anymore and that makes her dirty. She is unclean and needs to be handled.”

“No,”I growl as I squeeze my eyes shut and take a step back. “She doesn’t need to be with me anymore, doesn’t need to love me but I will never harm Zephyr. Even if that’s the outcome.”

Zenlothanai laughs, the skin crawling one that will haunt me until I die.“If that’s the outcome, she deserves to die a second time, she?—”

Their voice stops the second I feel warmth against my cheeks, smooth, soft skin gently pressing against my own. “I can help make them stop, Wraith.”

My eyes snap open and instantly connect with amber pools practically glowing up at me. And when I don’t respond, Zephyrsimply nods her head and caresses the space underneath my eyes.

“I can. I can help make the voices listen to you, help you control them. I could even help make them go away if you let me but?—”

“Why are you going in there?” I grab her wrists and use every bit of willpower I have to remove her hands from my face. “There is nothing in there for you.”

She flinches but it doesn’t slow her down. “I’m hungry.”

“Have you taken to cannibalism?”

“Don’t be an idiot.”

My brow raises in defiance even though a new feeling is beginning to push the panic and rage aside. “Those corpses are mostly empty, mostly clean. No blood to be had so unless you have a taste for rotten flesh, I’m not sure what you think you can eat there.”

“I’m sure Declan’s room is still?—”

“Demolished.” Not really, not exactly, but I don’t want her in another male’s room for any reason, even if it’s the only male I’d trust her to be alone with. Especially after spending so much bloody time withNate.