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As I took a step to the closest doorway, I heard a whimpered cry come from down the hall. It was almost indiscernible, but it was hard to miss in the silence. My gaze locked on the door at the end of the hall, where I thought the sound had come from.
Slowly, I tiptoed toward the door. My heart beat wildly in my chest, and my hand shook as I reached out for the doorknob. I hesitated before my fingers connected with the handle.
I eyed the door, then slowly pressed my ear to the wood. My heart leapt into my throat as a shrill cry tore through the darkness.
Then everything disappeared.
* * *
I startled awake, and Isa mewed as I nearly kicked her off the bed. Lucas stirred beside me, and the details of the dream began to slip away as my heart rate slowed. I tried to grasp on to the fading memory, but the dream eluded me more and more each moment.
It wasn’t unusual for any of us to face bad dreams these days. Weeks had passed since we’d visited Hok’evale, and Hattie was still working out details with her contact in Malovia. Things were quiet here, and life had been peaceful the last six weeks. But far into the depths of my subconscious, I knew our time here was temporary, and I feared what we might face to obtain the Oaken Wands. My dreams merely reflected that unsettling worry I couldn’t quite shake.
Lucas groaned as he reached for me, and I rolled over to snuggle into his arms. His lips brushed the skin beneath my ear. “Everything all right?”
I sank deeper into the mattress. “Everything’s perfect.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth, either. We knew where to find the Mortana and Mentalist Wands, but we were no closer to finding a way into the Abyss, not until Hattie got a message through the Malovian borders. The fae were more cautious than ever, and Hattie’s messenger had died before she was able to get her last message through. Her letter was intercepted, so we had to keep trying. There was nothing any of the rest of us could do to speed the process along, so we’d busied ourselves with wedding planning as a way to distract ourselves.
Our wedding was only two weeks away now. I prayed that we could hold on to these perfect moments for just a few weeks longer, at least until the wedding was over. I wasn’t going to let the priestesses—or anyone else for that matter—ruin our special day.
Lucas placed a tender kiss on my lips, and my heart fluttered. That’s what was perfect about all this. It was these little moments that nobody could take away from us. The priestesses could show up tomorrow and slaughter us on our own front steps, but they couldn’t take away this moment in time when I woke in the arms of the man I loved.
I ran my fingers down the side of his face, taking in every detail of his features. “I wish I could freeze this moment, so we never had to leave this bed.”
Lucas smirked. “If we were frozen, how would I ever do this?”
He rolled me over, then climbed on top of me to trail kisses down my neck. I could feel the hardness of his erection through the thin layers of fabric between us, and my thighs grew hot in wanting.
I snickered, and my hands slid down his body. “Keep kissing me, and you’re going to get lucky.”
He pressed a passionate kiss to my lips, then drew away with a smile. “I’m counting on it.”
Just then, we heard footsteps outside the room, and Lucas and I both held our breath to listen. Grammy had walked in on us one too many times over the last few months that we were extra cautious about it. Our room had a lock, but still…
The footsteps faded down the hall, but the moment between us had already ended. I wanted to curse whoever had been out there.
Lucas sighed as he crawled off of me. “If we start now, your grandma’s bound to interrupt. I can smell bacon. Whatever your grandma’s up to, she wants us down for breakfast.”
He wasn’t wrong. The scents wafting up from the kitchen smelled delicious.
“She’s just trying to put people in good spirits,” I said. Hope was a good thing, because spirits hadn’t been high around here lately. It’s why we were still having the wedding despite being driven out of town. We needed hope, and there was no better way to foster it than bringing our friends together.
I dressed in a purple maxi dress with a warm black cardigan, then secured the old key Grammy had given me around my neck. I’d gifted it to Lucas, but he’d tried to give it back, and we’d resolved to share it.
We left our bedroom but stopped in the doorway when we saw a small package sitting outside our door. The box was a deep purple to match our wedding colors, and it was held closed by a teal ribbon. A note in Onyx’s handwriting said, Open Me!
I exchanged a curious glance with Lucas. “What’s this?”
“No idea, but I guess we’re about to find out.” He opened the package, and inside sat a piece of paper that had been rolled up like a scroll. I reached inside and unfurled it, then began reading.
You’ll have plenty of time for just you two,
but you haven’t yet said I do.
You’re ours until that special day.
Your friends are just a few clues away.
