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Eoin stands there, and my cheeks heat with embarrassment. He’s unfazed, as if he has no idea what he intruded on. I heard him banging on my door in my dream, just as I apparently heard Ken banging on Rainer’s door.
“Thank gods you’re all right.” He swipes a hand over his mouth and shakes his head. But he won’t meet my eyes.
“What is it?”
He takes a deep breath. “I heard they found a body in the woods.” He hesitates. “A human body.”
“Oh gods.” A hand flies up to my mouth, and my thoughts flit to Fern.
“I had to ensure that it wasn’t you.”
“It’s Ostara,” I say weakly. No one should be harmed by the trees. “I thought the curse wasn’t active tonight.”
“Exactly,” he says.
Suddenly, I understand the concern. If someone—a human—ended up dead in the woods tonight of all nights, it wasn’t the curse.
It was murder.
I slide out from under the sheets, my panties still wet from my nighttime escape with Rainer, and the best orgasm I’ve ever had. As much as I want to revel in the aftershocks, and replay the intimate moments over and over, I don’t have time for that now.
I motion for Eoin to turn around and quickly slide on a pair of tights, switching my nightgown out for a tunic.
When I’m finished, Eoin gives me an apologetic glance and we exit into the hallway. Fern’s face flashes in my mind. She’s the only other human here. Was she killed? And if not her, then who was killed?
thirty-five
I Do Recognize Him
Alessia
When I make my way downstairs, Rainer, Ken, Sennah, and Viv stand around a white sheet on the floor. As I get closer, I make out a body laid out on the sheet.
They’re talking amongst themselves in a serious tone.
Rainer glances at me with a frown. He subtly shakes his head, warning me from coming closer. After the moment we just shared together—dream or not—I want to run to him. I want to feel his arms around me.
But our moment was stolen away. It no longer belongs to us.
“Don’t you normally kill their spies anyway?” Sennah asks. “What’s the big deal with this one?”
“This one wasn’t a spy,” Ken replies.
“How can you tell?” she asks.
Rainer gives me an apologetic look. Clearing his throat, he says, “He’s the human queen’s messenger.”
“And how exactly was he killed?” The princess asks. “Looks to me like he was terrified to death—that expression is filled with fear. Typical of the woods, no?”
“Well, he still has color and his limbs are pliable,” Ken says. “Rigor mortis hasn’t set in, so it was recent. A fresh kill from tonight. With Ostara, it couldn’t have been the trees.”
“Couldn’t have been far from the property line, either,” Viv adds. “Most worrisome… he was drained of blood,” she whispers. Her eyes flick to Rainer. “And he’s missing a hand. That is” —she coughs into her fist— “odd.”
Ken and Rainer share a stern look.
“Drained?” Eoin asks as he strides up to them. “Vampyrs? Can’t be. The demons were exiled.”
Exiled?
