Page 4 of For the Ghastly and Beautiful

“With us?” Ecaeris asks with surprising tenderness.

I nod, but his eyes are still closed. “Yes.”

The nurse growls, her face reddening in her anger. “She cannot leave here.”

“To our home?”

I nod again, parroting his words while correcting his meaning. “To our home.”

His eyes fly open, and he frantically glances between Imryll and me before he drops to his knees at my bedside.

“You need to wake up, Ada. Now.”

My mouth gapes open at his abrupt change. I’m perplexed, speechless. And the feeling only grows when Imryll agrees with him.

“He’s right. None of us should be here.”

“She cannot leave,” the insistent nurse shouts.

“Tell the darkness to go away, Ada,” Imryll instructs.

I jerk my head back, widening my eyes at him in stunned disbelief. “What?”

“This is a dream,” Ecaeris whispers to me, taking my hand as he stands.

He swipes at the blood on my arm, showing me that his fingers were still clean. His expression is more severe than any I’ve seen him wear before. His voice is a calm blanket, wrapping around me as his lips brush my ear.

“You need to wake up, Ada. She’s suffocating you. Time is running out. Come back to us.”