"I could not take it anymore, Nelle," said a voice in the distance.
Serena could not make out their faces, but she knew who they were. Nelle was her mother’s name, and that voice belonged to her father.
"We were nothing less than animals there. All that blood nearly drove me insane, and nobody was aware of what we did or who we were."
The statement was followed by a mangled groan from her father, and then he held the faceless woman in front of him and shook his head.
"My love, I am so sorry Theodore escaped it but-"
He turned slightly, as if looking straight at Serena through the veil of the dream. Then his shoulders sank, and he turned back to his wife. "We have to try it. Her life will be very difficult otherwise."
The next words were lost on Serena as she could no longer hear them. They mixed into a blur, and she saw different things like she was sifting through memories.
The blonde woman’s eyes fluttered open. Soft rays of morning light seeped through the windows, casting golden lines across the stone floor. She lay on her side, facing the window, and felt the faint chill of the morning breeze kiss her cheek.
The first thing she noticed was that she was out of her dress and now in a cream silky nightgown. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel·fire.net
The fabric clung to her skin, and it felt cool on her. She blinked once and then again, like she was just collecting herself. Slowly, she pressed two fingers to her temple, a small crease forming between her brows. Then she shot up, her hair falling over her shoulder in a wave as she looked around wildly.
She had not remembered changing out of her nightgown. The last thing she remembered was Darius carrying her to bed, and she was still in her dress. Serena wondered how she could sleep comfortably in that. Still, that only meant one thing.
Darius had finally seen her naked body while she was asleep. She gripped the sheets tightly. Serena was horrified at the thought and somewhat disappointed.
Darius sat in a chair at the far side of the bed, one leg crossed over the other, his arms resting loosely. His dark brow was raised slightly, the corner of his mouth twitching in something close to amusement.
"Your cheeks are red. Are you sick?" he asked, tilting his head.
Serena shook her head and then looked at the white bedsheets. "No... my dress. Where is it?"
Darius sat forward and pointed to her wardrobe in the corner. "It is in there. Bertha had trouble taking it off, so she asked for assistance and she shooed me out of the room," he said.
Serena’s grip slackened, and she rubbed her eyes and exhaled. He was not the one who changed her– perhaps it was the same women who had done the same when she had just come from the Moonseeker. Which worried her because she was a deep sleeper, but was she so tired yesterday that she could not notice when people had to pull her dress off of her?
"You are awfully quiet this morning," Darius commented.
Serena glanced at him and then looked out the window and shrugged. A yawn soon followed after. "I just woke up, did you expect me to jump out of bed so quickly?"
Darius chuckled and shook his head. "No, not at all. You just seemed surprised at first when you woke up, so I figured you were ready to start your day."
"Thank you for asking for my clothes to be changed," Serena said.
"Hm, I was wondering how you would’ve been comfortable in that get-up. You looked lovely in it," he said, his gaze lingering a beat too long before he smiled faintly, "but I wondered if you were comfortable sleeping in it."
Serena looked down, and a smile crept up on her lips. "Did you stay?"
"I had no reason not to," Darius replied.
Serena laid back in bed, and then for the first time she noticed he had no shirt on. Her gaze faltered, then shamelessly returned. Try as she might, she couldn’t help but trace the lines of muscle, the faint scars that told stories she didn’t know yet. She didn’t even bother pretending to look away.
Unbeknownst to Serena, Darius was also watching her intently... he was watching her watch him. He’d never found such attention flattering before, but from her, it made his chest feel oddly light.
Then he cleared his throat, and Serena looked up at him like a deer caught by a wolf. She blinked rapidly and sank lower into the pillows in a pitiful attempt to shield her burning cheeks. Darius tsk’d and got into bed with her, pulling one of the pillows that blocked his view.
"Why did you stop ogling?" he teased, voice full of playful accusation.
"I was not," Serena defended weakly.
The man snorted, and he shook his head. He then looked to the ceiling and exhaled. When he looked back at Serena, he did a mock dramatic voice. "I saw you looking at me like I was some fattened moose you found."
Serena pressed her lips together in a thin line, trying to keep her composure, then lost the battle entirely and burst into laughter. "I would not look at a fattened moose like that at all."
"Sure you wouldn’t," Darius replied, clearly unconvinced. "But if you insist."
"I am serious," Serena said, nudging him with her shoulder.
Darius leaned closer and gave her a dangerous smile. He tilted his head slightly to the side and eyed Serena. Her hair was unbraided by the women he called in the wee hours of the morning. If not for the rise and fall of her chest, he would have been worried. She looked so beautiful in her sleep.
Ronan made some distasteful comment that Darius shoved aside. The early morning sun had begun to rise.
Without warning, he leaned in and ran his tongue teasingly along the curve of Serena’s neck. She gasped softly and instinctively wrapped her arms around him, fingers curling into his bare back. He grinned against her skin, letting his teeth graze lightly along the sensitive line between shoulder and jaw.
Serena had turned her gaze to the other side of the room when she felt he was no longer near her. She turned to him to see he had a grim expression. Her stomach twisted.