o

dark like something from a drea

in out and give way to open road, long enough for the silence inside the car to settle into something almost textured. I had stopped trying to fill it

ra's face when they took her, and I thought about Lilly walking out with h

about the

eyes had done something before he lit the match. That there was a reason Draco had given that specific instr

that. I almo

llars, swinging open without anyone touching them as the car app

ight. Manicured gardens stretched in every direction, broken up by paths and hedgerows and structures I couldn't identi

I had spent four years in cells and slave quarters where the ceiling was low

e that seemed to absorb the moonlight rather than reflect it. Every window was lit from within, warm gold bleeding

impressed by his house

finished deciding whether to open it myself. He off

hind me and walked toward the entrance,

I trusted him. Because I

ned before we

ed. The one on the left had dark bobbed hair and a smile that reached her eyes. The one on the right was bl

al. That expression said why is he bringing her here and who does she think

Alpha," they

ook that I was already beginning to find deeply aggravating, like being studied

haired one. "Make sure she's co

acie's smile was genui

moved to the blonde.

s did a quick, involuntary flick t

d deeper into the house, and just like that, I was standing in the entrance hall of a stranger's mansion with two wome

ked a

prisms across the walls. The floors were dark hardwood, covered in rugs that probably cost more than most people's houses. Artwork I did

in a tone that made please sou

d her up

was rid

or-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the moonlit grounds, the chandelier overhead casting everything

ed on it. An armchair by the window. A phone on the bedside ta

beautiful room I

w much I n

eft before I could respond which was f

s there anything yo

oom and turned to face her

rring visibly on her face. "There's a phone on

need an

th genuine warmth that I didn't know what to d

e of the room and li

lt honest in a way the silk and the chandelier and the crystal perfume bo

of

orange and enormous against the black sky, consuming the building where they had been, where we ha

being okay were two entirely different things, and I was so tir

n alone in a room, my grief was quiet. Just the pressure of it,

I'd been sitting the

n't a

voice, low through the

s together and stared at the far

r opene

o let him see my face like this blotched and raw and stripped of every de

uching in

ose blue eyes closer than I expected, level with min

uine, unperf

" he asked again,

e out steadier than I

wh

n me wanted to look away. "You took me from that building against my will. Whatever

expression. Not offense s

bit

imate in his mouth, too certain. Like he had already decided

de table threw warm light across his face, softeni

ng it. Like he was deci

," I said. "You had your man burn

s mouth. His

ce of a man who was used to being interrupted by things that demanded his immediate attention. He sto

t finished

ht," I said

l

he ceiling and tried to figure out how I was going to survive a man who looked at me like that like I was something he had bee

ng on it when the

you I do

s Ka

of si

Lil

et before I'd

for what it felt li

lutched to her chest and tears running silently down her face, and for a moment I just stood there,

my shoulder, "We're okay. We're here, we're okay" the same thing, over and over,

side, smaller and quieter, her h

ween them a

th and looked at them cataloguing damage, force of habit and

adn't asked yet. "He got us out before before t

him to," I

he back of her hand. "His words were ta

ction house, Draco's voice flat and certain, and me he

at. Get them ou

The way I had sat beside him in furious silence, belie

lf. He hadn't defended hi

ow what to

cular attention of someone who had spent four yea

ng," I

t meant she didn't belie

. In her neat, careful han

elier, and the window looking out over grounds that went on forever, and the door that led to a h

w yet," I sa

That's okay.

lled us both in again, and I let her, and for a little while the three of us just

t. Not yet, but