Sasha could see nothing but darkness, but she could hear just fine. Or, at least, she thought so. The room had fallen strangely silent. Her body, meanwhile, appeared to be trapped in some kind of horrible paralysis. The moment Derek had spoken those words, she’d fallen to the ground, the sensation akin to passing out, except she was perfectly aware of her surroundings.
Panic made her heart thunder, the pounding loud in her own head, but she tried to calm herself, panic never solved a damn thing. But she failed. The panic was real.
“Derek,” she tried to call out. Nothing happened.
Oh. God.
Her mouth wasn’t working. She tried again.
“Derek.”
Not even a squeak of sound.
She tried to yell his name. Nothing broke the odd stillness in the room. What was he doing anyway, standing over her body with a knife or something equally creepy? What was he doing? And why couldn’t she move?
She tried to suck in a breath, but nothing happened. Holy shit. Am I even breathing? She honestly couldn’t tell. But she didn’t feel faint. Her lungs didn’t scream for air. What was happening to her? Am I dead?
If her body had been working properly, she knew she would’ve started shaking as fear gripped every cell of her body.
Was she even still in her room? What had happened to her?
Help! she screamed in her mind, blindly reaching for anything, anyone.
No answer.
Her body was paralyzed. Her senses cut off. She had no way to figure out where she was. No one was nearby that she could find to help.
Okay. Time to panic.
She screamed again. And again. And again.
She had no idea how long she lay there screaming in her mind, when two sounds simultaneously interrupted her full-blown terror.
A low groan came from her right, and someone gave a brief rap on a door.
“Sasha?” Derek’s slurred voice sounded close to her ear. “Sasha?” The slur left his voice, replaced by a sharp fear.
“What’s going on?” Haden’s muffled voice reached her, along with his pounding on the door.
They’d locked it earlier. She was still in her room. That, at least, was good news.
Rough hands grabbed her by the shoulders. “Sasha?” Those hands gave her a shake.
Another round of pounding came from Haden. “Arthur. Let me in.”
Derek didn’t release her. “Sasha? Baby? Oh, God. Open your eyes, princess.”
Did he not remember putting the ring on her finger? She tried to respond to his desperate plea. The horrible dread in his voice scared her more than her inability to move.
Next came the sound of splintering wood. Had someone smashed the door open? “What’s going on?” Haden must’ve forced his way inside.
“I don’t know. I woke up and found her like this.”
Woke up? Had he passed out, too? Why’d he wake up then, and not her? What the hell was going on? She wanted to cry, but her eyes wouldn’t open. She couldn’t force her body to push tears out of the ducts. Couldn’t do anything but listen to everything going on around her.
“Woke up?” Haden parroted her question. A long pause followed. What were they doing? “Derek, get your pants on.”
“My pants?” Derek sounded confused, but then she heard a rustle. That’s right. He’d been naked when he stuck that damn ring on her finger and spelled her. Freaking spelled her. What had happened to him in the bathroom?
A scuffling noise was followed by the odd sensation of floating. Her body rocked as Derek—it had to be him—laid her on the bed.
“Now . . . step away from Sasha,” Haden instructed. Insisted.
“Like hell.” The two words exploded from Derek.
“What’s going on?” A third voice joined the mix. Tristain?
“Something’s wrong with Sasha,” Derek said before Haden could.
“What?”
“I don’t know. She won’t wake up.”
Sasha jiggled as someone leaned over her and warm hands touched her face. Derek’s voice sounded closer. “Sasha, please.” His voice broke on the word.
She tried. She tried so hard. Wanted to reassure him she was okay. Tell him she was still here.
“Look at her ring.”
She caught Haden’s whisper.
“Shit,” Tristain muttered.
What?
The sound of feet crossing the soft carpet reached her straining ears. Had someone left the room?
A tug pulled at her hand.
“It won’t come off.” Desperation and panic sounded in Derek’s voice now. Panic.
A hand touched her neck. “I don’t feel a pulse,” he choked.
Another shake. A cooler touch replaced Derek’s.
“What the hell did you do to her, Arthur?”
Shit. They went there. After all, Derek was technically responsible and since he’d been alone with her, the most likely culprit.
Why had he done this to her?
Wait. What. Did they just say I don’t have a pulse?
How could that be?
I’m right here. I can hear you.
“What’s going on?” Lance burst into the room. This wasn’t going to be good if Haden had sent Tristain for Lance.
“She’s gone, Lance.” Haden had given up on her already?
I’m here. I’m here.
“I didn’t do it.” Derek didn’t budge from her side, but the fine hairs on her body started to stand on end.
“Look at her ring. It’s black,” Haden said. “And it won’t come off.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Derek asked after a pause.
“You, uh . . . well, I’m sorry, but you were the last one who touched it,” Haden murmured. Poor Galahad didn’t want to be accusing Derek right now. She’d be more than happy to do it for him. “Now it’s on her finger, black instead of red . . . ”
I’m not dead. She screamed the words in her mind, her lips and body uncooperative and unmoving.
“Derek, step away from her.” Lance’s voice sounded like a caged cougar. Sasha cringed inwardly.
“No.”
A strange hum moved through her body, like the sensation of a low bass when you stood near the stage at a concert.
“I said, step away now.”
“I’m not leaving her.” The now familiar popping sound of glass—Derek had blown a light somewhere in the room.
“Shit,” Haden muttered.
“If you don’t move, we’ll make you move.”
Haden stood, the bed sprung back up as he moved, jostling her body. “Uh, Lance. He’s starting to glow.”
A long, tense silence followed. Her nerves wanted to jump out of her skin. So much electricity in the air.
“Derek.” Now Lance used a tone she’d never heard from him before. Reasonable. Soft. Which meant Derek must be scaring him, too. Not good. “You might hurt her if you release all that pent-up electricity in here. Don’t do something you’ll regret forever.”
Another silence.
“You have to help her,” Derek finally said, the words more command than plea. The tingling sensation lessened around her. Had he moved away?
He and Lance must’ve both retreated, because the knight’s answer came from out in the hall, as far as she could tell. “I’ll send Waine. He’s a healer.” He paused. “Haden?”
“I’ll stay with her until Waine gets here.”
Someone took her hand. She tried to squeeze back, but her body remained a useless lump.
Silence.
Despite that whole “no pulse” thing, Sasha feared her heart might beat its way out of her chest as she and Haden waited. Please let Waine be able to fix this.
“What’s going on?” Waine’s voice sounded from a distance.
Before Haden could answer, a massive explosion blasted the air and rocked the bed on which she lay.
Oh my God. Derek. Please tell me you didn’t just blow yourself up. Or Lance.
“What the fuck?” Haden shouted. “What’s going on? Did Derek—”
“No. We’re under attack.” Waine’s voice came from off to her right now, near the window. “Go. I’ll protect Sasha.”
“Don’t let them take her.”
She wanted to cry. To scream. To rail against the fates. Vulnerable didn’t even begin to cover the situation she found herself in. Not even the day Morgan Le Fay had uttered that fucking curse had she been this exposed. This helpless.
And where was Derek? Was he part of the attack? She wasn’t certain of anything now. Not even her own state.
Had her quest for mortality trapped her in a new hell, alive but dead to those close to her?