Page 95 of Heavenly Bodies

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry…’ The whisper of his voice was distant, but she grabbed hold of it, taking in deep lungfuls of air. When she came back to herself, Enzo was gripping her tightly, worry in his eyes.

‘No, I need to.’ She gritted her teeth against the pain in her mind. ‘I need to feel. Need to remember. You’re right. I can’t keep swimming in this.’

He held her tightly as he opened the book. ‘Then let’s read. And tomorrow I promise to help you out of it.’

She nodded once, and Enzo pulled her back against him.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured to him, the medicine lulling her under.

‘For what?’ he asked quietly.

‘For giving me a piece of you.’

She was already between worlds and fading back into darkness when he replied softly, ‘You have more of me than I care to admit.’

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

When Elara awoke again, she didn’t scream. She tested the boundaries of her mind. The darkness was in place, the memories at bay, but there was something else.

Light.

She glanced up at Enzo, still asleep, his muscled arms wrapped around her. She saw the book laid on the table. Under the quiet morning Light, she studied him, closer than she’d ever dared when he was awake. Her heart pounded as she slowly released one emotion to observe him. Guilt.

There were shadows under his eyes, and she felt that foreign pang again as she allowed herself to experience the feeling. He must have stayed by her bed every night in that chair, waking when she had. She gazed at the charcoal dusting of his lashes, the softness of his forehead as he slept. With the lightest touch, she traced the freckle under his eye to another below it, running her finger to one by his other eye. Mapping out her own constellation. She let her finger run under his jaw then, tracing the smooth cut of it. It stopped then, hovering over his full lips. She saw his eye open and twitch in surprise.

‘Good morning,’ he mumbled, his eyes on hers.

‘Morning,’ she replied, swiftly removing her trailing finger.

‘You didn’t dream?’

‘Not at all.’

His face relaxed as he lifted her.

‘I can walk, you know.’ She batted his arm, and he lowered her gently to the floor.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Lucid.’

He squeezed her hand as they walked back into her room. The small action almost wiped the energy from her, leaving her legs trembling, and she sank on to the bed, breathing hard.

‘There’s something happening with my mind. Every time I grasp for something, it leaves me.’

‘Why don’t you rest—’

‘No, Enzo,’ she pleaded. ‘I don’t want to rest any longer. I’m tired of being weak, and drugged. Of barely feeling anything.’

Enzo nodded. ‘Right, then,’ he said, and strode to Elara’s wardrobe, picking out the kind of two-piece she was used to training in. ‘We’re going to the gardens.’

He helped Elara shrug out of her gown and into the clothes, keeping his eyes on hers.

‘Don’t give me any more of that potion,’ she said, as black spots began to dance in her vision.

He nodded, taking her arm.

‘Wait—what about my glamour?’

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