Page 45 of When Storms Ruin

I nodded, wanting nothing more than to forget the dream entirely and fall endlessly into his deep blue eyes. How were they stillso damnblue, even in the darkness of the room? I took a deep breath, trying to center myself.

“We willfight,Diana.I will be right there with you.”

A moment of silence fell between us as I gathered myself, breathing deeply. Nik’s eyes never left mine.

“Thank you,” I whispered, still breathless.

Nik nodded, moving to stand.

“Wait—” I grabbed the hem of his shirt as he turned to leave, one leg still on the bed. He turned back to me, a question in his eyes.

“I can’t…I can’t sleep here alone.”

Nik said nothing, his expression entirely unreadable in the darkness of my bedroom.Mother above, I would give anything to know what he was thinking right now. What wasIthinking? Did he think me pathetic that I pushed him away, time and time again, only to reel him back in by asking him something like this?

“You want me to stay the night?” he asked, his voice soft.

His response surprised me. No teasing…no crude jokes…only a fragile hope in his voice.

“It’s not like that—” I started, shaking my head. “I just can’t be alone right now.”

Not after the nightmare I had. The fact that it was real, that I would have to face this in the morning, made it all ten times worse.

“Do you want me to get Tess?” he asked, his eyes searching mine.

I shook my head, my gaze never wavering from his. “No.”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. He nodded once, moving the blanket aside to crawl into the bed next to me.

I only wanted his steady presence beside me. I needed his warmth, the soft sound of his breathing. I feared the silence of the night if he left. It was only a few hours. What could a few hours hurt? I could go back to hating him in the morning.

As much as I told myself that, I could feel the outer shell of my anger beginning to crack. I was softening towards him, and I didn’t want to admit it. Not to myself, or anyone else. He had betrayed me, and for that I could never forgive him. But there was a piece of me, and I wasn’t sure how small that piece might be, that felt as if I was falling all over again.

I turned my back towards him, pulling the covers up to my chin and rubbing my feet together under the blanket. It was something I did when I was anxious, something that had always soothed me. He didn’t reach out to touch me, and he didn’t say a word.

We fell asleep like that…lying next to each other, but still worlds apart.

The next morning, I woke to an arm wound tightly around my waist, my back pressed against a hard chest. I moved slightly as Nik’s chest expanded, his breathing deep and even.

He was still asleep.

How had we ended up wrapped in each other’s arms in the middle of the night? We had fallen asleep on entirely opposite sides of the bed.

The fact that I wasn’t entirely displeased felt like a knife in my chest, as if I was betraying myself by letting him get this close. I desperately needed him last night, but in the light of the morning, I was seeing things more clearly. I had been slipping up lately, letting him get close again. Despite my feelings on the matter, I couldn’t let that happen again. I still couldn’t trust him…not entirely.

Tessdidalways call me a grudge holder.

As I made the decision to sneak out of bed, the door banged open.

“You better be decent, you little witch…” Tess trailed off as she took in the scene before her.

Nik and I were in bed together…his arm wrapped around me. ThankGodwe were both clothed, otherwise I would have some serious explaining to do.

We both jumped with a start, my eyes going wide. Nik had been woken from a sound sleep by the sound of Tess barging in.

“Mother above, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Tess smirked, raising her eyebrow at me.

“You aren’t interrupting anything,” I replied, extricating myself from Nik’s arm and sliding off the bed.