Page 1 of Claim the Twilight
Chapter 1
ORINA
Adoor stood in the center of the sitting room of our vista. Its existence made no sense, and the loud, insistent knocking echoing from it widened the pit of dread in my belly.
My pulse throbbed in my throat as I battled the rising panic that this anomaly evoked.
“Orina? Are you all right?” Ezekiel asked, drawing my attention back to him. He sat opposite me in his favorite armchair. The top button of his shirt was undone, his sleeves rolled up. He looked rumpled and worn, dark hair tousled as if he’d been running his fingers through it in agitation. His eyes were also dark with emotions that I couldn’t read, and there was a tightness to his mouth, a terseness to his jaw that made my chest ache.
I focused on his beautiful face, on his solid presence, and the knocking ceased.
Ezekiel frowned, his gaze searching. “Orina, did you hear me?”
I nodded. “I heard you. You asked me…What did you ask me?”
His lips tightened. “I asked if you were all right.”
Was I? “I don’t know. Am I?”
Everything in the vista was the same aside from the unexpected door. The same rugs and paintings, the same sofas, and our special balcony where we liked to watch the sun rise and set.
Had we done that today?
Yesterday?
Time bled together here, fluid and inconsequential, except that it was…consequential. It mattered.
Mattered.
Something vital had happened, andthatmattered.
“Orina?” The sharp edge to his tone jolted me out of my thoughts.
I blinked and focused on him with my full attention. “How long have I been here?”
He sighed softly, and the pain in my chest deepened because I may already have asked him that question.
“Not long,” he said, mustering a weak smile.
The panic simmering in my chest left me breathless, so when I spoke, my words were barely above a whisper. “How badly am I hurt this time?”
His eyes flinched. “You’ll be fine.”
He wasn’t lying to me. His words held conviction, but hewashiding something. I took a steadying breath, determined to stay present and focused.
“Ezekiel…what happened to me?”
He pressed his lips together and exhaled through his nose, and when he spoke, his words were measured, smooth, and practiced. “I wasn’t there, so I don’t know.Youmust tell me whatyourecall.”
How many times had he replied with those same words? How many times had I asked him the same questions?
A band wrapped around my chest and squeezed. “What’s happening? Ezekiel? Why does this feel familiar?”
He leaned forward and clasped my hands. “You’re all right. Orina. You’re safe.”
But for the first time since we’d created this vista, I didn’t feel safe. My throat pinched, and my chest tightened. “I don’t remember. Why don’t I remember what happened? I left the flat to…to get something and then—” A pain sliced through my head, and my eyes heated.
“It’s all right,” Ezekiel said. “Let’s go back further. What do you rememberbeforethat morning…before that night?”
