Page 68 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Victoria shoved herself upright, the world tilting around her.She managed one step before her ankle gave out.Pain flared white-hot, buckling her legs.She went down hard, the breath punched from her lungs.Then the jolt of her skull striking the floorboards burst into a shower of stars behind her eyes.
“Lenore, leave her.She’s not for you.”
The voice cut through the corridor like a blade.
Victoria’s blurred vision sharpened just enough to see Gabriel at the far end, a lone candle in his grip.Its flame danced wildly, throwing sharp planes of light and shadow across his face.His eyes locked on Lenore, dark and unflinching, even as the space between them rippled.
Lenore hissed, a sound like steam on iron, before her form fractured into curling shadows.They slid back through the doorway, swallowed by the darkness within.The door slammed of its own accord, the echo ricocheting down the hall.
The mist thinned.Warmth seeped back into the air, though Victoria still shivered.
Gabriel was at her side then, kneeling next to her.It was difficult to look him in the eye with the shame burning through her but she forced her gaze up.There, she saw relief, anguish, regret, fear.A mishmash of emotions that played across his face in the flickering light of the candle.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”He wrapped a hand around her upper arm and helped her to her feet.“Can you walk?”
“I just twisted my ankle.That’s all.”
He said nothing as he released her and turned away, heading away from the west wing.She watched him leave her with her ankle throbbing and a raging headache.
“Gabriel, wait.”She hobbled after him.
He halted at the end of the corridor.His shoulders drooped in defeat.Slowly, he turned to face her.
“Come to my sitting room,” he said then.“I’ll tell you everything.”
Chapter 27
Hewalkedtowardherand wrapped an arm around her waist.“Let me help you.”
Victoria leaned into him, letting him take most of her weight.His body was warm, steady, the scent of cedar and something faintly smoky wrapping around her.Her ankle throbbed, but it was nothing compared to the rapid pounding in her chest.
The closer they got to his room, the tighter his jaw became.His breathing was uneven—nerves, strain, or something heavier.
He helped her to the loveseat near the window and set the candle on the table.Shadows played over his face, softening and sharpening in the flicker.That unreadable expression—somewhere between restraint and hunger—was back.
“Shall I bring tea?”he asked.
“No need,” she replied.
“I should have a look at that ankle.”
Before she could reply, he knelt.Her breath caught as he slipped off her shoe without waiting for her consent.He held her stockinged foot in one hand, probing the joint with the other.It hurt, yes, but it seemed to be all right.
“Doesn’t appear to be broken.”He looked up and the intensity there stole the air from her lungs.
She saw desire.
Her breath hitched.
“That’s very good to hear,” she said, her words low in the quiet of the room.
His hand slipped upward, over the curve of her calf and a shiver went through her.She wasn’t sure what to make of that.Shewassure she could not control her erratic breathing.What was he doing?His touch was not unwanted but unexpected.His gaze caught hers, deep and conflicted.
“Victoria, I—” He broke off, as if the words would unravel them both.
He hesitated.As though the space between them was an eternal abyss of longing.She saw it in his eyes.She felt it, too, as her pulse fluttered.She leaned toward him, drawn by an irrational thought that he was going to finally kiss her.Knowing that’s what she wanted more than anything.
Then, he closed the distance between them, scooting close to her.He lifted his hand, his fingers fluttering over the curve of her jaw.The pad of his thumb grazed her cheek.Nothing could tear her gaze away from his.Not the presence of Lenore.Not the creaking of the house around them.
