Try Again

I woke up before the sun was fully over the mountains. For a few seconds, I forgot where I was. I reached for my phone on the nightstand, expecting to feel the plastic case and the tangle of my charger cord. My hand hit cold stone and the rough edge of a wooden table instead.

The memory of the void and the Author’s cold face rushed back. I sat up quickly, my heart thumping against my ribs. The silk sheets felt too smooth, too expensive. The room was silent, but it was a heavy kind of silence. I looked at the two doors that led to the Alphas’ rooms. They were closed, but the air in the suite felt charged.

I got out of bed and walked to the window. The valley was covered in a thick, white mist. In my first life, I thought it looked like a fairy tale. Now, I knew that mist was a perfect place for an ambush. I felt a wave of crushed hope. I was really here. I was back in Kieran's stronghold, the place that had become my gilded cage.

I was hungry, but it was a sharp, angry kind of hunger.