Ten Minutes Till Dawn Novels & Stories

I straightened the papers on my desk with a smirk and reached for my coffee. Ten days. Just ten more days. And then, Lydia Darnell would remember exactly where she belonged.

"I'm sorry, Darren..." The whisper was the color of a dying night wind, barely audible beneath the heavy, steady breathing of Darren, who remained fast asleep. The morning was still bitterly dark—around four o’clock—and the sky beyond the penthouse’s glass walls was a canvas of deep, ink-black shadow. A violent thunderstorm was hammering the capital with relentless intensity, sending a chaotic barrage of water against the five-centimeter-thick glass panes.

Hallie took my hand and gently said, "I'm his fiancee. Whatever you two had is in the past, Ms. Conner. For the sake of your own dignity, please respect that." Tracie turned deathly pale as she fumbled for her phone and tried to show me Elton's recorded confession. "Look, Jonas. He's admitted to everything! I'm sorry, so please give me a chance. The Conner family is falling apart, and my dad's sick… I have nothing left but you!" "No," I said in a voice devoid of mercy. "You have nothing over me. I spent ten years of my life paying back whatever debt of gratitude I owed you, so we're even now."

Unknown time until everything changes. The countdown has begun.

The stream’s waters pulsed faintly, reflecting not the sky, but a deeper light, one that belonged to the realm itself. Inferno stepped closer, flames along his spine brightening like the heartbeat of a distant star. “Time here is your ally. One hour in your world equals ten days in this one. You may rest, train, bond… and emerge changed.” Zenith’s eyes widened. “Ten days… That's about eighty days...” she breathed. “For just one night?” “Yes,” I said, watching the surprise melt into awe. “We’ll have what we need.” Her lips curved, and I felt the pull of a private, quiet joy. “And we don’t have to worry about...” “Project Aegis,” I finished for her, letting a small smirk escape. “Not tonight.

The numbers beneath my skin didn't glow like magic; they hummed like a machine. They were cold, precise, and relentless. **168:00:00.** One hundred and sixty-eight hours. Seven days until the first "installment" was due. I stared at my forearm, watching the seconds flicker away in black ink. Every tick felt like a tiny needle pricking my soul. "Rowan, don't look," I whispered, trying to pull my sleeve down.

********** The grey light of dawn barely touches the rough-hewn floorboards when Aiden’s eyes snap open. It is precisely six o’clock, the hour when the forest mist is thickest and the air still holds the night’s chill. He lies still for a moment, the sheets tangled around his legs, his breath shallow in the quiet room. Outside, the low murmur of voices drifts through the thin walls, distinct enough to rouse him but too muffled to make out words.

It was the dawn of the full moon. We had six hours, not twenty-four. I stood in the eastern corridor for three seconds. I counted them. One. Two. Three. Then I went back to the healer’s station, and I told Sera what was coming. Cole and I told the palace healer, and I sent a runner to Jasper’s war room with three words: dawn, not midnight. And then I went back to work. There was more to prepare now than there had been an hour ago. I prepared it.

"I'm sorry. I'm not ready to start a new relationship." Laughter that was reminiscent of wind chimes tinkled in my ear. "No pressure. I was crushing on you for ten years, and now I finally get the chance to tell you. Since I've already waited for so long, I don't mind waiting for you for a little longer. Thank you for giving me the chance to tell you." The snow outside the window eventually stopped falling. The South Point expedition had officially reached its end. We got onto the ship and started our journey home.

Waiting for the next take. Forever.