The Vampire And His Lady (Silver Hills #2)

Chapter 20

When Diana Thorpe awoke she still half-believed the past few months had been a dream. She clung to that idea like a child clung to a favoured balloon on a windy day.

And when she opened her eyes, she found her efforts well paid. The setting sprawled out around her was indeed her bedroom, with the same view from the window and the same blue paint chipping away on her door. Even the bedsheets were the ones she had slept in last, violet covered in rose gold blossoms.

Diana could've sobbed with relief right then. She could've become overwhelmed with it. But she wanted to see Henry first. No matter how late it was. The idea that she could be unfaithful disturbed her greatly, even if it was involuntarily occurring in a dreamworld.

She stood up, a white nightgown unravelling from where it had scrunched up at her waist. It was a scanty thing, more like lingerie than anything else. In fact, she was certain it was lingerie.

But that makes no sense, she thought to herself. I don't own such a thing.

Looking in her mirror, it was undeniable that she indeed wearing the flimsy piece of fabric and nothing else. This had something to do with her friends, no doubt. Getting her drunk and dressing her up. After she spoke to Henry she would have to speak to them about doing crap like that.

Anyway, she was just so relieved that she was at home and not in Silver Hills or some shadow realm. Elisabeth would get a real kick when she heard the witch thing as well. It would be just like normal again.

Grabbing a dressing gown and wrapping herself up in it, Diana headed towards the door. Her hand clasped the handle when something shifted.

In the blink of an eye, her room had changed. Instead of being cosy and familiar it became cold and ancient looking. Wood panels replaced the walls and floors, and her bed grew hangings and an intricate wooden headboard. When she dared glance out of the window, it was a sprawling country estate that welcomed her and not the street she'd grown up in.

Before she had time to swallow the panic rising in her throat, the room snapped into place again as something different. This one only appeared for a brief second, but she could see the stone walls, Hugh stained glass windows and swathes of fabric and jewels and... a variety of weapons.

Then she was back in her own room, body shaking like a wild animal caught in a trap. Her mouth open and shut but no words escaped her.

"I'm ever so sorry about that," a cold voice said. Diana slowly twisted around to see a figure emerge from the shadows in the corner. He seemed to be formed from the most itself, his body shifting into focus with every step he took.

What shocked her most was the familiarity of his features. The sharp looking eyes and thick dark hair which was scraped back into a braid woven with silver thread. She couldn't quite place them though...

"I couldn't quite recall if I'd gotten the right setting," he explained, striding towards her until he was close enough to touch. Diana saw his breath mist and realised the room, which she had once thought warm, was as cold as death. When she wrapped her arms around her body, she noticed that the dressing gown was gone. "It's difficult when there are so many of you."

Diana didn't ask what he meant. She just pursed her lips and resolved not to engage. From the malicious glint in his eyes, that vexed him more than anything else.

Not a dream then, she thought, heart sinking. It was all too real which means...

"I suppose I should make the necessary introductions." The man grinned, and it suddenly hit Diana how she knew him. "My name is Rydaryth."