Alexia's nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protec...
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Two
Stranger in the Mirror
Mother took to bed, ill, at the conclusion of the concert. Alexia sat in Father's shadow during dinner and tried to ignore the weight of countless eyes, her stomach twisted tight. Any time she lifted her gaze, heads turned away.
She hated their stares. More than that, she hated their whispered conversations. Father had been wise to keep her isolated on their own estate—where she yearned to be now. If only Aunt Sarah could have joined them! Sarah would not tolerate this veiled scorn.
Alexia kept her shoulders back and head high until the meal's conclusion, and while Father was occupied with other gentlemen in the dining room, she escaped to her third-floor room, ignoring the chorus of gossiping women at her back. It felt strange brushing past the nursery where Abby and the other children bedded, but father had requested her own sleeping quarters, and Galedrew had agreed. It was to spare her from teasing. The room was next to the servants' quarters and had been hastily decorated to look elegant, the ceiling low and the walls ill painted. At least there was a window.
She undressed, brushed out her hair, and eased into bed with a novel. She didn't want to sleep. Not really. More nightmares awaited her behind closed eyelids, but she couldn't avoid sleep—not after the exhaustion of travel. The candle had barely burned down a mark when she yawned and her eyes drooped shut.
The entryway to Baron Galedrew's home loomed over her. A body lay in the doorway. She knelt to examine it and blood came away on her hands. Blood. A horse screamed and her head jerked up. A cloaked man sat astride the stallion, world-stopping blue eyes on her...
Alexia leapt, gasping. Her book clattered to the floor. The room was dark in the low glow of a candle, briefly disorienting her. She had to remind herself that she was away from home, and that it was just a nightmare.
And yet she had seen the blue-eyed man this evening.
She climbed out of bed, determined to find herself a drink of water or cider, something to calm her nerves. She reached for the candle she'd left burning, now but a stub of wax, and froze.
Out of the corner of her eye she'd seen movement.
Alexia turned.
A portrait hung opposite her. Two brass roses met at the base of its circular surface, and at the center stood a young woman wearing a nightdress with dark curls, jade eyes, gleaming skin, and pert pink lips.
Very lovely.
Then she noticed the candle flickering behind the girl.
