Changeling (Book 1) Rated R

Chapter 42

I woke up with a start to find Ally at the edge of my bed, studying me with her black eyes.

"Get away from me." I whispered.

My throat felt raw, my muscles weak and knowing I didn't have the physical energy to fend her off, all I could do was pray she'd disappear.

"Flirting with the darkness is dangerous, Aimee."

"Go!" I shouted.

"Careful, you might start to like it."

A shiver ran down my spine, hearing Henric's last words echoing in Ally's. I remembered the wetness of his heart in my hand...

My stomach turned.

I chucked a pillow at Ally but it passed right through, colliding with the back wall.

"Go! Leave me the hell alone!"

"Aimee, oh my gosh, you're awake!"

Daciana burst into the room, balancing a pile of towels and a tray of water and crackers.

"What's going on? Are you OK?"

Ally disappeared, leaving behind a cold breeze that made goosebumps rise on my forearms.

"I'm fine." Ally's words lingered in my head but I shook them away.

"Phew, good, if anything happened to you we'd have a very angry King on our hands."

"King?" I echoed. "What King. Didn't I--"

Daciana grimaced.

"Uh, yeah, you did. You killed my father."

I swallowed, waiting for her anger.

"Aren't you...mad at me?"

"Mad at you?" She said as she sank down on the bed beside me. "Why would I be mad? He was trying to kill my brother. You did us all a favor."

"What about Chris, is he OK? What happened?" My heart clenched, hoping he'd be as forgiving as his sister. The thought of him hating me was like a knife twisting in my gut.

"Chris is fine, but you, Aimee, oh, gosh." She gave me a quick, awkward squeeze then pulled back. "Sorry," She blurted. "I just thought...well, we all thought you were going to die..."

"Why would you think that? I wasn't hurt in the battle."

"Well...because you've, uh, been asleep for nearly a month."

A month? A whole entire freaking month?

"Speaking of which, I have to notify Chris right away or he'll have my ass. He'd be here if he could but, well, he's been really busy."

"What do you know about Hannah and her baby? The two girls that were with Brandon?" I asked, taking the glass of water she offered me.

"They're fine. They're a few rooms over, with Brandon. Hannah was the one that reached out to those defenders coming to rescue you, you know? Brandon had sent her into town ahead of Father's deadline and she alerted the defenders about what was going on here. Lucky they showed up when they did."

"Yeah. Lucky. What happened to the defenders, anyway?"

What happened to Damian? The last thing I remembered was him knocking me out. Or had I only just imagined him during the craziness of battle?

Maybe using dark magic also made you hallucinate. Because there was no way, no damned way Damian was a defender.

Right...?

"All gone except for one. He wants to talk to you once you're awake. Says those are his orders."

"Do you happen to know his name?"