Bright Wicked by Everly Frost

Author:Everly Frost [Frost, Everly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ever Realm Books
Published: 2020-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

The moon’s rising wakes me as it always does. I sense her light ascend high in the sky, even though I can’t see her. In the space between awake and asleep, I’m surrounded by a dark oblivion that I can’t quite touch, the cold seep of nothingness that I crave in the daytime.

Then my starlight power trickles through me, icy and crisp, calling me to shine… and wake up.

My eyes open to the gentle sound of a soft inhale. For a second, I’m confused. It was like the night sky was breathing with me, but now I stare upward into the dim darkness and the unfamiliar ceiling, trying to place my location—the wrong bedroom. Wrong sheets. Wrong pillows. The pillow I pulled across my eyes has slipped to the side, but I’m still gripping it.

I remember that Nathaniel sleeps only a few paces away.

I remember that I’m caught in a nightmare and if I stop and think about it for more than two seconds, I’ll end up screaming my lungs out.

I listen for his breathing, wondering if he’s awake yet.

Eat, sleep, breathe.

It feels like breathing will be the easy part. Everything else is hard.

I’m about to slide from the bed when I hear a soft swish. Then an exhale. The sounds are out of time with Nathaniel’s deep breathing.

Fear rakes through me and my instincts scream. A friendly visitor would have knocked, waited for us to wake up—would not be creeping through a dark bedroom.

Is the intruder here for Nathaniel or me?

Any movement will alert them that I’m awake, even a whisper-quiet one. I stare hard into the darkness, making out the female silhouette creeping across the room at the base of my bed. She must be dressed in tight body armor because her silhouette is clean, her hair tucked up.

She passes by the bed and heads for the couch.

I told everyone Nathaniel would sleep there.

She raises her arms above her head and the gathering darkness around her hands tells me she’s carrying a weapon that absorbs light.

I take my last deep breath, but I’m no longer afraid. I’m a twilight fae. I’m at my strongest now at the rising of the moon when the first stars sparkle in the night sky.

Energy spears through me, speeding my movements to an impossible velocity. I slip from the sheets, roll beneath the curtains, and leap with all my strength.

She grunts as I knock into her and force her to the floor. Despite landing hard, she keeps hold of her weapon, jabbing it at me with quick, quiet thrusts. I dodge left and right before I leap off her, flipping and landing in a crouch with one hand planted on the floor.

She hesitates, the dagger gripped in her hand.

At the same time, Nathaniel rises up behind her, a looming shadow.

She spins and jabs the knife at his chest. He darts to the side just in time, but he doesn’t retaliate like I thought he would, bouncing backward on the balls of his feet instead, dodging the blows.

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