Insomniac's Curse: A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty (The Ruby Realm Book 4) by Abigail Manning

Author:Abigail Manning [Manning, Abigail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

chapter twenty

Kaliope

I nuzzled my face against the pillow, watching the light of the candle dance as Daniel read the story I could practically recite at this point. The cool night air that drifted in through the window urged me to snuggle deeper under my quilt until it was drawn all the way up to my nose.

“The man always knew something was different about him,” Daniel read. “But it wasn’t until he could separate the other voice in his mind that he knew for sure what was wrong.”

He read so smoothly, with a gentle cadence that almost felt like a lullaby as he painted a vivid picture of the story. My aunts used to read to me when I was little, but I never remembered it feeling quite so soothing. I should have felt shy knowing that a man was watching me fall asleep, but he wasn’t really watching me at all, not if he was as immersed in the book as he sounded. There was a strange comfort with hearing him so close, like I wasn’t battling my insomnia alone for once.

I focused my gaze on the candle, watching the wax dribble down the side in thick clumps. I listened to the story, enjoying the soft inflections in Daniel’s tone every time he found something that surprised him. I’d never shared this story with anyone other than my aunts. It would have seemed too strange for the quiet village girl to enjoy a book about a man with two souls.

But Daniel doesn’t seem to find it strange.

“He ventured off into the cave, when suddenly a bright light caught the edge of his vision—whoa, no way...” His quiet remark curled a smile up my lips as I imagined his reaction to the plot twist in chapter twelve.

With each smile he brought me, I felt my body sink deeper into the mattress. Usually, when I tried to sleep, fear was the biggest thing that kept me awake. It was terrifying to wonder what sleeping would allow me to do, but for the first time in years, that fear was hardly there. It was like the candle—still present and still very noticeable in the dark, but it was soft and quiet, unlike a blinding blast of sun.

Maybe Jamal was right. Perhaps having someone watch over me was what my insomnia needed.

The candle’s glow grew dimmer with each droop of my lashes. A few times, my eyes sparked open with that soft flicker of fear, but when it happened, I would hear Daniel’s voice. His quiet reading filled the space that my panicked thoughts typically occupied. My heartbeats synched with the slow tempo of his voice, and the story melded into my mind until I wasn’t sure what I was hearing and what I was dreaming.

I felt warm, safe, and even relaxed. It had been so long since I’d properly fallen asleep in my bed. The story continued in the back of my mind, narrated in Daniel’s calm voice as I found myself standing in front of the story’s cave.

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