With her breath sobbing, Glenna scrambled out of bed, dragging the blanket with her. She ran, trembling from terror and cold, her teeth chattering with them. She fled down the hallway as if the demons were still after her. Instinct took her to the one place, the only place, she felt safe.
Hoyt sprang out of a sound sleep to find his arms full of naked, weeping woman. He could barely see her in the dim, predawn light, but he knew her scent, her shape.
“What? What’s happened?” He started to shove her aside, to reach for the sword beside his bed. But she clung to him like ivy on an oak.
“Don’t. Don’t go. Hold on. Please, please, hold on.”
“You’re like ice.” He dragged up the blanket, trying to find warmth for her, trying to find his wits. “Have you been outside? Bloody hell. Have you done some spell?”
“No, no, no.” She burrowed into him. “She came. She came. Into my head, into my dream. Not a dream. It was real. It had to be real.”
“Stop. Stop this.” He took a firm grip on her shoulders. “Glenna!”
Her head jerked back, her breath came shuddering out. “Please. I’m so cold.”
“Then hush now, hush.” His tone and his touch gentled while he brushed tears from her cheeks. He wrapped her more fully in the blanket, then pulled her close. “It was a dream, a nightmare. Nothing more.”
“It wasn’t. Look at me.” She tilted her head up so he could see her eyes. “It wasn’t just a dream.”
No, he realized. He could see it hadn’t been only a dream. “Then tell me.”
“She was inside my head. Or…she pulled some part of me outside myself. The way it was when you were in the woods, hurt, with wolves outside your circle. Just as real as that. You know that was real.”
“Aye, it was real.”
“I was running,” she began, and told him all of it.
“She tried to lure you. Now think. Why would she do so unless she knew you were strong, unless she knew you could hurt her?”
“I died.”
“You didn’t, no, you didn’t. You’re here. Cold.” He rubbed her arms, her back. Would he ever be able to warm her again? “But alive, and here. Safe.”
“She was beautiful. Alluring. I don’t go for women, if you understand, but I was drawn to her. And part of it was sexual. Even in fear, I wanted her. The idea of her touching me, taking me, was compelling.”
“It’s a kind of trance, nothing more. And you didn’t allow it. You didn’t listen, you didn’t believe.”
“But I did listen, Hoyt. And some part of me did believe. Some part of me wanted what she offered. So much wanted. To live forever, with all that power. I thought, inside me, I thought, yes, oh yes, why shouldn’t I have it? And turning away from it—I nearly didn’t—because turning away from it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Yet you did.”
“This time.”
“Every time.”
“They were your cliffs. I felt you there. I felt you there, but I couldn’t reach you. I was alone, more alone than I’ve ever been. Then I was falling, and I was even more alone.”
“You’re not alone. Here.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “You’re not alone, are you?”
“I’m not a coward, but I’m afraid. And the dark…” She shuddered, looked around the room. “I’m afraid of the dark.”
He cast his mind toward the bedside candle, toward the logs in the hearth, set them all burning. “Dawn’s coming. Here, see.” He gathered her into his arms, got out of bed with her to carry her to the window. “There now, look east. The sun’s rising.”
She saw the light of it, a gilding low in the sky. The cold ball inside her began to ease. “Morning,” she murmured. “It’s nearly morning.”
“You won the night, and she lost it. Come, you need more sleep.”
“I don’t want to be alone.”