Wake up now, wake up, Eve. That’s enough now. You need to come back.”
She felt the warmth, the arms strong around her, the heart beating quick against hers. “Okay. Okay.” She could breathe here. She could rest here. “It’s done.”
“You’re cold. You get so cold.” Roarke pressed his lips to her temples, to her cheeks even as he rubbed the frigid skin of her arms, her back.
“She wasn’t there.”
“Who?”
“My mother. I thought, if I dreamed of any of it, if I went back or it came, she’d be there. Because of Solas, because of that. But it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about her. I’m okay.”
“Let me get you some water.”
“No.” She tightened her arms around him. “Just stay.”
“Then tell me what it was about.”
He held her as she did, and the chill left her skin, left her bones, left her heart. “I killed him again. I didn’t feel all that fear or the rage or the desperation. I didn’t feel pleasure. It was just what I had to do. I could stand there, and I could watch it all happen on the screen, even feel it happening. Like I was in both places. But . . .”
“But?”
“It didn’t hurt as much, or scare me as much. I could watch and think: That’s over. It’s going to be all right. However long it takes, it’s going to be all right, because I’m going to do what I have to do. However many times I have to do it, he’ll still be dead. And I’m okay.”
“Lights on,” he ordered, “fifteen percent.” He needed to see, to see her clearly enough to be sure. And when he did, he cupped her face in his hands, kissed her brow. “Can you sleep again?”
“I don’t know. What time is it?”
“Nearly six now.”
She shook her head. “It’s nearly time anyway. I’ll get up, get started.”
“All right then, I’ll get that energy shake.”
She winced. “I knew you were going to say that.”
“And because you’re the love of my bloody life, I’ll drink one, too.”
10
SHE’D HAVE PREFERRED COFFEE, BUT SHE DOWNED the shake, which wasn’t as disgusting as it should’ve been.
“It tastes like a fruit bowl,” she decided. “On Zeus.”
“That’s rather the idea.” He studied what remained in his own glass, sighed just a little, then drank it. “Well then, that chore’s down.”
“Why don’t they make coffee-flavored ones?”
“There are all manner of coffee-flavored drinks, aren’t there? The point of a protein shake is drinking something healthy. Something good for you, easily and quickly done.”
“Maybe more people would drink it if it tasted like something that wasn’t healthy that they actually liked. Then people who only drink them under duress might start going, mmm-mmm, I love me those fudgy, whipped protein shakes.”
He started to speak, then angled his head. “Hmm.”
“Just saying. Anyway. I’ve got to grab a shower before I get started.”
“So do I.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is that grabbing a shower, or grabbing me?”