Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,50
barely recall bits and pieces of being here at all. The rest is dark.”
“Some things are better left in the dark.” Blaze turned to me, his blue-green eyes intent on mine. “You shouldn’t come here anymore, Dinah. To this castle. It isn’t safe… He isn’t safe.”
“Why? What do you mean?” His words set off an alarm in my head, though I had already felt the darkness in this place oozing from the walls and him.
“Let’s say he isn’t who he says he is.” His eyes darted around as if Frost would jump out at any moment. “Our mother is gone because of him.”
“Gone? Like in dead?” I whispered, a chill running down my spine. “Did he kill her?”
Blaze didn’t reply, his attention flicking back to the framed glass.
“Your mirror at home. Where did you get it?”
“Oh. Uh.” My forehead wrinkled in confusion at his sudden switch in topics. “A secondhand store. The woman sold it to me for almost nothing.”
He wagged his head. “It found you again, or you found it.”
“Found what?”
“The mirror.” Blaze stepped closer to me. “It’s the same one you used as a child. It’s linked to this one.”
“No way it could be the same one.” But I recalled my mom saying how much it reminded her of the one I used to have.
Because it was.
I had felt a draw to it, like it was calling for me. I couldn’t leave the store without it. Had I unconsciously known it was mine? That it had belonged to me, and it would bring me back here?
“There are other ways here…to me.” Blaze stepped up, his hands sliding up my cheeks. “Break it when you get back. End the link to this horrible place. Don’t let him be able to reach you.”
I blinked up at him, his open features making me feel so calm and safe.
“Promise me.”
I found myself nodding.
He tipped his head into mine. “I will reach out for you soon.” His mouth came down on mine softly. Warm, soothing, like listening to waves lap at the edge of the sand.
Then I felt myself spinning.
Falling. Flying.
Up. Down.
Sense. Nonsense.
Where nothing mattered and everything did.
Chapter 15
Hazy sunlight streamed through my lids, and I cracked them open in a blurry haze. For a brief moment, I took in my bedroom, the familiar items feeling oddly foreign. It seemed this room wasn’t real or wasn’t where I belonged.
Memories started to flutter back in.
Castle.
Dungeon.
Frost.
Chip.
Blaze.
Mirror.
A jolt shot my body up like I had been electrocuted, my lungs sucking in as my gaze confirmed I was safe in my bed at home.
A dream, Dinah. None of it happened. Again, just an incredibly vivid dream.
My heart pounded, my mind and body feeling off kilter. Peering over to my side, I found the bed empty.
“Scott?” I croaked, listening for any sound or movement. Turning to the nightstand, my mind took in the number on the clock. “Holy shit!” I leaped out of bed. Was it really ten thirty? I had already missed my first class. Why didn’t Scott wake me up? He always did if I happened to sleep past him. Was he still mad at me? Was our little tiff only last night? Why did it feel as if it happened so long ago, like I had lived lifetimes since then?
Darting to the living room to grab my phone, which I had forgotten to plug in, from my bag, I checked to see if there were any messages from him, but the only single message was from my mom.
Hey sweetie, don’t forget to get next Sunday off.
I rubbed my pounding head. My muscles were restless; nothing felt right. My eyes caught on a piece of paper on the table. Grabbing it, I noticed Scott’s handwriting.
Hey babe. Woke up and you were gone. Must be out running. Work late tonight. Don’t wait up.
Love you, S
My hands gripped the table, my body swaying, oxygen stumbling to get in and out.
Woke up and you were gone.
The sentence battered and whirled in my head, feeling like a tornado. My equilibrium tipped and swayed. I wasn’t here when he woke up.
Because you were in Winterland, Dinah. Locked up in a cell by a madman, a voice yelled into my brain, making my legs sag, a guttural noise rolling in my chest. Everything I built my foundation on was crumbling. I was drowning in the sea of uncertainty, sinking below what people would consider sane. And not because it wasn’t real, but because I knew it was.