Page 53 of Vows of Silence
“You already know.”
Luca’s voice.
Silas’s body.
Luca’s calm.
Silas’s presence.
Nothing made sense anymore.
The room flickered around me. One second I was lying in the basement bed beneath the glow of the overhead lights, and the next I was back in my bedroom at home, curled in my egg chair with my phone pressed to my ear whilst Luca talked me through another panic attack.
“Look at me, Belle.”
Silver.
Black gloves.
Warm voice.
“You’re safe.”
The words should not have comforted me coming from him.
And yet they did.
I frowned in my sleep, something deep inside me twisting painfully as the dream shifted again.
Now I was beneath the couch in my father’s office, my chest heaving as Silas crouched in front of me.
Only this time, when he brought his finger to the mask, Luca’s voice whispered softly through the darkness.
“Good girl.”
My eyes snapped open.
For one horrible second, I didn’t know where I was.
The basement ceiling slowly came into focus above me, my pulse hammering wildly as the dream clung stubbornly to the edges of my mind.
Luca.
Silas.
The mask.
The voice.
I dragged a hand over my face and sat upright too quickly, my stomach rolling as dizziness hit me.
“What the fuck…” I whispered.
The room was empty.
No silver mask waiting in the corner.
No silent figure leaning against the wall watching me.
