Page 52 of War Queen
Before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled the stopper from the top and touched it to her finger, turning it. Then she brushed a stroke of blood across her palm and curled her fingers closed.
And she waited.
Her heart raced in her chest.
She glanced around the room, still waiting. This was what she was supposed to do. This was what Alexander had shown her. Hadn’t he? Or had she imagined it all?
Either way, she wasn’t imagining the vial in her hands right now. It was very real, and very… full of blood. The vial and the dream had to be connected.
But all was quiet.
“Well, that’s… strangely disappointing,” she whispered to herself. Heat flushed her cheeks from the embarrassment that she’d expected anything at all from merely dabbing blood onto her skin. At least she was alone in her embarrassment—thank the gods she hadn’t involved Soren. He would have thought she’d lost her mind completely.
Norah opened her palm and stared down at the blood smeared across her skin. Whose blood was this anyway? A small flutter whispered in her mind, like a bird’s breath. When she looked back at her reflection in the vanity mirror, she jumped out of her chair, knocking it back and overturning it.
Just behind her stood Alexander.
She whirled to face him.
But the room was empty. He wasn’t there.
No one was.
Shakily, she turned back to the mirror and sucked in a breath as he stood looking back at her again.
“How is this possible?” she whispered. She spun back to where he should have been standing behind her, but again, no one was there.
Norah turned back to the mirror. His image crushed her heart. “How are you here?” she whispered. Everything came all at once: sadness, happiness, relief, confusion. It was overwhelming. She forced herself to breathe. “Is it really you?”
He didn’t speak. Could he not? Or did he just not want to?
She finally found words. “Does the blood bring you?”
He gave no answer.
Of course it did. She glanced down at the vial of blood. This didn’t make sense. It was as if he were a traveler. But not.
“How? I didn’t consume it, I only…” She looked down at her palm again. “Is this how you came to me in the mortium? Your blood on my skin?”
He still said nothing, but the slight tightening under his eyes told her she was right. He’d come while his blood had been on her skin. Like his blood was on her skin now.
“I wasn’t really dreaming then. And I’m not dreaming now. Are you in my mind?”
The corners of his lips turned up slightly. Then he relaxed his face and closed his eyes. And waited.
Slowly, she followed suit and closed her eyes. And in the depths of her mind, he stood in front of her.
“How are you here?” she whispered as she stepped closer to him. “Is it really you?”
But he still didn’t answer.
“Can you not speak?”
Again, no answer.
She knew he was just a vision in her mind. She couldn’t touch him, couldn’t feel him. And yet she couldn’t help herself—she reached out her hand. But where she expected nothing, her fingers met the firmness of his body.
Norah let out a ragged breath. Shecouldfeel him. This wasn’t just a vision.
