~ NYSSA

Rowan and I sat in the stillness of the room, still reeling from Allister’s ominous words.

He drank the rest of his tea and placed the dirty mug into the sink. With his back turned to me, he spoke. "You should go to bed. I have a lot of work to do tonight. I don’t know when I’ll return."

I frowned, my ears picking up on the part he didn’t say out loud. "When or if?"

He exhaled deeply, bracing both hands on the sink. His back was taut, his muscles tensing with every ragged breath that escaped his lips. I could not help but admire how beautifully he was built. Even the scars that littered his skin did not take away from the beauty.

"I need time, Nyssa, and so do you. You need to figure out whether or not you trust me."

"I do trust you," I argued, rising to my feet. "We’ve only been mates for months, Rowan, and there’s a lot of shit between us. I’m still learning the ropes, and you can’t punish me for one mistake."

He turned to me. "It isn’t a singular event, and it wasn’t a mistake. You did it fully aware of the choice you were making and I’m not blaming you for it, I just... fucking hell... I need time to think through this."

I frowned, stopping in my tracks.

There was only a few inches of space between us but I did not dare close the gap. I couldn’t tell if that was a dismissal or if he was just voicing out the way he felt.

"I love you," he murmured, his eyes growing soft as he stared at me. "That is never going to change, even if you rip my heart out of my chest and hand it over to the vampires on a silver platter."

I couldn’t help but snort. "That’s awfully graphic."

For the first time since this afternoon, he moved towards me. He didn’t side step me, or brush me aside like I was insignificant, he made his way over to me, stopping when our feet touched.

He leaned forward, letting his lips brush the top of my head. "You should go to bed. We can talk about this later, okay?"

I nodded slowly. "Okay."

Despite making my way up the stairs, I couldn’t sleep.

Rowan had assured me that things were fine but I couldn’t shake the unease that tightened my chest. I just lay in bed, legs curled up towards my chest as I stared at the ceiling in front of me.

After what felt like hours, the doors creaked open and light flooded the room.

"I find that I can’t stay away from you," Rowan drawled as he made his way over to the bed. "I try to be fucking pissed at you and all I can think about is how large and empty this damn bed is."

He settled in beside me and I wasted no time in curling into him. He sat up straight, his hand gently guiding my head into his lap as he brushed my hair out of my face.

My chest warmed with ease. "I truly am sorry."

He sighed, fingers lingering at my throat. "I know, baby."

His fingers continued those soft deft strokes while the other hand tapped away at his laptop. It must have been uncomfortable as hell but he didn’t complain, he just continued those silent ministrations until sleep claimed me.

******************************

I knew I was sleeping but I also felt... awake.

I was in that same forest that plagued my dreams, the one with the veins in the sky and the blood red moon above. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to will myself awake, but it was as if something kept my consciousness rooted.

"It won’t work," a cold voice drawled. "This is my dream world. You’re just existing inside of it."

I turned sharply towards the sound of that voice and froze when I saw him standing there.

He looked just as he did earlier when we first met, only here, his eyes were sharper, and they weren’t dark, they were the same shade of blood red as the moon.

I swallowed thickly, trying to hide my unease. "What now? Do I refer to you as your majesty or father?"

His lips curled slightly. "You’re funny, I like that. I suppose being around royalty has given you the feeling of being untouchable."

"I am untouchable," I said firmly.

He laughed. The sound was like the scraping of nails down my spine, all low and mocking. "You are in my world now, Nyssa. I can hurt you here and you’ll be dead before your mate even realizes that there is a problem. In here, I call the shots."

As if to prove his point, he moved faster than I could have anticipated, his hands wrapping around my throat tightly. His hold was firm, his nails digging into the sides of my throat as he pinned me firmly against a tree.

I felt something warm trickle down my throat as the metallic scent of blood filled the air. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. Panic clawed at my insides, and I tried to fight him, kicking and clawing, but he would not budge.

His hand lingered around my throat, tightening until my vision darkened, and in a flash, he released me, letting me drop to the ground with a gasp.

He stepped in front of me, and that was when I realized he was barefooted. I wasn’t sure why that surprised me as much as it did.

I lifted my eyes to him, shooting daggers with my eyes, but if he noticed, he did not care, he just crossed his arms over his chest, his expression bored.

"Now that we’re on the same page," he began with a low drawl, crouching low until we were at eye level. "You’re going to listen to me. Do we understand each other?"