Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
DALEK
Aurelia was uncharacteristically silent until we reached my office. The moment the door closed behind us, she took my hand and pulled me toward the center of the room, insisting I sit. The urgency in her tone set my nerves on edge.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Instead of answering, she sank down beside me on the sofa, where I could feel the heat of her thigh against mine. Her hand rested on my knee, grounding me. “Do you have noise-canceling headphones?” she asked quietly. “Or earbuds?”
I frowned. “Yes… why?”
“And a sleep mask?”
My pulse quickened. “Aurelia.”
She inhaled slowly, steadying herself. “I want to try something tonight. An experiment. If it works, I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
“Why are you being so cryptic?”
Her gaze softened, almost pleading. “Please. Just trust me.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Both of her hands cradled my face, her eyes searching mine. “Before you go to bed, promise me you won’t drink anything or take anything outside your normal routine. If something tastes slightly off, spit it out immediately.”
My pulse spiked. “You think someone could be drugging me?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But there’s more.”
She explained everything carefully. I was to find soothing music and place it on a loop, keep the headphones on all night with my phone alarm sent through them, and wear a sleep mask. Fear flickered behind her eyes as she spoke.
And suddenly, it clicked.
“You want me to shut everything out,” I said quietly. “To see if the voices and nightmares stop.”
“Yes.” Her hands slid from my face to my chest, fingers splayed over my heart. “Please promise me you’ll try. If it doesn’t help, I won’t ask again. I swear.” She hesitated. “But there’s something else.”
I nodded for her to continue.
“Did any of your mother’s former staff stay on at the castle?” she asked. “Anyone assigned to you specifically?”
I exhaled slowly. “Most were dismissed after her death. We couldn’t risk keeping them. A few transferred before that, put on probation. My secretary worked for her briefly. My night guard longer.”
The weight of the truth settled between us.
“You think one of them could be behind this,” I said.
“I don’t know what to think,” Aurelia replied. Her voice softened, then hardened with resolve. “But I will find the truth, Dalek. And I will end your nightmares. One way or another.”
She leaned in, her forehead resting briefly against mine—too intimate, too dangerous, too us. For the first time in longer than I cared to admit, the darkness didn’t feel quite so suffocating. Because she was fighting it with me.
When my alarm buzzed directly into my ears the next morning, I lay there for several seconds, waiting. For the whispers. For the voices. For the familiar dread that usually greeted me before dawn.
Nothing came.
A slow smile spread across my face. I’d slept through the night—deep, uninterrupted, untouched by nightmares. Whatever Aurelia had suspected, she’d been right. And that knowledge was far more unsettling than comforting.
I dressed quickly, adrenaline humming through me, and took the secret passage down to my office, carefully hiding the headphones and sleep mask away in a wall panel. If someone was watching, I couldn’t afford to look relieved.
When I stepped inside, I stopped short.
Aurelia stood near my desk beside a breakfast cart, practically vibrating with anticipation. Her hands were clasped together, her expression hopeful and terrified all at once.
“Well?” she asked, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. “Please tell me it worked.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I crossed the room in three long strides, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her—slow, deep, and grateful. She melted instantly, as if she’d been holding her breath all night, too.
Her hands slid up my chest. “That’s a yes,” she murmured.
“You were right,” I said against her mouth. “About everything.”
My body wanted more, wanted to back her against my desk, drag her onto the sofa, and melt in her heat until the world faded again. But the questions clawed too hard at my mind.
“How did you know?” I asked.
Her touch gentled, grounded me as she stepped back just enough to look me in the eye. “I searched your bedroom yesterday,” she admitted. “At first, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing or if it even mattered. Now I know it does.” She went on to elaborate the entire setup she’d nearly tripped on.
Cold fury slid into my veins. “Someone went to great lengths to do this.”
“This might’ve been put into play before your mother died,” she said carefully. “Given your relationship with her, I wouldn’t rule out a contingency plan.”
The thought made my stomach turn.
She paused for a moment, before asking, “If your uncle and father had not hired me to assist you, would you’ve been tempted to go after the crown to stop the harassing visions?”
I ran a hand over my face in frustration.
“I’d like to think I had enough restraint not to give in, but when one is driven to the edge of madness…
I don’t know, maybe, but it would be pointless.
The only way I could be king is if my cousin failed to marry before his thirty-fifth birthday.
Granted, he has no current love interests and a little over a year left in which to find someone the rules have set forth. ”
Aurelia frowned. “Rules.”
“Yes. Ancient, ridiculous ones.”
Her voice softened. “And where would that leave us?”
I closed the distance between us, cupping her face.
“I don’t care about rules where you are concerned.
” I kissed the tip of her nose. “You challenge me. You ground me. And when I need you—when I need this—you yield to me completely. We are perfectly matched. I wouldn’t want the throne, not if it meant having to say goodbye to you.
You’re a part of me now, a part I don’t want to live without. ”
“But you’re still a prince,” she whispered.
I laughed quietly. “And I always will be, nothing more. I’ve already told my father about you. He gave us his blessing.”
Aurelia’s face blushed and made me wonder how far down it went. “You tempt me. Did you want to start with breakfast and a discussion, or shall we go right for a sinful yet quick dessert?”
Her smile was infectious. “Surprise me.”
“You little minx.”
She darted away, laughter echoing as she circled the room. I caught her easily. She wanted to be caught. She always did.
Later, when the world narrowed again to whispers and heat, she reminded me why the equipment had to remain in my room.
“If whoever did this realizes the nightmares have stopped,” she warned, “they’ll escalate. You need to appear unstable. Close to breaking.”
I hated it. But she was right. So to the world, my therapy continued to fail. And to my enemies, whoever they were, I remained vulnerable.
Days blurred into weeks.
We made love everywhere—my office, the hidden passages, borrowed bedrooms where time ceased to exist. Between stolen moments, we planned, we talked. I healed.
Eventually, Father approved moving Aurelia into the castle under the pretense of round-the-clock psychiatric care. I wanted her in my bed, but caution prevailed. Her room sat close, close enough for secret passages, close enough to reach her in seconds if something went wrong.
Everything was working. Too well. And I knew better than to trust peace bought through deception. Because someone had tried to break me once. And they wouldn’t stop until they tried again.
Who would it be? And when?