Chapter 18
It was becoming harder and harder to emerge from the cursed sleep, as though I were swimming through an ocean of endless darkness with no shore, no surface, no end.
It pressed against me from every side—heavy and smothering, muffling the world and dulling my senses.
Even my own body felt distant, as though I were drifting somewhere far beyond my reach.
Then, through the endless expanse, something changed—the steady, unmistakable warmth of an embrace enfolded me, the arms around me firm and real in a place where nothing else felt certain.
“Mirelle? Mirelle?” That voice emerged through the haze as though from a great distance, faint and blurred by the weight of sleep, yet I knew it at once.
My breath caught as awareness rushed back. I forced my eyes open. Light spilled into my vision—too bright and flat, stripped of the depth and softness of the world I had just left behind. The ceiling loomed above me, solid and unyielding. Real, and yet somehow it felt like the imitation.
The memory of the other world flickered through me: cool air against my skin, starlight glistening across the stone, the quiet certainty of something living and true.
That world had been vivid, but this one felt dulled, as though someone had blurring the edges with a paintbrush and trimmed away everything that made it feel alive.
Even now, the memory of the stars above the balcony lingered more sharply than the room around me, while the world I had supposedly returned to already felt distant.
Worst of all, the pull of sleep hadn’t fully released me.
It still tugged insistently at me, as though some part of me remained caught between worlds.
I shifted slightly, then went still as the realization seized me all at once: I wasn’t alone. A steady arm was wrapped around me, firm enough to have caught me and held me in place. My head rested against something warm and solid, the only truly tangible detail in the fog still clouding my senses.
Evander.
My heart stuttered, but I didn’t pull away. Sleep still beckoned, trying to lure me under again, yet his presence held me here, an anchor in a reality that no longer felt entirely my own.
“You’re awake,” he murmured. There was no teasing or careful guarded edge, only relief drawn taut enough to make something in my chest tighten.
His voice came from just above me. I tilted my head just enough to look at him and found him already watching me, his grey eyes fixed on mine as though he had been waiting for the moment I awoke.
For a breath, neither of us moved. The stillness between us felt strangely fragile, as though even the slightest shift might shatter something neither of us yet understood.
“How long?” My voice sounded distant, as though it belonged to someone else.
He released an unsteady breath. “Not long.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “You collapsed.” I felt his arms tighten almost imperceptibly around me.
“So I gathered,” I said. “It appears that collapsing without warning is a habit I’ve acquired.”
I expected the quip to earn at least the shadow of a smile, but his expression remained grave, almost…
worried. Surely I was imagining that. I had to remind myself that this was the man who had admitted he had an agenda, whose charm was nothing more than a deliberate tactic to achieve his ends.
A man whose counterpart in the dream had warned me was selfish, dangerous, and not to be trusted.
I should have moved away from him at once.
Instead, I stayed exactly where I was. Only then did I become fully aware of how close we were, of the hand still rested at my waist, of the warmth of his body beneath my cheek, and of the fact that he hadn’t let go.
For one reckless moment, I allowed myself to remain there, grounded and held, as though I had found the one place in this unraveling world where I did not have to fight to keep my balance.
“You didn’t have to catch me,” I managed breathlessly, though the words emerged softer and far less sharply than I intended.
His gaze didn’t leave mine. “Of course I did.”
Something in his expression captured my attention.
It wasn’t the familiar mask I’d grown accustomed to, but something more strained beneath it, unguarded enough to unsettle me.
Strange how quickly I noticed the absence of his teasing.
For how much it had once irritated me, I found I almost missed that part of him now.
Nothing about this felt the way it should.
Flustered by the strange ache curling around my heart, I let my gaze drop to where his hand still rested against me before lifting it again to his face. “You’re still holding me.”
His fingers tightened slightly, as though he hadn’t realized it himself.
“And yet,” he said, voice quieter now, “you haven’t moved.
” I looked up, expecting to be met with the familiar teasing gleam…
and yet a seriousness shone through as he searched my gaze, as though anxious to reassure himself that I was still here in this world with him.
My breath caught. There it was again—that dangerous edge where the game between us stopped feeling like a game at all.
I hastily forced myself to withdraw from his embrace, and he released me with an air of reluctance.
The space between us shifted at once, back to the distance that felt much safer.
I ignored the faint flicker of something that felt suspiciously like loss and pushed myself upright, wincing as the ache in my side made itself known.
The fall had left its mark, though nothing worse than it might have been had he not caught me.
“I suppose I’m disoriented.” I rose to my feet, steadying myself on the nearby wall. He looked like he might assist me, but restrained himself, allowing me to find my bearings.
The room felt different than before I fell into another cursed sleep.
Not in any way I could immediately name, but in the subtle tightening of the air, the sense that something unseen had drawn inward while I slept.
The walls seemed closer, the silence heavier; even the magic threaded through the space felt strained, as though pulled too taut.
My unease settled deeper in my chest the farther I moved into the room.
Even if I couldn’t discern the difference, this world had undoubtedly changed…
and I knew exactly who might understand it better than anyone.
My gaze flicked towards Evander, measuring his reaction.
But if he noticed the shift in the room, he gave no sign of it.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
I hesitated. “I’m recovering from the shock of waking up to find myself in the enemy’s arms.” I folded my own across my chest in a futile gesture to still my pounding heart I was certain would expose just how little I’d minded such an arrangement.
“An unfortunate position,” he agreed lightly. “Though I can’t say I object to catching you, given the circumstances.”
My palpating heart beat even harder. What did he mean by that? Unsure how else to respond, I shot him a look. He lifted his hands in mock surrender.
“You seem to forget I’m the one left dealing with the consequences of your…recklessness.”
“You say that as though you had no part in it,” I said coolly.
“On the contrary,” he said. “I believe I warned you.”
He had, which made everything all the more confusing. He seemed to notice this in my expression and his lips twitched, breaking the stoic expression that didn’t suit him. I narrowed my eyes. “You’re enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
Just like that, his teasing returned. I hated how easily it unraveled the tension coiled tight within me—how the familiar cadence of his voice and glint in his eyes loosened my grip on something I’d spent my life guarding.
Not that I needed to admit it. By the look he gave me, he already knew.
A quiet understanding passed between us—unspoken, but unmistakable.
Whatever had shifted between us before I’d collapsed, this at least remained intact.
But it didn’t last. Something flickered across his expression—too quick to name, gone before I could grasp it—before his features hardened once more into careful restraint.
It was enough to remind me of the calculation that lay beneath the charm, the deliberate way he shaped every word and gesture.
Nothing in our interactions was accidental, and I could not afford to forget this—to allow myself to be overcome with a few flirtatious phrases or even the embrace in which I’d awakened.
And yet, I couldn’t make myself turn away from him. Instead, I found myself studying him, trying to piece together the truth behind the mask in order to understand where this dangerous, fragile connection between us might lead…even if it meant risking far more than I should.
Silence stretched between us, heavy with everything left unsaid. I wasn’t sure how to navigate it, how to speak to this version of him that felt at once familiar and entirely foreign, as though something in him had shifted the moment we stepped into this room…or perhaps I was the one who’d changed.
Before I could decide, he started to turn away from me, but paused, his gaze settling on the bracelet on my wrist. His breath caught. For a moment he could only stare, eyes wide, before he reached out a hesitant hand to touch it gingerly. “You still wear it?”
The tender question acted as a key that revealed memories I didn’t need my memories to recall. A moment from long ago settled around me—another moment with Evander on a balcony, his teasing smile aglow beneath the glistening starlight of the velvety night.
“Lost again. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s on purpose.”
His hypothesis was more true than I could ever admit. “Your persistence in watching for me every night leads me to believe that despite continuously getting caught, I’m the true victor after all.”
His grin widened. “An insightful observation. Despite being captured and losing this particular round of our game, you deserve a reward for your efforts.”
He reached for me, taking my wrist with the careful gentleness of a thief handling a priceless artifact. “Close your eyes,” he instructed softly.
I hesitated. The thought of surrendering my awareness, even for a moment, left me uneasy—vulnerability meant trust. But something in his expression stilled my doubt.
He looked so earnest. For all our strange meetings and all the games we played, I realized—with no small measure of surprise—that I trusted him and this fragile friendship we’d developed.
So I obeyed. With my eyes closed, the world sharpened in other ways, magnifying all my other senses. I could hear the quiet rhythm of his breath, feel the warmth of him as he stepped closer. My heart fluttered, unsteady, as his presence settled around me.
Then his fingers brushed my skin, a soft, fleeting touch that sent a shiver rippling over me before I could stop it. Something cool settled against my wrist as he fastened it into place. All too soon he withdrew; the absence of his touch lingered, leaving me yearning.
“Open them,” he murmured. I did and lifted my wrist. The moonlight glistened against the delicate silver chain now encircling it, fine as spun thread, each intertwined link catching the light like a scatter of stars.
A small charm shaped like a rose rested at its center—subtle, elegant, and unmistakably chosen.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, my thumb tracing along each intwined link in quiet awe. I had never owned anything like it—something I hadn’t taken, but which had been given, meant just for me. Which made it more precious than anything I’d ever stolen.
He watched me with a quiet satisfaction, as though my reaction were the true reward. “A prize for your efforts.”
I lingered on it a moment longer before lifting my gaze to his, struck by the unexpected softness in his expression. How could he look at me—a common thief—with such tenderness? “But I’ve never won our game.”
His smile deepened, something almost vulnerable flickering beneath it. “Little do you know that in every encounter, you’ve emerged victorious…leaving me at your mercy.”
The memory faded, leaving my heart reaching for it.
Evander was still watching me, bearing a look as though he knew exactly the moment I’d relived.
I yearned to ask him about it, but before I could he hastily crossed towards the far side of the chamber.
“There’s something else we should investigate,” he said.
I didn’t immediately move to follow. He was trying to regain control of a situation that was firmly mine and I had no intention of surrendering it so easily, not when he already held far more influence over me than I’d ever yielded anyone before.
I’d agreed to work with him, but that didn’t mean trusting him. Especially not now.
“Your warning before I touched the mural gave you away,” I said. “It seems I’m not the only one familiar with this room. You claimed to know this castle’s secrets and promised to share them. Yet when we find one you clearly recognize, you say nothing and pretend ignorance.”
He glanced back at me, lips slowly curving. “I promised information,” he said. “Not the exposure of secrets that aren’t mine to tell.” His gaze sharpened slightly. “And I’m not the only one keeping secrets.”
I held his stare, refusing to allow him to win this battle.
“You saw something when you touched the mural,” he continued. “I know you did. You can lie, if you like. But each time you do, it only makes me more inclined to return the favor.”
I lifted my chin. “Allow me to be the one to determine the value of your lies.”
A familiar, measured smirk touched his mouth as he turned away again.
“Very well. I’m a man of my word, especially when you changed the rules by which we’re playing when you touched that mural.
It’s time to finally give you what you’ve been searching for since you arrived: a way forward…
or have you grown tired of chasing answers? ”
A challenge, my favorite. I stepped towards him to meet it head on. “I don’t chase,” I said.
His smile sharpened. “No,” he said softly. “You steal.” With that, Evander turned and led me towards the doorway that felt like a boundary I couldn’t see. This time I hesitated only a heartbeat before following.
The moment we crossed the threshold, something shifted, and in it I knew—whatever waited beyond this room was not the same world I had left behind.