Chapter 54

Daphne

Pain woke me before my eyes even opened.

It sat heavy in my chest, in my bones, in places I didn’t know could hurt.

Two days later, my body still felt like it was paying for something my heart had done.

It felt as if there was a block of pain churned somewhere in me, which exploded.

I swallowed hard and leaned back, trying to steady my racing heart, but to no avail. It’s been two days now.

I shut my eyes and rubbed my hurting temple.

Zachary’s action, coming so close to me, stirred something in me. Not the bond or anything, but a deep seated emotion I couldn’t place my hand on.

It was evening and I had barely slept for an hour, making it worse. The wind blew heavily into my room. I got up and walked to close it up, but gasped and moved back when I saw him leaning against a tree close to my window, and his hand folded against his chest, like a statue carved from shadow and moonlight.

My heart slammed so hard it hurt,