Read Online Stay by Jennifer Silverwood - Free Book Online Page A

through the nearby wall and caught my immediate attention. Stepping through the solid matter, I pushed easily through and stood amid the shadows of Derek’s bedroom. His bed seemed to take up a solid corner of space and here he lay sprawled on his stomach across it in a dreamless sleep. Following the outline of his body clearly revealed the appeal he must have for any woman. But there was something lacking from him that I had not felt the other night.
    Where is Lissa?
    The panting began afresh, this time coming from behind the bathroom door. A faint light escaped the frame and I couldn’t shake the foreboding in my heart as I approached it.
    The instant I stepped foot through the door I was met by the stench of blood and the jarring sight of my reflection. Hidden from her eyes I might be, but I cleft to the shadows and avoided the light, because I was afraid of my own reflection.
    Lissa’s glorious unbound hair that I had admired under the night lights was gathered loosely in a band behind her head. Her honey-brown skin looked too pale and drawn against her gaunt frame. With her hands braced on the sink counter she lifted her head and stared at her reflection. Her leaf-green eyes were red with tears.
    I wondered briefly if she could see me as Cain had, watching over her shoulder from the darkness like a specter.
    How fitting…
    I was a creature of the darkness now, trapped by my own selfish desires. Clearly something was horribly wrong. Her aura was broken, torn nearly to shreds in that moment. How to explain an aura to human eyes? It was like the swirling of every feeling or emotion you had or would soon have, color-coded. Sometimes it sprang from their skins like a divine halo, while others it hung over like a bleak cloud, or smoldered on their features in a thick gray fog. Most often it appeared like the northern lights, a shimmering of color so rich it was impossible to name them all. I had seen every color, naked or invisible to the human eye.
    Lissa’s came off her in red steam and matched the blood staining her lips and spattered on her upturned palms.
    Clenching my teeth against the harsh metallic scent, I focused on her scantily clad form. The lingerie looked uncomfortable and the constrained cut didn’t seem to fit with the vivacious young woman I saw on the dance floor.
    Despair poured from her glassy eyes as she breathed steadily in and out. With shaking hands she held up the palm full of dripping blood and a hoarse wail broke past her lips. She twisted the sink knob quickly, then ran her hands under the stream of water until it steamed and nearly scalded her skin.
    “Pull it together , chica,” she whispered to herself as she grabbed a soap bar and scrubbed between her fingers vigorously. As she leaned into the overhead light I saw the bruises imprinted down her back, the marks where his hands had been.
    A flash of images darted through my mind of Derek throwing her onto the bed and gripping onto her until she screamed, not from ecstasy but agony. I could feel Lissa’s pleasure quickly turning to fear and then pain. Pressure filled my ears until all sound was blocked out, save for a dull ringing. The air I breathed seemed to stifle and thicken until I was clutching my throat and clinging to the curse to keep me hidden. The images called forth unbidden plunged me into emotions I never wanted to relive again. Yet in the darkness behind my eyelids I could still see, smell and feel everything so clearly.
     
    “No! Stop, please! I promise to obey!” I cowered, scrambling backwards with my hands on my already broken body. The whip in his hands hung limp and stained by my blood at his side. His chest heaved with the aftermath of his former rage.
    “You certainly shall obey, Orona. I will not stand sharing my possessions with anyone else. Our union is little more than a business deal, but your father and I signed a contract binding you to me. Do you know what it says of my rights in the case of your