Elon rolled off of her and began coughing into the crook of his elbow. “Oh!” She sat up and crept over to him. “I’m so sorry, Elon.” He coughed a few more times before pausing to massage the front of his neck. “You’re quite strong, you know.” Heat singed her cheeks. “I’m so terribly sorry….

She broke the surface of the water, her hair pouring down her shoulders and back in watery streams. The man sputtered and coughed as he sat up. “Fall. But I suppose you already know that now.” He was far too close. She gripped the sides of the tub, preparing to launch herself out, but the…

Elon nodded. “I did.” His cool response set her blood boiling. She launched to her feet. “But… why? Why allow him to enter this room or see me like…this?” She gestured to her lingerie. “And why allow him to escape? He didn’t deserve to go free.” Elon held his chin as he regarded her. “Carissa,…

She stumbled back against, calves banging against the chair, her breath thick in her throat. She shook her head and shoved a laugh from her lips, though it sounded more like a croak. “You’re in the jailhouse; you can’t touch me.” “Wrong—on both accounts. After you left with the princeling, I realized that if you…

The painlessness was intoxicating. Every breath, every step, was euphoria. Carissa slipped away from Elon to walk a few steps by herself. But walking wasn’t merely enough; she wanted to run. Carissa clutched the sheet to her chest and darted across the room before stopping short of the wall. She glanced back at Elon. He…

As she stared, his flesh knit back together, and the wound vanished, leaving dried blood caked to his skin. Elon swallowed—hard—and raked a hand through his sweat-dampened locks. “I can’t take your wounds away, as though they never were, and I can’t prevent you from ever getting hurt, but I can bear your wounds for…

The ceremony was so transitory it had barely been a ceremony. The only proof that it’d happened was the ring cinching her finger. Though she’d protested that she’d dirty the ring, Elon had slid it onto her finger anyhow. Elon mounted the steps of the embassy, his feet clapping against marble. He stopped at the…

Though the pace was slow, each of the horse’s plodding steps jarred, rattling her teeth. She forced her pained breaths to slow, determined not to faint before arriving at the embassy, though Elon had assured her she could have a sleeping draught. She didn’t want to miss a single moment she spent in his arms….

Without waiting for a reply, Elon stepped forward, and the group of men surged backwards. “Where is she?” He scanned the crowd again—almost frantically. Carissa swallowed past her tight throat. Was he looking… for her? She was the only other nightwoman. Her body quivered with each beat of her heart. Did he know who she…

The men left her alone. In a matter of hours, a sickness had settled over her lungs. Now she not only spewed blood when she coughed, but yellow and green phlegm. Each cough seemed to scrape her throat raw, and merely breathing caused rivulets of pain to seize her. Judging from the men’s expressions of…