Page 94 of Of Blood and Roses
A whisper echoed through the room, tapping the edge of her senses. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath in through her nose and pushed the air out through her mouth. She was dizzier than she thought if she was hearing things.
Elyse.
The whisper caressed her spine. It nudged at her mind, as if asking to be let in. But whispers didn’t nudge, and they certainly didn’t caress. Was this some sort of trick? Had Siamus drugged her without her realizing it?
She opened her eyes, expecting to see some sort of hallucination, but there was nothing except the soft flicker of the candle across the room.
Please. Elyse, please.
Again, the whisper dragged its delicate finger across her mind. There was something familiar about it. Something comforting. Goose pimples rippled across her body as she tried to understand.
Elyse. Elyse. Elyse.
The whisper was relentless now. It grew from a soft tapping to a steady, unapologetic knocking.
“Go away,” Elyse commanded weakly as she closed her eyes. “You’re not real.”
Elyse.
She was too tired to fight it. She didn’t know what it was, or how it was happening. Somehow, it felt like home. It felt like a lullaby, inviting her to escape. Yet it felt like a trick all the same.
Please, the whisper called, one final petition. Something stirred in Elyse’s gut, coaxing her to give in. She took a final deep breath and prayed that she was doing the right thing as she welcomed the whisper into her mind.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself face-to-face with Sera.
Sera wore one of her usual flowy gowns, the silk fabric stirring around her. Her long black hair floated in the air like ink spilling into the night.
Elyse blinked. Sera was floating in the air, and so was Elyse. A starry night sky surrounded them with a rich gradient of magentas and violets. The ground was nowhere in sight—just twinkling stars as far as Elyse could see.
“We’re in the ethereal realm,” she breathed as she looked back up at Sera.
Sera’s lilac eyes matched the shimmering canvas of sky behind her. She looked just as beautiful and celestial as the night around her. “Are you okay? Are they hurting you?”
Elyse looked down to her arm, where moments earlier, Siamus drank blood straight from her vein. But there was no freshly healed cut. She still felt dizzy, though, as she touched her hand to her arm.
“I’m fine—for now.”
Sera nodded as tendrils of dark hair swirled around her. Somehow, she looked even more elegant, as if she were made for this place—as if this was her true form, and her beauty couldn’t be wholly expressed in an earthly body.
“Do you remember that night we stole a few bottles of vintage wine and smoked al-ahfun?” Sera asked with a strange urgency.
Elyse’s brows furrowed even as a smile twisted her lips. What an odd memory to bring up at such a desperate time. “I don’t remember much about that night,” she laughed. “Except that we—” Her eyes widened as she floated toward Sera, hope igniting within her as she realized what Sera was planning. “You want to switch bodies.”
“Yes, and we need to do it quickly. Do you think you’ll be able to?”
Elyse nodded. In a deranged twist of fate, the blood loss had lulled her into the perfect, placid state of mind to perform the spell.
“Good,” Sera continued, her expression serious. “We’ll make the switch, and then you can break in and free yourself.”
“Sera,” Elyse interjected. The thought of her friend taking her place in that dark room, being subjected to whatever torture Siamus was surely coming up with… She wouldn’t allow it. “I can’t ask you to do that. They have me chained in there—”
But Sera lifted her hand. “You’re not asking. I’m offering, and we’re not arguing about this.” She floated closer and laid her hand on Elyse’s shoulder.
Elyse looked down at her friend’s pale hand. The starlight seemed to reflect off her skin in shimmering waves. “I’ll be quick,” Elyse promised. “I’ll get you out before they can hurt you.”
Sera smiled. “I know you will.” She took both of Elyse’s hands in her own and closed her eyes. “Now let’s do this.”
Elyse took one last admiring look at her friend before she closed her eyes. She rarely used any sort of clairvoyant powers, but she reached deep inside herself and called upon them. Her heart beat faster and the air seemed to stir as she recalled the spell, willing her mind to enter Sera’s body, and allowing Sera’s mind into her own. Everything began to tingle, from her toes to her lips to the ends of her hair. She squeezed Sera’s hands tighter, even as she felt her slipping away.