Chapter 165

"You should never have come here." We sat on the edge of the bed, side by side, and I could barely believe it was real; that he was real. My eyes coveted every inch of him, convinced that if I blinked or looked away, then he would be gone again, back into that dream world in which he had lived since we had arrived on the doorstep of the Chapel. The sting of the wound on my neck and the taste of him on my lips told me this was no hallucination and yet I still couldn't take my eyes off him. He held my arm on his lap, idly tracing the pattern of blue veins on my wrist and my skin tingled furiously under the gently touch of his fingertips. There was a disapproving tone to his voice, but it was tinged with sadness and although I was relieved that he wasn't angry, somehow his sadness seemed harder to bear. I could cope with an angry Harper Cain. I could deal with every spiteful word that slipped from his tongue. I could deal with his simmering rage and his thunderous temper. I'd