She kissed his chest and purred.
“I love you,” he whispered on her hair. He didn’t want to move from the divan, but it was getting late and she needed to rest. “Come on, sweetheart. Let me help you back to our room.”
Moonlight bathed the courtyard and the greenhouse in soft white light, illuminating the tall ancient oaks, the delicate plants and the divan with its rumpled cushions as they exited the exotic greenhouse. They walked back to the main part of the house, Sophia leaning completely on Alistair’s strong body as his arm gathered her by the waist.
They were so involved in each other that they didn’t notice when a footstep broke the quietness of the night. A long and menacing shadow rented the moonlit Elm Courtyard. Then the figure slipped away, back into the castle through a glass door and the shadow was no more.
Monday, March 29th, 2010.
5.01 a.m.
Gabriel! No! GABRIEL!
Her heart beating wildly, Sophia woke up in a panic. She couldn’t remember the dream exactly, but for the first time its underlying terror was accompanied by flashes of Gabriel’s face, shouts and screams. Different voices. Lots of men. And pain all over her body. She wanted to cry and scream. She looked around the darkened room and her eyes stopped on Alistair’s sleeping figure.
Breathe, Sophia. Breathe. She sat up in bed and clutched her knees, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate.
She didn’t want to go back to sleep again. She stumbled out of bed, donning her wrap, sat in one of the armchairs and wrapped a cashmere blanket around her. She was too frightened by the echoes of the horror that was coming back, resonating loudly inside her mind.
Sophia tried to give some order to the shadows and flashes, without success. It only worsened the anxiety and distress she was feeling. She suppressed the sounds that were threatening to burst from her throat, shivered and gathered the blanket more firmly around her body.
Alistair opened his eyes, stretching his arms over his head. His mind was clear, his body relaxed from sex and sleep, and he felt a deep peace inside his usually troubled soul. But, as his eyes focused to see a shrunken Sophia, enveloped in a blanket, sitting in one of the armchairs looking at nothing, his inner peace was replaced by anxiety.
He rose from the bed and walked to crouch in front of her. “Hey,” he whispered, taking her away from her thoughts. He caressed the contours of her face. “Come back to bed. It’s too early to be up and about.”
She looked so vulnerable, her eyes dark and scared; every instinct in him cried out to for him to do something.
Sophia nodded, afraid to speak and hear something different in her own voice.
Carefully he picked her up from the armchair and tugged her onto his chest and led her back to bed. He sat, reclining on the headboard, with her on his shoulder. She was cold and tense as he tucked one of the coverlets around their body. “What happened? I didn’t hear you wake up. Did you have a nightmare?”
“With Gabriel. And... I guess, the night of the kidnapping,” she whispered and relaxed into his embrace as if the confession released something inside her. She looked up at his face, searching his forest green eyes for assurance. “Alistair...” she murmured, “I don’t know if I want to remember.” I’m so afraid.
His warm hand framed her face, pushing it gently to his shoulder and his long fingers plunged into her hair, combing it in a soothing movement. “Don’t be afraid. The mind is wise. It will give you only what you can cope with. And I’m here, for whatever happens. I will always be here,” he breathed on her lips and lightly kissed her. “You need rest. Let’s sleep a bit more.”
7.29 a.m.
Sophia tiptoed out of the room dressed in her work out clothes. Alistair had dozed off immediately after she had feigned sleep.
As she headed downstairs to the gym, on the same floor as the Spa, she ran into Paola and Ethan on her way to breakfast, already in fitness clothes.
They had breakfast together, Sophia and Paola chatting like old friends about fashion and the new trends.
When they entered the work out room, Tavish was already there lifting weights, wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts, his muscles bulging with the effort. He didn’t notice them as he was looking at his own reflection in the mirror.
Paola winked conspiratorially at Sophia, discretely jutting her chin at the sight of his back and Sophia couldn’t stop the broad smile that appeared on her lips. From the front or from the back, Tavish was a hunk.
“Good morning, Tavish Uilleam,” Sophia said.
He turned and smiled at them, lifting one weight as a greeting, “Hey. Morning.”
A uniformed trainer walked up to them and introduced himself as Niall, asking if they needed assistance. Paola coquettishly asked for help to program the treadmill while Sophia politely refused.
Sophia went to an area where she could stretch, before starting her usual sequence of weight lifting while Ethan joined Tavish.
8.13 a.m.
Sophia chose the treadmill that faced the extensive lawn outside, instead of one facing the TVs, where Paola and Tavish were having a nice chat, while they walked at a leisurely pace, and Ethan ran at a fast speed.
The view of the lawn was soothing. Exactly what she needed. Her mind was still frayed from the nightmare and the images that persisted in the dark corners of her memory.
She played her running list on her iPod and set the treadmill to a fast pace, but slower than she was used to. She didn’t want Alistair arriving and surprising her in one of her sprints.
Her mind started to drift away, lulled by the music and the comfortable jogging pace she had set. To escape the memories, she would run to the end of the world, if necessary.
A clear flash startled her and a shimmering image took form in front of her. Sophia shook her head hard but the image didn’t disappear. “Gabriel?”
Gabriel Leibowitz was dressed in a tailored navy suit with a light-pink silk tie. He cocked his head to the side in his charming, beguiling way and smiled at her.
She held out her hand and called again, louder this time, “Gabriel?”
His blue eyes sparkled and he extended his hand to hold hers, asking, “Do you want to dance?”
The speed on the treadmill was suddenly too much. Her breath was squeezed out of her lungs by a searing pain as she tripped and fell.
Chapter 17
8.19 a.m.
“Come on, Sophia. Wake up,” Tavish coached, his voice chasing away the images that had shocked her. “Everything is okay. You’re safe.”
She blinked and looked up to stare into his concerned green eyes.
“Are you feeling better?”
Still trembling, she exhaled a shuddering breath and nodded, looking around. He was kneeling next to the treadmill she had been using, with a wide-eyed Paola and a frowning, worried Ethan hovering behind him.
She closed her eyes embarrassed and whispered, “I’m okay. I’m sorry.”
She tried to move, but as she put her hand on the floor to stand up, pain spread through her arm.
“Don’t move,” he ordered. “You hurt yourself. I couldn’t catch you before you fell.”
Sophia gingerly moved her arm and saw that her palms, one of her forearms and both knees were scraped and that she had lost one of her sneakers. Oh, great! Just great, Sophia! Now you are having daylight hallucinations while running on the treadmill. Just wait until Alistair hears about this!