Luca with one swift motion, he flung the door wide.
The hallway beyond was empty.
No shadows, No wrinkled woman, Only cold air pressing against them like the breath of a grave.
But Alessia knew, she knew that something had been there.
The air was thick, wrong, heavy with the residue of something that didn't belong to the world of the living.
Her knees weakened. Luca's arm was around her instantly, pulling her against him, steadying her before she collapsed.
"I told you," he murmured against her ear, voice sharp with defiance though his eyes swept the shadows with caution. "No one touches you."
But as he closed the door again, Alessia's whisper broke through his certainty.
"She touched me, Luca. Inside the dream. And then here. She called me queen."
"She also lay beside me and tricking me to be hallucinating and I wasn't,,, what did she want "... Alessia said with in her soft calm tone.
The words silenced him.
