Black Moon Draw

That jars me, along with the sorrow of her tone. "Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for you helping me out," I say. "He's sexier than any other man in any world I've been forced to enter, yes, but there can be nothing between us. And I can't . . . fathom the idea of this story being created for me. I can't be the Heroine."

"I was in denial for a while, too."

My head is about to explode. I take a deep breath. "Look, I've never been special. Or lucky. Or even really good at anything. I'm a nobody. Heroes are somebodies. They're brave and noble and . . ." I sigh. "They're not me. My own family thinks I'm a loser! How can this whole world exist for me?"

"Heroes are normal people who do extraordinary things," she replies. "Not always because they choose to and rarely because they want to. But you know what? When it matters, they take a step they never thought they'd take."

I'm losing an argument with a dead woman. The thin veneer of denial preventing me from becoming completely submerged in this new world is also dissipating.

"There's another thing." I'm grasping at anything to remain afloat. "He's kind of a mass-murderer. Why would any Hero anywhere find him worth saving?"

"Really? That's the best you can do? You know why he fights." She laughs.

"Yes." I clamp my mouth shut. Deep down, I acknowledge that he hasn't been the monster I thought he was since he told me what's at stake.

I'm drowning. Breathing gets harder and my dream ripples as if someone tossed a stone into the middle of it.

"Oh, to activate the medallion, you need to -"

She's gone, along with the dream and whatever secret she meant to leave me with.

I'm getting sick of learning pieces of the puzzle without being able to see the full picture.

My eyelids open to reveal the stone ceiling of a hold. Or castle. Fortress. Whatever it is. I'm just happy I'm inside. I can't imagine we're still at the Red Knight's, but I also don't think I was in any shape to be moved. At least I'm neither achy nor hurting when I wake up this time.

"You live."

Couldn't give me a moment to myself, could you? I roll my head to see the Shadow Knight and my eyebrows shoot up.

His nose is crooked, one eye black and his cheekbones bruised. Despite this, his rugged, chiseled, masculine features become more compelling every time I see him. From the beard growth along his jaw to the intent way he looks at me to his muscular form, I can't get over how incredibly good looking this man is.