“I can’t sleep. I’m bored, and restless, and I just need to move.”
Adalynn, strangely, felt that same restlessness—as though she were brimming with energy. But that didn’t mean they should sneak around a house that didn’t belong to them, no matter how curious they were.
“Danny, we—”
“Please?” he begged, lacing his fingers together and staring up at her, pleading with his big, baby blue eyes. That look always swayed her. “I won’t touch anything. Promise.”
Adalynn flopped against the backrest, tilting her head back to stare up at the ceiling. “Ugh, why do I always give in to you?”
He smiled. “Because you love me.”
She sat forward and jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t touch a single thing. Nothing. Got it? If he catches us, we’ll just say we’re looking for the bathroom.”
“I mean, I really do have to pee, so it’s not exactly a lie, right?” Danny’s smile shifted into a mischievous grin.
Adalynn chuckled. “Me too, so no, not really.”
There was running water here, so there had to be a working toilet, right? God, to be able to use a toilet again! It was one of many conveniences she’d taken for granted before the Sundering. Her parents had taken her camping once a year when she was younger, but even then, digging a hole in the ground and squatting had never been her idea of a fun time.
Adalynn closed her bag and, as she stood up, swung it into place on her back. Danny followed suit. They’d learned early on that they could be forced to run at a moment’s notice in this new world; it was always best to keep their belongings with them no matter the situation.
They exited the sitting room together, pausing just beyond the entry; it was dark. Every curtain in every room must’ve been closed.
This is silly, Adalynn thought as she reached back and pulled her little flashlight from the small pouch on the side of her bag. Batteries were a rare commodity, and using some of that juice just to explore this place seemed wasteful, but she couldn’t shake her curiosity. How many places like this still existed?
She clicked on the flashlight and swept its beam around the foyer, taking a few moments to admire the craftsmanship, before steering Danny into the left hall—away from the kitchen. She knew he’d try to talk her into checking for food again if they passed that room, despite what they’d already been through, and that was an issue best avoided.
The hardwood-floored hallway had a patterned rug running its length. There were paintings on the walls—all of them depicting landscapes and inanimate objects, totally devoid of people—and sculptures in a few of the alcoves. The sculptures were primarily of animals, all of which were in that classical, realistic style.
All the rooms they peeked into were elegantly furnished—even the bathroom, which they both hurriedly used—and Adalynn couldn’t guess at what some of their purposes were. A living room? A family room? A den? How many rooms did a person need for sitting?
But it was the room at the end of the hall that called to her the most. It was a large, open space with a polished wooden floor—a dancefloor—and a high ceiling with intricate patterns in its wood. The windows were at least ten feet tall, running along the walls to either side, and three large, tiered chandeliers hung in a row down the center of the ceiling.
When her flashlight’s beam fell on the far end of the room, Addy’s eyes widened, and she froze. The low stage situated there was empty save for a grand piano with a leather-upholstered bench. Its black exterior gleamed in the light.
“Wow,” Danny said.
“Yeah, wow,” Adalynn echoed, entering the room.
As she crossed the distance to the stage, the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up; she had the sudden, disorienting sense that there was something here, that she was being watched. She paused a few feet away from the piano and looked behind her, swinging the flashlight around to scan the room. No one was there but Danny, who’d walked to one of the tall windows and was peering through a tiny gap in the curtains.
“This place is huge,” Danny said. “And he has it all to himself.”
Adalynn smiled and brushed the strange sensation aside—it was likely just an aftereffect of her seizure catching up with her. “We don’t know that, just like we didn’t know he’d be here. There could be others.”
“True.”
She stepped up onto the stage and approached the piano. The instrument was so much more beautiful up close. She ran her fingers over the top of the fallboard; there wasn’t a single speck of dust. How could a place this large possibly be kept so clean, especially if the owner really was here alone?
That question was swept away on a rising wave of excitement as she lifted the fallboard to reveal the keys beneath. It had been so long since she’d last played. Unable to resist, she settled her fingers on the keys and tapped a few notes. The sounds echoed across the room. She cringed at how loud the piano was, at how out of tune it was, but those notes were still the most wonderful things she’d heard since the Sundering had birthed a world lacking in music.
“Addy! You said no touching!”
Grinning guiltily, Adalynn turned toward her brother. She gasped, nearly dropping the flashlight, when she caught a flash of glowing blue eyes—there and gone in an instant—in the shadows near the door.
“And I told you to stay in the parlor, boy,” the man said, his deep voice amplified by the room’s acoustics.
As that voice swept over Adalynn, it raised goosebumps on her skin—just as it had the first time she’d heard it. But her head was clear now, no longer clouded by pain and dizziness, and her goosebumps were accompanied by a thrill that raced straight to her core.
No one’s voice had ever affected her so strongly.
“Uh…we were looking for the bathroom?” Danny glanced at Adalynn. “Right, Addy?”
Adalynn jerked her hand from the piano and took a step away from it. “Right. The bathroom.”
“Oh?” The man entered the ballroom, his steps silent. His features grew more distinct as he neared the glow of Adalynn’s flashlight. “I suppose you missed the bathroom two doors down the hall on your way here, then?”
Cheeks warming, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other and cleared her throat. “Um, actually, no, we didn’t. We were exploring. We didn’t touch anything though! Well, except…” She waved toward the piano. “Sorry. It’s just that your home is so big and beautiful and…”
Her breath caught as the man closed the remaining distance between them, granting Adalynn her first clear look at him. Long, dark hair hung past his shoulders and framed a strikingly handsome face that was only enhanced by his hard expression. His features were sharp, with a short, neatly trimmed beard and mustache framing his sculpted lips. He had a straight, narrow, aristocratic nose, and thick, slashing, arched brows which rested above bright citrine eyes. A scar began an inch or two over his left eyebrow, slicing it in half, and continued just beneath his eye to end midway down his cheek.
It didn’t mar his appearance in the slightest. If anything, it only made him more attractive.
The man was straight-out-of-a-romance-novel hot.
With him this close, she smelled a hint of leather and cedar in the air. The scents were strangely calming…and enticing.