Sapphamire by Alice Brown, Lady V Page B

problem was that sleep was never what Blain had in mind. And if Natasha didn’t get some sleep soon, she was going to drop. She had felt like she was sleepwalking over the past week as it was.
    Blain had a meeting late in the afternoon, which required him to go into the city. Natasha begged off, wanting to curl up in her pajamas with a good book, knowing he would be gone for several hours. She also needed to make an important phone call and didn’t want Blain to hear. She waited until the car had gone down the driveway and was completely out of sight. Then, she quickly changed out of her work clothes and picked up her cell phone. A few minutes, a sigh of relief escaped Natasha when the phone was picked up on the other end.
    “Hey, haven’t heard from you in a few days. Is everything okay?”
    “Umm, yeah, well, sort of,” her friend replied.
    “Are you safe, or has your position been compromised?” Natasha asked, wanting to make sure her friend was safe, but not wanting to give any information away on the phone line.
    “Well, I haven’t seen anything…but,” she stopped there, and Natasha waited patiently for her to continue. She knew how scared her friend was. She was beginning to wonder if there was a place on Earth where she would be safe.
    There was an audible sigh on the other end. “It’s more of a feeling of danger lurking. I can’t seem to shake the feeling,” her friend mumbled. Natasha could just picture her twirling a piece of her long white hair between her fingers.
    “Hey, it’s okay. Always listen to those feelings, don’t ever ignore them. You know, you could always come here. You’d really like Blain. And he has enough guards, you would be safe, I promise.”
    “Too many large men, I don’t think I can...I can’t…”
    Meldamiriel was on the run. She was wanted in the other world, but not because she had done anything wrong. It was because of who she was.
    Natasha sat down on the bed in her old room, scooting up to brace herself against the headboard. “Well, if you have a minute, I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

    A very faint sound alerted Natasha that something was not right. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She had fallen asleep in her old bed after the phone call. I wonder why Blain didn’t wake me when he came home . Once fully awake, she listened closely for any other sounds. There it was again, almost too soft to make out. Natasha realized it wasn’t the sound that awoke her, but the feeling of danger lurking nearby. She kept her body still and eyes closed in order to keep up the illusion that she was still asleep. The smell of oil and metal hit her senses, making her believe that whatever the danger was, it was human carrying guns. A slight noise directly to her left let her know someone was in the room with her. When the side of the bed dipped, Natasha knew it wasn’t Blain. She may not have any great superpowers, but simple deduction told her whoever just climbed onto her bed was there for no good reason.
    At first she thought it might be Bores, and he would be one dead guard if that were so. But whoever was on her bed was smaller in size, not as heavy as Bores. She shifted at bit—as if still in sleep—and slid her hand up under her pillow, her fingers grasping hold of the hilt of her dagger.
    A voice directly above her brought more information to light. “Hello, my pretty. Barrymire thinks he can kill my girl and not suffer because of it. Such a shame to kill one this pretty.” And Natasha knew immediately without seeing a face that she was dealing with Mr. Boragello. She felt a knife skim down the side of her neck. But then another familiar voice came from the doorway.
    “Boragello, stop wasting time and kill her. I’ve got your men spreading out to overtake the castle, but believe me, you don’t want to fight that one once she wakes up. As a matter of fact, your chances for winning tonight will go up dramatically once that bitch dies!” Ah, yes,