Chapter 3

I hadn’t lain there for very long when I heard the dull groan of the door, cutting through the tomb-like silence of the small room. I raised my head, ready to let rip at Josiah with a stream of obscenities born from the very bowels of Hell itself, but instead wisps of white-blonde hair and a pair of striking azure eyes appeared in the doorway and I smiled in spite of everything. I still found it strange that the boy who had once struck fear into the deepest recesses of my stomach could trigger such a sense of calm just to see his face and feel his presence close by. Slipping out of the bed, I sank to the floor and gestured for Lucius to come and sit beside me, which he did with a grin, crossing his legs underneath him. "Where’s Josiah?" I asked, as I brushed a few stray strands of hair out of his eyes. "He told me to tell you that he was going out, that he’ll be back soon and to remember the rules," he chanted. The rules. How on earth could I forget them?