Chapter 61 The Presence Behind Her
The powerful presence behind Leitana remained silent, its hand still resting on her shoulder.
Then the weight shifted.
The pressure eased, not gone, but restrained, like something vast pulling itself inward.
The dark force in the room thinned. The heavy air loosened. The shadows that had coiled along the walls retreated, dissolving as though they had never been there at all.
Leitana sucked in a sharp breath.
Her heart was hammering now, loud in her ears.
Slowly, very slowly, she turned.
Ravial stood behind her.
No otherworldly being.
Just Ravial.
Tall. Still. His blindfold in place. One hand resting on her shoulder as if he’d simply walked in and found her standing there, lost in thought.
Confusion slammed into her harder than fear.
It was him.
But it hadn’t felt like him.
Her gaze darted around the room. The smoke-like darkness was gone. The air was normal. The walls were just walls again. Avery slept peacefully on the bed, untouched.
Leitana swallowed.
She tried to reach—tried to open that other sight again.
Nothing.
No shifting.
No veil lifting.
No spiritual sense answering her call.
It was gone.
Her breath came shallow.
Ravial tilted his head slightly, as though listening to something only he could hear. Then his hand slipped from her shoulder.
“You were speaking,” he said calmly. “To yourself.”
Her pulse jumped.
“I….” She stopped, unsure how to finish that sentence.
Ravial turned his face toward her fully. Even blindfolded, she felt the weight of his attention settle on her skin.
“Why?” he asked.
Leitana glanced at Avery, then back at him. The room felt too small suddenly. Too quiet.
“I was praying,” she said finally.
A pause.
“Out loud?” Ravial asked.
“Yes,” she answered, a little too quickly. “Mi pray when mi scared.”
Another silence stretched between them.
Ravial’s mouth curved faintly—not a smile, not quite. Something unreadable.
“You looked frightened,” he said. “Standing alone. Talking to empty air.”
Leitana’s fingers curled into the hem of her dress.
“It no empty,” she said softly, then caught herself.
Ravial’s head tilted again.
“No?” he murmured.
She shook her head, forcing herself to breathe. Whatever she had felt—whatever she had seen—it was gone now. Locked away somewhere she couldn’t reach.
“I tired,” she said instead. “Tonight been too much.”
“That,” Ravial agreed quietly, “is true.”
His gaze shifted past her, toward the bed.
“She’s sleeping,” he said.
“Yes,” Leitana replied. “She need rest.”
“So do you.”
The words sounded like a suggestion.
They felt like an order.
Leitana hesitated, then nodded. “Mi come now.”
She cast one last look at Avery, then back at Ravial. Questions burned on her tongue—about the darkness, about the study window, about really happened.
But none of them came out.
Some instinct deep inside her warned her not to ask.
Not yet.
Ravial stepped aside, giving her space. As she passed him, she felt it again, that echo of power, faint but unmistakable, brushing against her skin.
She paused.
“Ravial,” she said quietly.
“Yes?”
She looked up at him, really looked at him—and for a brief moment, she almost asked him to remove the blindfold. The question hovered on her tongue.
Then the words died at the back of her throat, refusing to come out.
She looked away, down at her hands.
“Noting.”
She could feel his gaze burning into the side of her face, hot and unmoving. She didn’t turn to meet it. Instead, he stepped closer. Her body tensed on instinct, though she didn’t pull away when his hand settled at the small of her back.
“Come to bed.”
That was all he said.
He led her out of the room. Leitana glanced back—and stopped.
Two large men in dark suits now stood at the door, guarding it.
Her brows furrowed. Where had they come from? She hadn’t noticed them enter at all.
“Do not worry,” he said calmly, not even looking back. “They are there for her safety.”
He paused briefly.
“If anything like the last time should happen again.”
She turned to look at him. He was already watching her. His lips curved slightly, a motion that might have been meant to resemble a smile—meant to ease her mind.
It didn’t.
They reached the bedroom soon after. Leitana moved away from him, sliding into the bed and pulling the sheet up around herself. A moment later, she felt him climb in behind her.
Her body stiffened again.
She didn’t understand why everything felt so awkward, why unease curled tight in her chest.
Then his arm slipped around her waist, drawing her back until her body fit snugly against his. She could feel the solid planes of him, the steady warmth at her back. For a moment, she told herself to relax.
This was Ravial.
Her husband.
Not something else.
“Why do you tense in my arms, little lamb?” he murmured. “You always complain that I don’t sleep in our bed. Now I am here, yet you are stiff against me.”
His voice was low, calm, spoken close to her ear. A shiver traced its way down her spine.
“Mi just sad about Avery. Mi sorry,” she said quietly, staring at the wall where moonlight cast a pale reflection.
Ravial hummed, noncommittal. He pressed a kiss to her neck, then buried his nose against her skin.
Leitana bit down on her lip, forcing herself to relax.
Behind her, he lay still, his face tucked against her neck. She could feel his eyes on her profile, watching. For how long, she didn’t know.
By the time sleep finally claimed her, one thought lingered, sharp and deeply unsettling.
The darkness had vanished the moment he arrived.
And whatever had been in that room…
It had answered to his presence.