"Right now I am inclined to give you anything you want," Dain said, rubbing his nose through my hair. "I will even feed you bite by bite tonight, if that is what you desire."

A trembling smile curled the corners of my mouth at that. "Still making me promises, fae prince?"

"It's a difficult temptation to resist, mortal girl," he answered, and planted a kiss on my hair. "Are you hungry?"

My stomach rumbled in response and I felt him smile, the movement of his mouth shifting the strands of my hair.

"Answer enough for me," he said. Dain picked me up, got onto his knees and crawled to the edge of my bed, then slid off and carried me out into my sitting room, where dinner awaited us under silver domes.

He did end up feeding me bite by bite, when my hands shook too much to hold a fork. The after-effects of the heartflower were brutal; my whole body was so exhausted my muscles barely worked under my control, and depression settled onto me like a heavy blanket, fuzzing out my thoughts and emotions. I couldn't even really enjoy Dain doting attendance on me, or manage more than a slight smile here or there.

Dain didn't seem surprised at all, or distressed. He took care of me without hesitation or discomfort, down to carrying me to the bathroom and helping me brush my teeth. Even though it was early in the evening, when I started shutting down Dain stripped out of his court clothes and got into bed with me, spooning around my limp body as exhaustion dragged me into sleep.

I dreamed of him, of drawing him into bed and kissing him, of letting go and wrapping my legs around him and feeling him sink into me—and I woke up screaming, shoving him away from me and scrambling backwards until I fell out of bed.

"Don't! Don't! You can't, you'll die, don't do it, Dain, Dain, I'm going to kill you, Dain—"

The words tore out of my throat, clawing their way out, the scream of a Leah who'd been trapped in her own mind, and I put my hands over my mouth and started sobbing again in earnest. I didn't remember, there was something I had to remember, something I'd done.

Dain scrambled out of bed after me, fear and horror on his face. He reached out to me and I clawed my way away from him, curling up into a small ball and shaking under my side table.

I could see the rejection hit him, the agony of it stealing his breath and devastation crushing his expression. Hating myself, I buried my face in my hands and cried, my fingers digging into my scalp. Why couldn't I remember?

"It was a dream, Leah," Dain said, his voice soft.