He whispered. Now, the ghost was pressing in too close. A gap appeared in his skin. As if something was pulling apart. Changing. Like his voice.

“Am I such a nuisance you cannot touch me, Cara?”

Cara shook her head rapidly. Her breath came in fast gasps. It was cold.

“Dalius—Dalius, please! Ser Dalius! Stop! Your face—”

He ignored her. Reaching. His fingers touched her skin.

Something reached for Cara. It looked like Dalius at first. Then it twisted. The face opened. Teeth grew and features morphed. Until it was like his face began to swirl around a void in the air. Skin opening, revealing the cracks within. Revealing something else. Reaching for her, speaking no words, just angry sounds. Whispers.

It wanted to touch her. The ghost reached out. So angry. It was angry at her. It wanted to touch her, so it did. So good. So alive. It felt the warmth. Felt—

The guardian heard a scream. A cry of fear. An echo of the one he had heard when the undead attacked her. It had no pretense about it. It was genuine. It reached up to cover her mouth and—

The scream reached Dalius’ ears.

His fingers stopped. The [Knight] yanked his hand back. He stared at it. Then her. And then he felt at his…face…

The features turned back to a man’s as Cara watched. The sneering wrath, the anger—

Those twisted features. They flickered back to a man’s in a second. Then there was the [Knight]. Hands touching ordinary skin. Hovering in the air.

Ser Dalius looked down at Cara. He was hovering above her. The young woman was pressed back, her back against a coffin, as the ghost floated there. Dalius glanced down at his hands in shock. He moved backwards at once.

“I wasn’t—I just wanted you to—accept my apologies, Miss Cara?”

Flustered, he bowed. And she smiled.

“Of—of course.”

A fake smile. A poor act. Her lips were so pale. And she watched him like—Ser Dalius shuddered. He’d just meant for her to stay another day. But in his head, it was a week. And he realized, looking at her, that if he gave into that—it wouldn’t be a week. It would be a month. A year…

He wanted to keep her forever.

The ghost felt at his face. What had she seen? What had he been? He looked at Cara, saw the reflection in her gaze. The way she stepped back. He tried to ask and was afraid.

In the darkness, something rustled. Cara flinched and Dalius…

He wondered if it had come from him.

——

The [Singer] was afraid. She had met…people like that. Controlling. But you could outrun them. Kick them in the groin, call for help.

…Or they caught you. Or—