A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

stunning, with dark brown eyes and flawless olive skin. I closed my eyes before she could see me awake.
    “I want to stay here tonight,” Asher said. “In this chair. You take the bed.”
    Ardith sighed. “Okay. But if she wakes up, remember what they said. Don’t talk about what happened. She’s going to be in a precarious state, and it could be dangerous if the memories come rushing back too quickly.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He let out a long breath. “What are we going to do? Even if this works, we can’t take her back to the Rebel camp.”
    “No,” Ardith agreed. “If she does wake up, her powers will be much too unstable. They’ll collide with so much chaos. It could destroy us. Or her,” she added.
    “They were right. She’s a ticking time bomb. A weapon waiting to happen.”
    “But eventually”—Ardith paused—“ soon , I hope, she’ll be more controlled. Asher, the memory will trigger powerful emotions in her. You know what she’s capable of in that kind of state. You were there. You have to stave off those memories for a while. If they come rushing back suddenly, it may be too much.”
    “She can handle it.”
    “I mean for us.”
    There was another pause. I was dying to open my eyes, but held back. My heart was in my throat, and I was so afraid that in the silence they would be able to hear it beating faster, hear my breath coming in short, uneven gasps.
    “I remember when I felt the way you do now,” Ardith said quietly. I pictured her putting a gentle hand on Asher’s back.
    “It wasn’t your fault,” Asher said. “What happened to Gideon. It was mine.” He took a breath, and everything in the room seemed to breathe in with him. “I love her.”
    “I know,” she said. “And there’s nothing I can say to stop it from happening.” I heard the swish of material, and a door squeak on rusty, ancient hinges. The sound of footsteps going down the stairs. And then, suddenly, it was quiet in the room. So quiet I really could hear the beat of my own heart. Not Asher’s, though. That didn’t exist.
    I opened my eyes.
    Asher was still sitting with his head in his hands. His back rose and fell softly with each breath.
    I couldn’t get his words out of my head. I love her.
    I couldn’t pretend to sleep anymore. I couldn’t just lie there and not say anything. I love her, I love her, I love her, coaxed my heartbeat. I struggled to sit up.
    The rickety bed creaked under me.
    Asher’s head snapped up at the noise.
    And our eyes met, a flash of darkest lightning, blinding me to everything but the only two things in the world that mattered:
    I was alive.
    And Asher loved me.

Chapter 2
    W e opened our mouths at the same time. I closed mine immediately, but Asher’s remained open. I felt tears spring to my eyes. Be strong, Skye. You’re alive. You can do this.
    Asher let out a strangled noise and jumped out of his chair.
    “Skye!” he choked, pushing his hair out of his eyes. And then he was beside me, around me, scooping me up in his arms and pressing me tight against him. “It worked,” he said into my hair. “I thought—I didn’t know what to think. It’s my fault. I . . .”
    My face felt wet, and I realized tears were streaming down my cheeks.
    “Did I die?” I asked. My voice came out croaky and hoarse.
    He laughed, a soft murmur that sent a thrill through me. “No, you didn’t die. Just scared us for a bit, that’s all.” He pulled away and looked me square in the eyes. “I knew you’d make it.”
    “Aunt Jo always says I’m nothing if not a fighter,” I said croakily.
    “Too true,” he said, a grin spreading slowly across his face. He let his thumb slide across the freckles on the bridge of my nose. “You’re a lot of awesome things.”
    I put my hand over his, and it slid down to cup my cheek. He was staring at me like I was something precious he had almost lost.
    “What . . . what happened to me?” I asked.
    “We can talk about all of that later.”
    “But—”
    “Right now, just rest,” Asher said soothingly. “We’ll talk when you’re feeling up to it.”
    “I’m feeling up to it,” I argued, struggling to sit up straighter in the bed.
    He put a hand on my shoulder to steady me and looked at me seriously. “You really don’t remember?”
    I shook my head, wincing a little at how stiff I felt. Asher pulled back so that he was looking down at me.
    “You’re alive, Skye,” he said. “You’re safe here. Those are the