Rory blinked hard, her thoughts scattering the instant she realized she was no longer alone.
A man stood only a few steps from her bed—tall, composed, and utterly out of place, as though he had stepped in from another world entirely. The air around him felt subtly warped, charged with an unfamiliar pressure, as if reality itself had bent to accommodate his presence. Shock rippled through her, and her heart slammed violently against her ribs.
"You're… one of my suitors?" she demanded, forcing her voice into steadiness despite the tremor threading through it. "What's your name?"
Only moments ago, she had been drifting toward sleep beneath the covers, wrapped in the quiet safety of her room. Layers of security surrounded her. No alarms had sounded. No warnings had flashed across her light-brain. And yet, impossibly, here he was.
Her mind raced, questions tumbling over one another as she stared at him in stunned disbelief.
