Today we bring you your sneak peek of Chapter one in Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout! Enjoy!
I had no idea what to say to
that. If he loved her half as much as I loved Daemon… “You know she’s alive.
I’ve seen her.”
Dawson’s gaze met mine. A
wealth of sadness and secrets were held in its depths. “I know, but she’s not
the same.” He paused, lowering his head. The same section of hair that always
fell on Daemon’s forehead toppled onto his. “You…love my brother?”
My chest hurt at the
desolation in his voice, as if he never expected to love again, couldn’t really
even believe in it anymore. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
I jerked back, losing my
grip on the blanket as it fell lower. “Why would you apologize?”
Dawson lifted his head,
letting out a weary sigh. Then, moving faster than I thought he was capable of,
his fingers brushed over my skin—over the faint pink marks that circled both
wrists from fighting against the manacles.
I hated those blemishes,
prayed for the day when they completely faded. Every time I saw them, I remembered
the pain the onyx had caused as it pressed into my flesh. My ruined voice was
hard enough to explain to my mom, not to mention Dawson’s sudden reappearance.
The look on her face when she’d seen Dawson with Daemon before the snowstorm
was sort of comical, though she seemed happy that the “runaway brother” had
returned home. But these babies I had to hide with long-sleeved shirts. That
worked during the colder months, but I had no idea how I’d hide these in the
summer.
“Beth had those kinds of
marks when I saw her,” Dawson said quietly, pulling his hand back. “She got
really good at escaping, but they always caught her, and she always had these
marks. Usually around her neck, though.”
Nausea rose, and I
swallowed. Around her neck? I couldn’t… “Did…did you get to see Beth often?” I
knew they’d allowed at least one visit between them while imprisoned in the DOD
facility.
“I don’t know. Time was
messed up for me. I kept track in the beginning, using the humans they brought
to me. I’d heal them and usually if they…lived, I could count the days until
everything fell apart. Four days.” He went back to staring out the window.
Through curtains that had been drawn back, all I could see was the night sky
and snow-covered branches. “They hated when everything fell apart.”
I could imagine. The DOD—or
Daedalus, a group supposedly within the DOD—had made it their mission to use
Luxens to successfully mutate humans. Sometimes it worked.
Sometimes it didn’t.
I watched Dawson, trying to
remember what Daemon and Dee had said about him. Dawson was the nice one, funny
and charming—the male equivalent of Dee and nothing like his brother.
But this Dawson was
different: morose and distant. Besides not talking to his brother, from what I
knew, he hadn’t said a word to anyone about what had been done to him. Matthew,
their unofficial guardian, thought it was best no one pushed for more.
Dawson hadn’t even told
anyone how he escaped. I suspected Dr. Michaels—that lying rat bastard—had led
us on a wild goose chase to find Dawson to give himself time to get the hell
out of Dodge and had then “released” Dawson. It was the only thing that made
sense.
My other guess was much,
much darker and more nefarious.
Dawson glanced down at his
hands. “Daemon… He loves you, too?”
I blinked, brought back to
the present. “Yes. I think so.”
“He told you?”
Not in so many words. “He
hasn’t said it, said it. But I think he does.”
“He should tell you. Every
day.” Dawson tipped back his head and closed his eyes. “I haven’t seen the snow
in so long,” he said, almost wistfully.
