Sleep eludes her

Adella closes her eyes and tries to lose herself in the arms of Morpheus, but sleep eludes her. Her troubled mind keeps returning to the horrifying events of her ill-advised efforts to escape the confines of the palace. She curses herself for ever being so selfish and short-sighted.

How long she lays there, tossing and turning, she does not know. At some point she realizes she must have dozed off briefly, because she awakens with a start. She sits up in her bed and looks around, hoping for evidence that it was all a bad dream.

Off to her side, her mother, Queen Caroline, sleeps in the chair. Even in sleep, her face betrays a look of concern about her daughter. Adella can only imagine what dreams plague her mother, knowing that her only daughter has not only been bitten by a werewolf, but also possibly impregnated by one.

“If only I could talk to Courtney,” Adella says to herself. “She always finds — found — a way to pull me out of my doldrums.” The memory of her friend sends a fresh wave of sorrow and regret through her.

With a resigned sigh, realizing sleep will not come to her tonight, Adella gets out of bed. Dressed in her nightgown, she carefully tiptoes in her bare feet past her mother, careful not to awaken her. She walks to the open window and gazed out into the night and the moon, which is retreating from its recently-full state.

She breathes in the cool night air and is suddenly aware of how well she can hear the sounds of the night. For some reason, the crickets seem uncharacteristically loud, and when an owl boots in the distance, she startles, thinking it is right next to her ear.

She looks at the palace turrets visible from her window and thinks of her family. Her eyes focus on the light coming from Duncan’s window, and she wonders if he is entertaining the latest of his sexual conquests, or if, perhaps sleep is eluding him out of the same concerns Adella has. She remembers the looks of concern on his and Stewart’s faces, and for once, she thinks of her brothers with feelings of affection, rather than jealousy and resentment. They risked their lives to save her!

Her eyes turn beyond the palace walls to the lights coming from the surrounding houses. The people of the city slept tonight or went about their business, blissfully unaware of the potential monster that now lives in the palace.

Monster. That word reminds her of Tegan, who even now is in a cell in the palace dungeon, being kept alive out of a **** hope that he may be the key to preventing her descent into bloodthirsty madness. She shivers — whether from the chill of the night or the knowledge of Tegan’s proximity, she doesn’t know.

A sound in the courtyard below distracts her. She looks toward the stables and sees two people emerging from within. Even in the darkness and at this distance, she is surprised at how easily her eyes are able to focus in and clearly see them. She recognizes them as the stableboy, Horace, and Drina, one of the scullery maids. They exit the stables, lighthearted and laughing. Horace pins Drina against the buildings’ exterior and gives her a kiss.

Adella feels a fresh wave of regret. She knows Drina and Courtney were good friends. Seeing her reminds her yet again of the void that Courtney’s **** has created.