So instead, she would start cooking around dinnertime and keep the food warm. If it cooled, she would reheat it. After the third time, not minding the trouble, she would throw it all out and start over, determined that he would always have a fresh, hot meal waiting for him.


    He nced at the clock on the wall. It was well past midnight. With him gone, Evangeline finally let the mask of cheerfulness drop. Her shoulders slumped in exhaustion as she sat at the table, uncharacteristically quiet. She mechanically pushed the food into her mouth, the delicious-looking meal tasting like ash on her tongue.


    Watching her deste figure, Soren instinctively reached out a hand. But just as his fingers were about to touch her, he was jolted back to reality by an urgent, excited voice.


    "Soren! You''re awake! You''re finally awake!"


    He blinked, and the dream faded. Poppy was holding his hand, her eyes red with tears of joy.


    The crushing disappointment of seeing her instead of Evangeline was immediate and overwhelming. Evangeline. The memory hit him with the force of a physical blow: she had been kidnapped. She had fallen from the cliff.


    A sharp painnced through his heart. Propelled by an impulse he couldn''t control, he threw back the covers and started for the door.


    "Soren, where are you going? You haven''t recovered yet!" Poppy cried, scrambling to stop him.


    He brushed her hand away. "How long was I out?" He was already pulling out his phone to check the date. It was the evening of the next day. An entire day had passed.


    He couldn''t afford to waste another second. Shoving past Poppy''s protests, he stormed out of the room. The bodyguards outside rushed to his side.


    "Where is Evangeline?" he demanded, his voice sharp and trembling. "Have you found her?"


    The question hung in the air, heavy with a fear he had never known before. He was terrified of hearing no news, but even more terrified of hearing the worst. Had his dream been a premonition? Was Evangeline dead, her spirit visiting him to condemn his coldness?


    The thought was paralyzing. The bodyguards exchanged a somber look and shook


    their heads. "There''s no word from Gregory about Miss Whitmore yet."


    No news. Under the circumstances, that was the best he could hope for. Soren


    pushed them aside and stumbled down the hallway.


    Poppy caught up to him, grabbing


    his arm. "Glenn took his men out this morning," she said, trying to calm him And Arabe Lockridge is there with her people, too. They''re all looking. Soren, please, don''t rush off like this. You need to rest.


    "Every second I wait, she''s in more danger," he said, shaking his head.


    "But... what if she''s already..." Poppy began, but she trailed off when she saw the


    icy re he shot her. A shiver of fear went through her, and she mped her mouth shut.


    After a moment, she tried again, her


    voice softer Soren, I know you''re grieving. I''m heartbroken, too. But what''s done is done. You have to


    take care of yourself you have to thinkabout... about our baby. She ced a hand on her stomach. "If not for me, then do it for our child."


    At the mention of the baby, Soren stopped. He turned and looked down at her abdomen, and the hard, cold look in his eyes finally began to thaw.