"Do you want to move to the bed?"

My eyes, which had been drifting shut, sprang open at Valen's question. After we'd had dinner, Valen had said he needed to check on a few things and had gone off to the open living room on a computer after suggesting I ‘rest a bit’.

I'd rolled my eyes in exasperation—after he'd turned his back, of course—and opted to read one of the novels I'd found on the tiny bookshelf in the room. I stayed there for almost an hour, but eventually, my ...