Chapter 96

"—Wait. Wait a moment."

When Friedrich's lips began to drift lower, past my collarbone, I managed, barely, to stop him.

I pressed my hand against his forehead to push him back. He looked faintly deflated—then moved instead to press his lips against the nape of my neck.

That woke me up completely. This was too real to be a dream.

I sat upright abruptly. Friedrich looked at me for a moment, then dropped his gaze with a faint, shy smile, shifting his body in a way that was—

Whatever you're thinking, please stop.

"Why am I—"

—here? I stopped myself before finishing the sentence. That felt like something a genuinely terrible person would say.

But Friedrich paused, which told me he'd caught the gist of it anyway.

"You came to my room last night."

He said it evenly, without any indication of how that made him feel. I went very…