Wake

There’s that pressure again. Sitting right on his sternum and stifling every breath he takes.

It worsens in Andromache’s presence and grows heavier whenever she smiles at him. He has no words for this ache and it truly terrifies Sébastien to try and put a name to it. His heart races, climbing quickly to the peak of his throat as her hair falls in dark waves over her shoulder, dragging across his forearms like silk ribbons, and every word feels caught in his mouth.

The feeling that seems just out of reach.

All his life, Sébastien has been told, "We are asleep until we fall in love!" But throughout his forty-two years on this earth, he never paid love a second of thought. When you are starving, when you are fighting to see the next day, love is the last thing on your mind—at least, that's what he tells himself. He doesn't know it, has never felt that spark. All this time, Sébastien has been sleepwalking through life. But when he meets Andromache after being executed as a deserter and gaining immortality, he finds himself waking up.