LET ME ADORE YOU

That night air had been a little keener than I'd expected, and by the time we returned to the apartment, I could feel it starting to seep into my bones. The flurry of excitement and adrenaline that had seen me through the evening quickly evaporated, replaced by extreme weariness. I ignored it at first, chalking it up to the stress of keeping my mask so long. But then, waking to the pounding headache, an exhaustion that had somehow become bone-deep by the next morning, I knew something was wrong.

Noah was beside me in an instant, concern etched across his face, a cool hand pressed to my forehead. The fire that had so recently begun to build inside me was untempered by his touch. I tried to brush him off, to insist it was nothing, just a bit of a cold, but my voice was weak; the protests little more than a whisper.

"You're burning up," Noah said, his tone tight with concern. He didn't wait for me to argue, but called straight away for the doctor. I lay there, too tired to fight him, too