David lay in the darkness of his room. The last embers of the fire crackled in the grate, but apart from that, nothing. Just unrelieved blackness exactly like his damned soul. He would not go to Jeremy. He would not. Love. What absolute nonsense. He wouldn’t be the first to profess undying love, but there was nothing in his life had ever shown him that such an emotion even existed beyond the realms of childish dreams. His mother had loved him once, but that hadn’t saved him. He rolled on his side and stared into the dark and ignored the loneliness. It was nothing new. On the morrow, he would go to Charnley, find out what he wanted and then Jeremy could be on his way.
His chest hurt.
He pulled the coverlet up over his ears and thumped the pillow. It was cold in the bed alone.
The sound o
