SWNOVELS The Dark Rising: Chapter 20
pause, then it shuts quietly. I huff and pull the furs closer to my skin, wanting to be covered from head to toe while I lie in the bed. His bed.
After having a bath, he disappeared and left the door locked. I shouted and banged to no avail, no one came. Now the moon is high, peeking through the balcony windows as I look out at the night sky from the bed. I tried to see if I could go down from the balcony, but there was nothing to hold on to, nothing I could get a grip on, and I would plummet and break all of my bones if I dropped.
I hear Darius come closer, then a pause. I stay still. I know he knows I’m awake, it’s not like I’m pretending to sleep. I just don’t want anything to do with him.
What am I even doing here?
Once again we are revolving around each other, unable to stay away. I vow at times I felt him after I escaped, watching, waiting. I thought it was a trick of the mind, maybe some unwanted thought that he was there. But as he stands there, watching me, it’s a feeling I know I have felt before when I went out into the lands to gather supplies for Belldame.
But if he saw me, if this is not a tick of my mind, why didn’t he come for me then?
A rumbling sound comes from him and then he’s moving again, the bathroom door opening and closing. The usual routine. Though when he comes back he looks like he has already bathed, he does it again anyway.
I know he lets me hear him, Darius can move so quietly when he wants, so I wonder why he’s being loud on purpose.
With him in the bathroom, I throw off the furs and pad along the wood floor silently, making my way to the door. Reaching it, I try the handle again, nothing.
For fuck’s sake.
I can’t stay in here with him. We’re too close.
I rattle the handle again and growl, slumping forward and banging my head against it in frustration. The bathroom door suddenly opens, and I roll my head toward Darius, my eyes like fire as he stops and takes me in, a small smirk on his face.
“What are you doing, little wolf?” There is amusement in his tone.
“Let me out,” I bite back, kicking the door. I hide the wince when my bare foot takes the hit.
Darius tilts his head and I look over at him in his usual black t-shirt and loose pants. My power hums beneath the surface as Runa rolls on her back. Nope, I’m not staying here with him.
He ignores my words. “Come to bed.” He starts to walk toward the only bed in this room and I grab the nearest thing, a lantern on the dresser to my right. I pick it up and launch it at his head. It flies through the air, my aim true but he ducks out of the way, his eyes coming back to me. “You want to play?” My stomach flutters at his words, my thighs unconsciously clenching. “All you have to do is ask, you know that.” I’m already shaking my head.
“I am not staying in here with you, Darius. Open the door.”
“No.”
“Darius!” I shout, banging a hand on the door.
“No.”
My chest heaves as my anger rises. I didn’t agree to this, to be in here with him, wrapped around his scent constantly. Without thinking, I raise my hand and my power follows, pulsing in my palm. The glow of blue gently fills the room, and Darius’s nostrils flare at it, watching as it swirls around my fingers. He takes a step closer, a shimmer of black coating his skin like waves and I don’t think as I force my power out of my palm into a small ball, aiming it at him with a growl.
We have been here before, but I continue all the same.
A small, black circle appears on Darius’s hand, and he lifts it, catching my ball and engulfing it, sinking into the black. I blink as he continues to step closer and I shoot out another one, my hand shaking with the effort but his power swallows it every time. My eyes change and my markings appear as my desperation flows through me. I raise my other hand, blasting small balls out of both of them. One hits the wall, sinking into it slightly before disappearing in a burst of small, blue-misty particles. Another crashes into the chest of drawers, causing the wood to collapse where a hole has been made. They come out of my palms wildly, uncontrolled and with no coordination whatsoever. Darius, however, just keeps coming, stopping any of them from hurting him.
Then he’s reaching me, grasping my wrists in his palms and slamming me up against the door. I gasp, wriggling in his grip. With every breath I take, my chest touches his, and I flex my fingers. His magic trails out of his hands, coating my own and I feel its coolness against me, covering my own power. It feels like it’s almost reaching into my skin, and my own hovers below the surface as he forces it back into me.
How is he able to do that?
“Let me go,” I snarl, looking up into vibrant, green eyes that flare with heat.
“Never.” He shakes his head, and the finality in his words cause my hackles to rise. “You were mine since The Deadlands, nothing has changed since then.”
My eyes harden and I rid myself of my Heir markings when I see his reacting to mine. “Everything has changed.“ I squirm, but he has me completely immobilized.
His eyes darken for a moment before he looks down at me, at my heaving chest, the way my breasts rise and fall. His eyes trail up to my neck, tracing my jaw, nose, until he reaches my eyes. His eyes bounce between mine before he dips his head, and I still. He inhales deeply at my throat, a rumble coming from him that goes straight to my core. Damn him. His mouth comes to my neck then, right below my ear and a breathy sigh comes from me as he trails his lips up and down.
“You’re right,” he mumbles against my skin, and I tilt my head, unable to help it with the feel of him at my neck. “Everything has changed.” A nip, then a lick to soothe. I shiver. “It also hasn’t.” An open mouth kiss then, and I can’t stop the quiet moan escaping me as I stand on my tiptoes, feeling restless. He moves even closer, the hard lines of his body against my softness. I feel his hardness against my stomach, and desire builds in me, causing me to subtly rub against it. He growls low, pushing his hips forward, kissing up to my ear more aggressively and nipping the top of it. “But don’t hide from me,” he says, lifting his head to peer down at me.
I clench my hands in his grip, his power still encasing them. “I was hiding, remember? Now I’m not.”
“No.” He moves his head back and forth slowly, eyes roaming over my face. “You’re hiding your pain.” My heart drops then, and I turn my head, the desire I was feeling gone instantly, showering me in ice. “You’re hiding your suffering, your heartbreak.” I swallow roughly, my eyes stinging. It’s unfair that he can see me so easily, the only one who really can. “If you keep it in, you’re going to do some serious damage. What that damage will look like, we won’t know until it happens.” Another nip against my neck. “Until you let it all out, you’re hiding you.“ A damn tear sneaks out as his words aim true, and my wrists are let go of and his hand is on my jaw, turning my face back to him. I glare, even as another tear leaks out, even if I feel stripped bare right now. His jaw clenches as he watches it fall, dropping down to my jaw where he holds me. “I told you the only tears I want to see in your eyes are the ones I put there, little wolf.”
A wet laugh comes from me then, and his brows lower in concern. “You helped put them there.” His green eyes shutter and he takes a step back. He takes a deep breath, hands on his hips as he glares at the floor.
“What is it going to take to move past this?” I slump against the door, a chuckle leaving my lips.
“You would have to turn back time for that.”
He growls and stomps away from me, going into his closet. I hear rustling and a bang, and then he’s walking toward me again, a bag in his hand.
“I cannot turn back time,” he tells me, his knuckles whitening with his grip. “So we need to move forward, it’s all we can do.”
“Because it’s that simple,” I snark.
“Fuck, Rhea.” He paces, huffing angrily as the bag swings in his grip. I eye it warily, wondering what’s in there. Darius comes to a stop, and then takes two steps toward me. I straighten, wondering what his next move is when the bag in his hand is shoved into my chest.
I grab it automatically as he takes a step back and just stands there. When I don’t move, he sighs and points toward it. “Open it.”
“What’s in here?”
“Just open the damn bag. Rhea.”
I frown at his frustrated tone, but I slowly open the bag. Peeking inside, I see numerous things wrapped in what looks like leather. Darius takes a step away from me, and I reach inside to pull one out. Eying Darius, I put the bag down and open it. Wood comes into view, and I hastily remove all the leather, my heart beating wildly within my chest.
I swallow roughly, looking up at Darius, then to the carving within my grasp. Crouching down, I pull the items out of the bag one by one, all of them wrapped carefully in leather. I run my trembling fingers over the first carving, feeling the familiar grooves of wood and nicks I had once carved. My hand shakes as I move on to the next piece and unwrap it, my eyes stinging as I look at the familiar face of Kade, his smile wide and pure. I bring it to my chest, squeezing my eyes closed as my whole body vibrates.
“I searched everywhere for you, everywhere that I could think of,” Darius suddenly says, and my head snaps up to him. “When I couldn’t find you, I went back to Eridian.” My lips tremble, and Darius watches the warring of my emotions. His eyes fill with anger briefly before clearing. “I don’t know why I felt the need to go there, but I did. I went straight for your cave and stayed there. I’m not really sure for how long for, I lost track of time when I was there. After a while, I left, but I took some carvings with me. I…” He trails off, jaw clenching as he looks away from me, clearly uncomfortable. “I wanted to give them to you,” he finally says, and I squeeze the carving of Kade tighter.
My enemy went back to Eridian and got my carvings for me.
The knowledge thaws my heart a little, peeling down the thorns wrapped around it. He knew how much I liked to carve, it was evident with the amount in my cave.
He was… thinking of me. But why?
I don’t ask this question, too confused to even move my mouth as I pick up another carving of a wolf. I run my fingers down its back toward its tail, wondering if any of my others are still there.
Darius walks over to me and crouches. He picks up an item, and he gently starts to unravel it. “I see peace when you carve, I feel your loyalty when you pick up that knife.” He turns the item over as he continues to reveal it. There is more leather on this one, like he wanted it to be extra secure. “I know how deep your loyalty runs. I saw it more at the castle, and I heard it more when I heard your story, your life. It reminds me of my own to my Elites.” He shakes his head, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “I’m glad I kept this as it is your reminder of your loyalty, your courage.”
He finally reveals the item, and holds it out to me. I grasp it quickly, running my finger over the hilt of the knife my father gave, tracing the words. My body loosens for what feels like the first time in forever at having it back in my possession. Even when he believed I was a traitor, he kept something I thought I had lost forever.
My brows furrow as I look down at the carvings, unsure what to say to him. This doesn’t change anything, this doesn’t make it better, but he also didn’t have to do this.
My eyes raise to his, and he looks at the items one last time before he reaches for me. I raise my hand with the knife, but he quickly disarms me. I’m flung over his shoulder, then he turns, walking us away from the door. I quickly grasp his t-shirt, clinging to his back and he grunts, his steps faltering for a moment. Then I’m airborne and landing on the bed. Before I can catch my bearings, the furs are on top of me, and I’m moved on my side, his large body against my back. Darius’s arms come around me, holding me close to him as I blink. Because, what the fuck.
“I’m not sleeping in a bed with you,” I growl, trying to pry his arms off of me to get away from him.
“This is the only place you will be sleeping, little wolf. I have to keep an eye on you, who knows when the knife you’re aiming at me will come my way.”
“If you just pass me mine again, then you won’t need to wonder, I’ll do it right now!” I shout, and he chuckles. I squirm and kick my feet, trying to get him to release me. His thick thigh comes over mine and I’m completely pinned, unable to move as I scratch at his forearms.
My breathing picks up, the feeling of being trapped rushing through me and I squeeze my eyes shut. “It’s just me, little wolf,” he says softly, a purr coming from him.
“That’s the problem,” I wheeze out, still struggling. Twisting and turning for what feels like forever, I realize I’m getting nowhere. I call my power to me, feel it’s barely there hum beneath my skin, ready to unleash whatever it wants to get him away.
He makes a deep sound, then coolness is coating my heated body. I peel my eyes open and see his power floating over my skin, the black moving back and forth over my arms like it’s stroking me, settling me.
And damn it all, it does.
I relax in his hold, my body slowly losing its tension while I inhale his scent. Runa yawns inside of me and I huff, giving her the stink eye. She’s supposed to back me up.
“Sleep, Rhea. You’re safe with me,” Darius mumbles against my hair, his thumb running over my wrist.
“No,” I tell him, my eyes drooping. “I’m not.”
“Under the moonlight, you are.”