Page 80 of To Bleed A Kingdom

Lennox clears his throat. “Captain, someone’s been altering the guard rotation.”

Darius’ features harden, his nostrils flaring. “I'll be right there.”

Agitation flits down the bond as Darius leans forward, pressing his lips onto mine in a sweet, gentle kiss. Much milder than the lusty kisses he gave me earlier, but infinitely more powerful, more intimate.

“Stay here,” he whispers against my lips, as much a plea as it is a demand. Tracing a circle with his thumb along my cheek, he stares down at me with so much longing and need that my chest tightens with an unfamiliar emotion. He stares for a moment longer, then lifts off me to stand and strides away without a backwards glance, his guards and Trip following closely behind.

Without his calming presence, all my emotions bite back with a vengeance. My anger, embarrassment, and fear at my loss of control. My dread at what this could mean. But more prominent is the lust and passion. The intimacy. The combination of all of these emotions is so overwhelming, it affects not just my mind, but my body as well, manifesting into a fizzing sensation that sweeps across my skin and raises the hairs along my arms.

I rub fisted hands against my eyes, trying to quell the sensations, but the results are the same with every action I've taken today.

I fail.

Amara’s amused face suddenly appears above mine.

“Wow… Just wow,” she says, biting her lip.

“Shut up.” Pushing off the ground, I stand and shove her out of my path.

“What?” She rushes to my side, Tristan and Zander trailing behind.

“Just… just don’t.” Stepping outside the forest’s reach, I turn my back on the training grounds, heading towards the city street.

“I wasn't going to say anything bad,” Amara replies. “I was just going to -”

I round on her with fisted hands. “Don’t, Amara.”

I feel a tug on mine and Amara’s bond and her amused expression falls as she nods slowly. Then I feel a soft tug from Tristan and a yank from the not-so-subtle Zander. Standing behind her, their expressions are a mirror image of Amara’s. I quickly look away and continue onward, feeling too exposed to discuss any of what just happened.

“Are you alright?” Zander asks, his gaze earnest as he moves to my side.

No, I'm not alright.

“I just want to be alone,” I reply, stepping off the grass onto the side street between the palace gates and the Guard’s Base.

“I can see that,” he says gently. “But I don't think that’s a good idea.” He glances up ahead, his brows bunching together. “Especially in this part of the city.”

“Zander,” Amara says, grabbing his arm. “Let her go. She's not a child; she can do as she pleases.” Zander clearly wants to argue, but I know I've won when Tristan squeezes his shoulder and shakes his head.

Unwilling to wait for them to change their mind, I listen to my boots scrape across the jeweled street as I race away. Racing away from them, the forest, and Darius. Most of all, racing away from myself and all these overwhelming emotions. But when I round the corner and step past the palace gates into the nobility district, I wish I’d heeded Zander’s warning.

The entirety of Seboia is rich and luxurious, but in this section of the city where the nobles and upper class reside, their wealth is indescribable. A completely different world.

Roofs drip in gold and walls swirl with embedded jewels; the white stone shops and crystal townhouses are just miniature versions of the grand palace they rest up against. Gods Luminescence is scripted with brilliant starlight and frosty blue sapphires on a sign hangingabove a shop that sells chandeliers, sconces, and various other Gods Light fixtures. Slabs of rubies, pink tourmaline, and yellow garnet the size of my head line a pathway to the entrance of the seamstress’s shop, Needles and Thread. Even the bakery has an entire door made of emerald. A bakery! How can they afford that when all they sell is bread? The only shop that looks even remotely less ostentatious still screams of privilege with a structure made up entirely of black onyx with gold scripted above the door, Fortunes and Truth. It's all dazzling and extravagant, not to mention blindingly horrific.

But that’s not what causes my feet to root to stone or my skin to break out in a nervous sweat. It's the dozens and dozens of immortals and fae casually strolling along, and of the impact of those same beings' emotions blasting into me, rattling the cage of my tenuous control.

When I was younger, I was able to shut out all others. But as I aged and my power grew, I could no longer completely silence them. Conforming to my ever-growing Gifts, I built the walls of my cage, and the bars muffled their feelings. Not completely, of course, but enough to where I can ignore them if I choose to. Which I often do. For that fact alone, unless I'm with Zander, Tristan, Amara, or anyone else who’s aware of my Gift and can calm me if needed, I usually avoid heavily populated areas such as this. Even when I'm in the right state of mind, the emotions of so many can become loud and abrasive, often testing my control.

For this reason along with thousands of others, the only plausible conclusion as for why I join the bustling shoppers instead of backing into the alley and returning from where I came is a temporary loss of sanity.

Or I can blame Darius. Him and his intoxicating kiss.

Nerves still buzzing from our encounter, I drop my gaze and weave through the masses, hyperaware to avoid skin-to-skin contact with my fellow pedestrians. But it's next to impossible with the street filled as it is. A female grazes her pinky against my hand. A fae rubs his bare shoulder with mine. A small boy dances beneath my feet and I stumble into a Nature immortal who catches me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

“Are you alright?” he asks, his attraction piercing into me as if a lance.

I flinch and mumble a hurried thank you as I shrug him off and quickly move towards a less populated area.

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