Page 63 of A Trial of Fate

Days passed with no sign or additional letters from Daxton. I was freed from the confines of the healing quarters and able to go home. Latte had given me the final go-ahead, and I was out of there faster than I thought possible with a promise that I would check in with her every few days. If I missed a check-in, I would be brought back to the healing room. I agreed, promising I would never miss one, and she was satisfied enough to let me go. Latte read me the riot act and gave me a long list of dos and don’ts, but then again, this was me. I wasn’t going to hold back.

I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Without hesitation, I headed toward the green sand beach, not knowing what I would find once I arrived. The cooling sea breeze kissed the skin on my face and neck, lifting my hair from across my shoulder and entangling it behind my back. I reached up to try and tame the mess of tangled hair with a braid that hung gently over my shoulder. Even though I was locked indoors these past weeks, the sunlight had been able to creep through the windows, and my golden highlights had returned. I was beginning to look and feel like myself again.

It was quiet as I climbed to the shoreline of my secret beach. A sanctuary that I knew would always be there for me. I didn’t know what drew me to this place, but I knew it was something special. And for once, I didn’t need to ask anything more.

Three weeks, almost four had passed since Alistar left with the fae queen to meet with the humans. I thought about all the what-ifs and all the different scenarios that could arise from this meeting, which I prayed was somewhat peaceful. I was glad that Talon had accompanied Gilen. Rhea was a hothead. Gilen tended to react to his emotions, but Talon was the calming mediator. He could ground them and help de-escalate a situation if it were to arise, and it was likely to. I was captured, tortured, and—

Fuck.

I almost died.

I did die?

My footsteps halted, and I clutched my arms around my chest, the memories flooding my fractured mind. Panic was settling into my chest, causing the breath in my throat to freeze like blocks of ice after a sub-zero winter chill. I couldn’t force my chest to expand, locked in the spiraling darkness that captured me underground in that chamber.

I had stopped fighting. I gave up. Words I never dared to say aloud but knew them to be true in my heart. That was my greatest sin.

I fell to my knees as my hands reached out to grip the sand beneath my fingertips. I tried to ground myself as Shaw had taught me. Identify what was real and what was not. I was no longer trapped underground. I had survived…I had—

But I hadn’t.

Tears streaked down my face as I crumbled. “I stopped fighting. I-I failed…” I said aloud to no one… to everyone. “I failed!” I screamed again. “I was not strong enough to keep fighting for my own life. How will I face and conquer the trials for all the others?”

The wind whipped across my back, filling my loose shirt and pulling me to sit upright. I followed nature’s lead and tilted my head upward toward the sky, bracing myself for whatever would come next. There were endless possibilities, but I had to admit, I didn’t expect to seehimstanding on the cliffs.

“Daxton?” His gray eyes illuminated with a spark of lightning as he looked at me with a firm, commanding expression. How was he here? Why was he here?

In a flash, he reappeared in front of me. “Stand up.” He spoke the words as a command, not one he would expect to be ignored. “Stand up, Skylar.”

On shaking limbs, I clung to the command, his dominating tone and posture guiding me. For perhaps the first time in my life, I found myself willingly submitting to another’s power. I trusted that Daxton was trying to help me through this panic attack before I became lost to it again.

“Where… where have you been?” I shouted at him with a little more venom than I had anticipated.

He inhaled a ragged breath like my words had physically wounded him in some way. He instantly concealed the flash of pain, returning to the stoic warrior I met for the first time in the meadow. “I have not strayed from my duty to watch over and protect you,” he answered.

“Right… yourduty,” I spat, clenching my fists. A twinge ofanger worked through my spine, and I decided to cling to that rather than my fear. “I forgot. I am just yourward. Why even bother showing yourself then? Why write to me and share… share anything?” I rumbled with annoyance as I marched over to confront him. I glared upward at the fae warrior standing before me and extended my finger to poke him in the chest. “I didn’t write you back on purpose, by the way.”

Daxton stared down at my finger that was jamming into his firm chest before meeting my fiery gaze. A ridiculous, stupidly charming half-grin crossed his face, and that damn dimple on his right cheek appeared above his trimmed beard line.Gods above, I cursed to myself as a string of fire rippled across my skin, causing me to blush.

“I noticed,” his deep baritone voice boomed. “Why didn’t you write me? I’ve been…” He stopped himself from saying any more and shifted back a half step. His face twisted to the side as he ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair.

I cocked my hip and glared at him. “I didn’t want to because…” Shit, I didn’t want to because the letters weren’t enough. Because. Gods be damned, why was I yelling at him? Why was I acting this way? Why did I even care this much?

“Because?” Daxton asked with narrowed eyes and a sly, confident expression that he didn’t seem to try and hide.

“Well, clearly you know then,” I scoffed as I brushed past him, approaching the shoreline. “I’m heading to the water. Are you going to continue to watch me like a stalker at an awkward distance?”

“Stalker?” He cocked his dark brow and curved his lip to the side.

“Take it or leave it. Watching over me from a distance these past weeks has earned you the title.”

“And here I thought it was called being diligent in my duty to protect you.”

“Right… as yourward.” I elongated the final word, letting him know I wasn’t fond of that title. I didn’t want to be anyone’s dutyor forced responsibility. “Look, if you don’t want to oversee my safety or whatever, you don’t have to. I am not forcing you to do it, and I don’t want it. I can take care of my—”

“Skylar,” Daxton spoke, interrupting my rambling. My name escaped his lips with a soft caress that made my heart flutter rapidly inside my chest. What the actual fuck was this? Why and how could he make me so angry one second and then like this the next? “It is not a burden for me to be here with you. I asked to stay and protect you. Ichose to stay behind and asked the queen to proclaim that I personally see to being your guard. The choice was mine, and I wouldn’t hesitate to choose it again.”

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