Page 98 of Visions of Darkness

She shivered. The way she had at the hotel when he’d been a fool and had gotten too close to her.

How fucking gorgeous she’d looked, sitting on that bed. How he’d wanted to crawl over her and press her into the mattress. Unwrap her. Trace his fingers over every scar on her body.

It’d only made it worse when he’d gotten on his knees at her bedside and run his fingertips over her lips. He had nearly broken when she’d confessed what she wanted aloud.

But he couldn’t go there.

It would only make their situation worse.

Distort their purpose.

But he already felt a hazy film clouding his sight and mind. The way his stomach twisted when he looked at her and how he kept getting hit with a bolt of need whenever their skin brushed.

He had to wonder if maybe that was the true reason they were forbidden to find their Nol during the day. If their connection became too powerful and the objective was skewed.

Maybe it made him a piece of shit to question Valeen. But to him, Valeen was little more than a mystery. Removed. Never a tangible piece of them. Her words only spoken through Ellis, where he found her teachings in the great book.

If Pax were being honest, he’d always questioned everything.

He eased up to Aria’s side and looked out to see that most of their Laven family had already arrived and were gathered at Ellis’s feet.

“I don’t know how to face them,” she quietly admitted.

“You haven’t done anything wrong. I was the one who came for you. I’m the one who broke the decree, and I’m standing beside you without one regret.”

She let go of a shattered breath.

“We’re in this together,” he promised, his voice urgent, and she nodded as she stepped out from the fringe and edged across the soft grasses. He followed a foot behind. A shield that covered, ready to step in.

He knew when they felt them coming. The way Ellis’s words trailed off and a ripple of apprehension traveled through the crowd as everyone shifted to watch their approach.

Aria stumbled a step, and Pax placed a hand at the small of her back.

A soft encouragement that burned through him like a wildfire.

Singeing every nerve ending in his being.

“It’s nearing time to descend,” Ellis said, though his attention remained on them. “Everyone, prepare yourselves.”

Their Laven family stood, unsure, though they began to pair off.

For a moment, Ellis hesitated, in what appeared to be both dread and relief, before he started their way.

He met them midway in the field. Torment twisted through his expression. “We’ve been worried.”

He glanced between the two of them. Clearly Ellis already knew that Pax had gone for Aria. The measures he’d taken to protect his Nol.

Aria trembled. “They have already begun to hunt me.”

Ellis’s nod was knowing, tremoring with his age, his pale eyes dulled yet filled with compassion and fear. “Sweet child.”

Agony sliced through Aria.

Palpable.

Though she lifted her chin as if she’d already accepted her fate. “I will fight until the day I die.”

Pax couldn’t contain his growl. Couldn’t stop the hostility that rose from the depths of his soul.

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