Page 130 of Visions of Darkness

It was Pax who sighed, scrubbing an unblemished hand over his face, one that Aria now knew appeared so different in the day. He warily glanced between Dani and Timothy. “A man was sent for her. I woke to find him in our room.”

“Fuck,” Timothy spat beneath his breath. Worry lined his face as he stepped closer. “What happened?”

“I took care of it.” Pax lifted his chin, and Aria was sure there was no mistaking what that meant.

Dani choked a quiet sound of horror, and she hung on tighter to Aria, as if her touch could act as a shield and stop anyone else from getting to her. “Are you okay?”

Aria attempted to tamp down the emotion. It was both fear and joy that she felt, this gift a blessing and her biggest curse.

Likely her demise.

But it was what she’d been given.

“I am for now.”

She wouldn’t keep the truth from her friend. The truth that neither she nor Pax knew how long they could stay out ahead of. How far they could run.

Pax hovered beside her. A quivering, violent fortress.

A shield.

Both here and awake.

“Did anyone else find anything while you hunted?” Pax asked, his attention flitting between Timothy and Dani.

Bleakness filled Dani’s features. “No, none of our family heard it last night.”

Disappointment blew through Pax.

Timothy visibly warred; then his voice came out as grit when he spoke. “Let me come to you while awake. Maybe I can help.”

Surprise and gratitude filled Aria’s heart. Apparently, with his concern for her, he was also willing to take the chance of coming together.

“You know I can’t ask that of you,” she whispered.

“You’re our family,” he argued, his demeanor urgent as he angled his head.

An offering.

Supplication.

“I can’t stand aside and know someone is coming for you.”

Alarm pushed Pax forward a step. “Don’t do something foolish, Timothy. You know you can’t put yourself on the line like that.”

Disbelief puffed from Timothy’s nose. “Don’t do something foolish? Like you going for Aria? Like youtaking careof some monster in the day?You are our family.”

Aria reached out, shaking as she took his hand. “Youaremy family. In my heart and my spirit.” She reached for Dani’s hand with her other. “And I love you both. But you know this isn’t something you can get involved in during the day. You have your lives, the people who rely on you. And we don’t know if all four of us together would make it even worse. If it would be even easier for the Ghorl to find us. They needyou here, to fight in Faydor,” Aria added. “It’s what’s important. You know that.”

“You’reimportant.” Dani pleaded it.

Aria shook her head. She couldn’t imagine asking them to step into the danger that surrounded her. Dragging them into it the way she had Pax.

Pax’s spirit thrashed, a vibration that buzzed between them, and she knew there had been no option for him. Pax couldn’t have physically stayed away.

Dani went to say more, only the atmosphere shivered, as if the ground rolled as their Laven family parted and Ellis and Josephine slowly made their way across the meadow.

“If there is anything more we can do ... please ... just say it,” Timothy muttered under his breath.

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