Page 81 of Visions of Darkness

The chaotic, frenzied song that beat inside me.

I ran across the street and went directly to the door. Relief heaved from me on the breath that I’d been holding when I found her sitting on the side of the bed, raking her fingers through the matted locks of her black hair.

I tossed the bags onto the end of the bed. “You won’t be winning any fashion awards, but I found a few things.”

She choked out a small surprised laugh as she peeked into the bags before she peered up at me with the tiniest smile hinting on her mouth. “I’ll have you know I only wear name brands.”

Air huffed from my nose, and something in the hardened cavity of my chest cracked. Surprised that she found any lightness or ease in the middle of this mess.

“Is that so?” I played along.

“That’s right. These are not going to do.” She pulled out the white canvas shoes and waved them like proof.

“Always knew you’d be a princess.” My haggard voice had somehow pitched into a tease.

Her eyes widened in a razzing challenge. “A princess? Are you trying to offend me? Tell me that’s not what you imagined when you woke up every day and thought of me.”

Every molecule in my being softened as I stared at her. This woman who was barely more than a girl, but the things she’d faced in this twisted life shackling her with more horrible experiences than any one person had ever suffered before her.

“Maybe that’s what I hoped. That you were a princess living in a castle. Safe and protected.”

Any playfulness that had been in her expression drained. “But it’s not been that way for either of us, has it? And I can’t help but wonder what that looked like for you.”

Sincerity wove into her words, this care that slipped through me in a way that I couldn’t let it.

Aria understood more than she should, like she recognized what had been carved inside me.

This loneliness.

The solitude.

I’d learned to find comfort in it. Knew it was for the best. Getting close to someone only hurt you in the end, and I could afford no attachments.

Could trust no one.

Aria’s teeth plucked at her bottom lip, so fucking pretty, so fucking real.

The hollowed-out hole inside me throbbed.

I should have looked down, turned away, except her expression shifted, and I was trapped when it twisted into awe.

“Thank you, Pax. For this.” She hugged the shoes to her chest, and she swallowed hard. “For coming for me. For fighting for me. For putting yourself on the line for me.”

With a gentle shake of her head, she blinked. “I know what this sacrifice means. How great it is. That it istoomuch.” She clutched the shoes tighter. Emphasis poured from those plush, pink lips. “And to know that you heard me? That you heard me in my torment? That you heard me calling for you? I don’t—”

She clipped off, her brow pinching before she was whispering in reverence, “I didn’t think it was possible. I never hoped to think it was possible that you’d know. That you could find me. That you could feel me.”

A tremble rolled through her body. “You saved me. I don’t know what would have happened had you not come.”

My hands curled into fists.

I had to remind myself that this was temporary.

Still, I moved forward, took her by the chin, and stared down at the one face that had ever meant anything in my life, the one that had been marked in my mind and imprinted in my soul, and made a promise that I was forbidden to make. “I will always come for you.”

Chapter Twenty

Aria

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