Page 59 of Bound By Darkness

Instead, I hurry into the kitchen, where I catch my breath as I try to force the pictures of Dragan and that awful woman, Lamia, aside.

But my heartrate won’t calm and my breathing is still coming just as fast. I’m overwhelmed, taxed beyond my ability to cope. Yes, my reaction is owing to the vision, but it’s also so much more than that. Everything suddenly feels like it’s weighing down on me, pushing against me until I find it difficult to get enough air into my lungs.

It’s impossibly difficult to maintain this façade of calm when truly, I’m waiting in nervous anticipation for the next time Cambion threatens to leave me somewhere, or the next time Dragan looks at me like I’m equivalent to a pile of shit he just stepped in. It’s just all become too much.

It feels good to escape. Of course, I wonder if Cambion will come after me, worried I’m going to make a run for it now that I’m no longer bound.

Yes, I continue to be surprised that Cambion hasn’t attempted to bind my wrists with something else, now that he destroyed the rope. Granted, he’s been more than a little busy since this morning—perhaps my freedom is merely an oversight, where he’s concerned.

Saevel walks into the kitchen and doesn’t spare me a second glance. Instead, she wordlessly retrieves a bucket of water anda scrubbrush and begins scrubbing a stain on the kitchen floor. I pass her with an uncomfortable smile, but I notice she doesn’t return it. No matter. I step into the nursery just off the kitchen which is comprised of four glass walls. Inside, plants of all sorts grow in the humid room. My fingers brush against their leaves and petals as I try to identify each one in turn.

One plant in particular catches my attention:Deadly Nightshade. I gather some of the red berries and the dark green, spiky leaves for Baron, placing them in one of the pockets of my jeans. Thankfully, Flumph convinced me to change into something more practical than my gown before we joined the others.

“That’s stealing, you know?”

I gasp and spin around to see Dragan leaning against the archway that leads back into the kitchen. He moves closer and shuts the door behind him. My heart starts pounding again and I feel like a mouse caught in a trap.

“It’sNightshade,” I say. “And it’s for Baron. He needs it because he’s… out,” I finish lamely.

“Revenant,” he corrects me.

“Revenant,” I repeat with a quick nod.

Dragan stops walking just inches in front of me. My eyes come to rest on his chest and the size of the gargoyle makes me shiver. I know what power coils in that massive body. And, God, do I miss it.

“Regardless,” he points out, “it’s still stealing.”

I trail my eyes up his torso until I’m ensnared by his light gray gaze. His eyes are piercing, narrowed in an expression of suspicion. I wonder if he has any inclination that I received a vision when he touched me. So far, it doesn’t appear as though he’s aware.

“Won’t the others wonder where you are?” I ask.

“No,” he answers quickly. “They know why I’m here… to keep an eye on you.” He takes a breath, eyeing me even more narrowly. “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

“I, uh, needed to get away.”

“Why?”

I decide not to tell him about the vision. I’m sure the memories are ones he’d just as soon forget and I’m not sure how he’ll feel, knowing I witnessed them, knowing I know what he went through, the pain and humiliation. “Because I haven’t had any time to myself and being around the three of you takes a toll on me,” I say. My statement is still true, even if it isn’t the proper answer to his question.

“Why is that?”

I take a deep breath. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Wouldn’t I?” he comes even closer and wraps his hands around my waist. Then he lifts me off my feet, placing me on a small potting table behind us. He steps between my thighs and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Teasing me under the table was… ruthless, Eilish,” he says. “But if you’re trying to break me, you’ll need to try much harder.”

“Break you?” I repeat, shaking my head becausebreakinghim is the last thing on my mind. Instead, all I can think about is how I can make things better between us—orifI can make things better. “I’m not trying to break you.”

“I can’t figure out what the fuck you’re trying to do to me.” There’s anger in his tone but it’s not as weighty as the desire in his eyes. He wants me and proof is written all over his face. My heartrate increases and a flush steals over my skin.

“I’m not trying to do anything to you,” I whisper.

“Yet you are,” he tells me, pressing his erection against my core. I feel his hardness through both his pants and mine.

“I don’t understand you, Dragan,” I admit.

“What’s there to understand?” he asks with a chuckle, as though my comment is silly and naieve. “I’m losing my mind,” he continues as he shakes his head.

---