Page 18 of Tears of Ruin

Then our bodies slowly rose together, as if that single touch was enough to pull me from the depths of my fear.

I’d never calmed down from sheer terror so quickly before.

Richard led me to my room by my hand, and just as I feared, his touch was warm but also comforting in a way that shocked me.

And a hidden part of me, the one I kept buried to protect, never wanted to let his hand go.

Chapter Five

Richard

I had officially lost my goddamn mind. From the moment I’d seen Noam sleeping in his bed, I’d been intrigued, but I had no idea I would descend into madness. Had I really stood toe to toe with Giovanni?

Not that I feared him, not physically. But I didn’t want to risk my place in Winterhaven. Giovanni was a pillar in this castle, someone I respected, even when, at times, I didn’t like him.

For five years I had kept my emotions tightly locked away. Yet, in less than eight hours, Noam was unraveling every defense I had built. Jesus Christ.

“What were you doing outside of your room?” I released his hand, ignoring how empty mine now felt.

Noam moved slowly, retreating to the chairs and gripping the back of one as if it were a shield. “You never told me I wasn’t allowed to leave it.”

For my sanity’s sake, I wanted to confide him to it. But I couldn’t bring myself to be so cruel. I’d been on my way to his room when I’d heard the commotion in the hallway. Sticking to the shadows, I’d secretly watched him with Kyson and Dane.

The pure joy on his handsome face had... captivated me. Noam had been reduced to nothing more than survival instincts, yet he’d found the courage to make friends, to seize the moment, and to allow himself some fun.

Just like I once enjoyed life, carefree and rebellious, finding every opportunity to laugh.But that version of Richard had been destroyed by the very things that had once defined me. And now, I was in a position to protect that joy in someone else.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “You’re not confined to your room. It’s just that—”

“Malachi and Giovanni are dangerous,” Noam finished my sentence.

That was a massive understatement. The brothers were thousands of years old, savagely beaten by their monstrous parents, and molded into beasts even darkness feared. They might’ve softened for the men they loved, but they were still the most lethal vampires to walk the earth.

Instinctual creatures who, if pushed, would bathe in the blood of whoever crossed them. I didn’t want Noam grabbing either of their attentions.

When I’d seen Giovanni crouching in front of Noam’s trembling form, I’d wanted nothing more than to tear him apart. It hadn’t mattered to me that he had sworn his daggers to me. Giovanni would have fought like the warrior was bred to be. But all I’d cared about was protecting Noam, giving him the safety he’d desperately needed.

Even now, my phoenix clawed to get free, to use its talons to shred Giovanni until there was nothing left of him.

As someone who had always been in control of my emotions, actions, and words, I was honestly losing it. And for what? A slip of a man who happened to remind me of the boy I used to be, before I knew how to stand on my own two feet and fight back?

Noam was a straight-up threat to my carefully cultivated… numbness. Telling myself to stay away from him clearly wasn’t working. No matter what task I tried to use as a distraction, I’d found myself gravitating toward him.

I’d fooled myself into thinking I didn’t need to keep a watchful eye on him, that Noam was too afraid to leave his room, which meant I could keep my distance, but he’d just proven, assumptions had a bad habit of biting you in the ass. The human kept surprising me at every turn.

Malachi knew of my past, yet the bastard had still made me responsible for the human. I still wasn’t sure how Noam had entered Winterhaven, a mystery I needed to solve before anyone else appeared in the castle.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “A man with a gun is dangerous. Those two are—”

“A man with a temper is just as dangerous,” Noam said, cutting me off, his voice low. “A weapon or wings aren’t threatening unless there’s a temper behind them.”

“And the determination to wield them,” I added, opening my eyes. He was stirring so many things inside of me, things I’d thought I’d locked away, but the bones of what I’d done were beginning to rattle, reminding me there was no escaping them.

No matter how deep I tried to bury them.

“What are they?” Noam asked in such a low tone I almost didn’t hear him. “I won’t tell anyone.” He shrugged. “I don’t have anyone to tell.”

That sentence caused my heart to ache.

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