Page 51 of A World of Ruins

‘I’m sorry,’ he murmurs, and I shake my head, kissing him harder. ‘I do remember.’ He nips my lower lip and I let loose a hungerful sigh. ‘I remember everything.’

I do remember.

I remember everything.

His tears hit my face as he clutches my cheeks and kisses me over and over again, whispering in between. ‘I tried,’ he says. ‘I tried so hard not to let you go.’

I don’t know what he means by that, and I don’t bother to ask because all I care about right now is this moment.

‘Please don’t forget me,’ I breathe, my lips over his, as I touch his face, wondering if this is real. ‘Never again.’

He shakes his head, his nose rubbing against mine. ‘Never—’

A slow clap ricochets off the dungeon walls, and I jump back from Darius. Cold dread dampens my back as Darius and Iglance to the right, where Aurum and Sarilyn stand side by side, looking at us with the smuggest of grins imaginable.

No, Solaris, please, not now.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

‘Nice to see thattrue lovecan indeed break even the most powerful mind magic.’ Aurum’s smile is viperous. ‘Pathetic, truly, but what can I do when my only nephew becomes weak over a mortal?’

Darius quickly takes on a protective stance, pushing me behind him while he glares at Aurum and shields me with an outstretched hand across my midsection.

Aurum watches the action with cruelty alongside Sarilyn. I’m used to seeing her in a gown, but now she’s wearing a suit of golden armour that fits her like a second skin and is just like Aurum’s. Panic smashes across my chest like fragile glass as I think of my brothers, my friends . . .

‘Oh, Darius, how you disappoint me. I thought we were family.’ Aurum’s grinning, arms opened wide as if to greet us.

Darius’s hand hardens into a fist. His harsh gaze targets Aurum as he says, ‘You’re a sick bastard.’ He charges at him, set on doing harm, but Aurum’s grin widens as he raises his arm and shadowed hands form out of the ground, seizing Darius’s ankles.

‘Don’t forget, I still own you,’ Aurum says mockingly while toying with the shadow magic at his fingertips. ‘As long as you have that mark on you, you can’t do anything.’

Anger ebbs out of me as I unsheathe my dagger and run towards him. Predatory green eyes slide over to me as he creates a massive shadow that drives me back into the wall. Hot stingsspread all over me as I scream and land on the ground with my palms flat on the rubble.

Pushing through the throbbing pain, I rise to my knees, but something heavy pushes me back down and I groan, unable to move. My gaze fixes on Aurum as he stretches his hand to me. He clenches his fist, and the weight on my back crushes me bit by bit.

As my mouth fills with a heavy metallic substance, I immediately spit blood out in front of me. Aurum’s slow, lethal steps then stalk towards me, but Darius shouts for his attention, making him pause and turn. I look up to see Darius free from the shadows and now, behind Sarilyn, pressing one of her blades against her neck.

‘Touch her again and I swear I will take pleasure in slicing this knife across your precious Sarilyn.’ Darius is furious compared to Sarilyn’s confident stance, as she holds her head high and doesn’t show any sign of fear in her dark gaze.

Aurum’s chuckle comes out as a scoff. He looks back and forth between Darius and me. ‘Even without your powers, you’re a brave little shit,’ he says to his nephew, prompting Darius to draw blood from Sarilyn’s neck. She stutters a gasp but does not try to fight out of it. ‘Go on then, kill her. I can easily make you stop with a click of my fingers.’

‘Darius,’ I croak, seeing his gaze shift to where I am. Anguish clouds his eyes with a veil of hesitation. The blade in his hand trembles, and he struggles to keep his grip on it as Aurum manipulates his mind and the dagger clatters onto the ground. Darius stumbles away from Sarilyn, and at that exact moment, Aurum whistles, beckoning a few Elven soldiers.

They rush in, not giving me enough time to recover as two of them yank me up from the ground. A third, who I recognise from my time with Arlayna, stands before me, his green regretful gazeelsewhere as he places my hands in shackles. It is the same boy from the night we rescued Darius.

‘Ruvyn,’ I whisper. He doesn’t look at me, his dark hair shielding most of his face. ‘You don’t have to do this. Arlayna would not want this.’

He yanks at the chain connecting to the shackles and shakes his head. ‘I no longer answer to the princess.’ He turns away from me before I can speak, and the two other Elvens holding me by the arms look towards Aurum as more Elves haul in someone else, beaten and bruised.

Terror slices across my heart when I realise it is Gus.

He is thrown to the ground, his eyes flickering up to meet mine with apologetic need.

‘Ah, there you are, finally,’ Aurum says gleefully as Sarilyn watches on from the shadows of the dungeons. ‘I was beginning to wonder if they had left anything of you at all.’

A trail of blood follows beneath Gus as he holds his abdomen, but an Elf quickly presses the heel of his boot down on Gus’s back. He cries out in pain, and I squirm to let myself free.

‘What did you do to him?’ I demand and glance over at Darius. His gaze is fixed on me, and as his eyes lower to the shackles on me – the same ones restraining him – he seethes with anger.

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