Page 34 of The Discovered
He smiled hesitantly. “Your energy—it revealed that I reminded you of a home you’d never seen. I feel the same way. You—you remind me of home,” he said, a long-buried sadness rising to the surface of his dark eyes. But hope swam there, too. “You need to rest. We can continue this tomorrow, okay?”
I nodded, reflecting his smile. Something had finally shifted; a barrier crumbled at last. There were other walls to break and hurdles to clear, but for now, this was enough.
When I woke, Daelon was wrapped around me, his arm locking me in place. I couldn’t help but smile. Even in his sleep, his instinct was to act as a shield. My dreams were normal and diluted for once, without any hint of hidden meanings, monsters, or magick. It was as if my mind finally blocked everything out to take some well-deserved time to recharge and rest.
I snuck out of Daelon’s grasp, amused as he reached for me without waking. In the bathroom, I took a moment to inspect my neck in the mirror. Like my pain, the marks had faded miraculously overnight. The bruises had transformed to more blue and green hues behind my warm-toned skin.
Daelon stirred when I stepped back into the room.
“Áine,” he said groggily, reaching out to where I once lay. He sat up quickly.
“I’m right here.”
His momentary confusion and panic dissipated. He shook his head, and when I crawled back under the covers, he pulled me close to him. I rested my head against his bare chest, which was warm in contrast to the cold outside of our soft, blanket cocoon. He kissed the top of my head and held me tight.
I was still getting used to us being this close, but it didn’t feel as strange as I thought it would. It felt natural. Destined. Like yet another piece coming together in this cosmic drama.
“How does your neck feel?”
“Better.”
“Good.”
I fell back to sleep pressed into the contours of his body, though flashes of those witches in white continued to dance in my mind in between states of consciousness. They whispered through the crashing of waves—things I would soon forget as sleep pulled me back under—but I held on to the feeling that I was exactly where I needed to be, with exactly who I needed to be with.
Chapter10
Daelon and I sat in the dining room next to the kitchen, and I watched sleet pour down outside. I wished it was cold enough to snow, but the temperature hovered just above freezing. At least I wasn’t the cause of the precipitation today.
“Now that we’ve regrouped,” I started, sipping on coffee. “Can we discuss whoever the hell that was and how we are going to kick his ass?”
Daelon looked up at me wearily and set down the book he was reading, which seemed to be on war strategy or something of equal dullness.
“We will be doing no such thing. At least not yet,” he qualified. He gazed out the window, his features oddly impassive.
“Discussing himorkicking his ass?” I wasn’t going to let this go. This man nearly killed him. And me. Why was Daelon hesitating? “Because last time I checked you said we were completely untouchable here. What happens when he comes for round two?”
He snapped his head back and crossed his arms, his face contorting like I’d offended him. Sometimes talking to him was like walking through a minefield.
“Itwon’thappen again. It was a unique breach of my defenses due to extraordinary power and the element of surprise, but it willneverhappen again,”
Again, I couldn’t tell if he was being arrogant and determined, or if he knew more than he was letting on. “You know who it was, don’t you? And if he was that powerful, does that mean I’m not the only one of my… kind?” I frowned at the way that threatened my ego.
“There is no one like you, Áine. You can rest assured on that,” he said with a smirk. “And yes, I do know who it was.”
I was shocked at this candor. Was Daelon finally going to be honest with me about the evil that lurked in this realm? And even my role in defeating it?
“He’s an enemy, of course. A powerful one. But I don’t want you worrying about that for now, okay? I need you to trust me.”
I huffed, narrowing my eyes. He was running out ofjust trust mecards to play.
“We will be studying offensive magick soon,” he said, attempting to placate me and to change the subject.
It worked a little bit. I readjusted my turtleneck, which I wore to hide my fading bruises for his sake. We talked for a bit longer before training, but my mind was elsewhere, unable to let go of the man who wore the mask of the Devil. Was that how he wanted me to see him? Or was that how he saw himself?
He wanted me to know his strength after I challenged him, as if he was threatened by the mere suggestion that I was more powerful. If he was strong enough to overpower Daelon, who was supposedly built for shielding, then could he be more powerful than me? That would make Daelon a liar, or at least dishonest by omission. Maybe I wasn’t the only omnipotent witch out there, in which case, I was not omnipotent at all. So, what was I? And who was he?
Despite what I’d told Daelon last night—that nothing he was hiding from me would alter how I felt—I couldn’t shake these creeping doubts. I would be a fool to ignore them. But I also couldn’t ignore the consistency in Daelon’s words and actions, which all pointed to the idea that he was an ally who only wanted to protect me. Nor could I deny that the energy I’d gleaned from him had my best interest at heart even as he evaded my questions.
