Page 83 of The Discovered
“Please keep your voice down.” He moved closer tentatively, his eyes pleading.
“As if I would ever follow another of yourcommands. You’ll have to find another way to get off,” I spat, fury giving a mean edge to my voice that I’d rarely heard before.
His jaw tensed, closing his eyes for a moment. “I don’t have much time. I never lied to you, I swear. I’m still protecting you. I’ve always protected you. I’m going to help you find all the answers you need.”
I shook my head. I wanted to hurt him. I knew that I could, easily.
“Your enemies are my enemies,” he said, his voice low like it always was when he said this to me.
I opened my mouth then closed it. My power swelled, but it didn’t want to hurt Daelon. Not like it wanted to hurt Lucius.
ButIdid.
I allowed him to approach me, and he stopped just next to my bed. He fell to his knees.
“Energy doesn’t lie, Áine. You know that.” He reached out his arm slowly, begging me with his eyes to read him.
I shook my head, tears welling up in my eyes against my will. “I wish I’d never met you.”
“I know that’s how you feel right now,” he sighed. “But you’re my home. And I’m yours. There are more of us. I know you feel it.”
I looked ahead, refusing to meet his eyes.
He brushed away a tear on my cheek with his thumb, and I caught his wrist in mine, finally bringing myself to glare into his soul. He swallowed, and before I could close him out, I started to read his aura. He was… terrified. It was a desperate, erratic thing. Like the scared little boy running through the streets of a ravaged village.
I let go of his wrist quickly. I would not give him the satisfaction.
“Áine, please.”
“Get out.”
“I—”
“I could have killed him. I could have killed him, and I would have been free. I would’ve been able to finally learn about my people and my purpose out of the shadows.”
“There’s so much I need to tell you. That Icantell you, finally. That dagger wasn’t going to do what you thought it would.”
I raised a hand, and Daelon watched cautiously as I reached it toward his chest. Fiery energy welled up in my palm, and I didn’t stop it from breaking forth through the air. I wanted him to feel exactly what I’d felt the moment I realized he’d betrayed me. I watched as he sputtered and grasped his chest, reading this shattering emotion as if it were his own.
I breathed in shallowly, preparing for the worst. If he was the man who agreed I needed to be put in my place, then here was his opportunity.
Instead, he was motionless and silent, looking at me with dark eyes that were filled more with sadness and shame than any kind of spite. He took in a deep breath, recovering from the burst of my own pain I sent into his heart.
“Get out,” I repeated, slower and firmer. I had nothing more to say.
He blinked, nodding before he recoiled from me and stood. “I really do love you. More than anything in this world.”
“You have a fucked-up way of showing it.”
“Don’t lose yourself in this place. It’s easy to do. You are still our hope.You have friends where you least expect them.”
