Page 8 of The Coveted
My vision grew tunneled, and his voice sounded far away. I knew I was trapped in the current of anger now, past the point of no return. This was the part of my power that was a hindrance; with more access came more opportunity for me to get overwhelmed by it all. I resisted thinking about all the techniques Daelon taught me to ground myself, as the memories of our training sessions only made it worse. My palms grew warm, aching to release all of this fire.
“You need to calm down. I don’t know how much I can conceal the power you’re emanating right now, and Lucius doesn’t want people noticing. Which is unrealistic as it is.”
“Why don’t you tell me to calm down again? Because thatreallyhelped.”
He rolled his eyes, and before I could move away, he reached for me again, clasping his strong hands around my shoulders as he locked his gaze with mine. He strained against the turbulent waves, and pain rippled through his eyes.
I fought against him only with my physical body, unable, in spite of it all, to use the full brunt of my power against him. “Let go.”
“No.”
My power coiled around us like a spitting cobra, and I began to tune in to Daelon’s aura—or, rather, his lack of one—and the way his shielding gift felt so solid against my own fluid, chaotic energy. His magickal signature, cool and neutralizing, wrestled with my own.
I couldn’t think clearly. Everyone’s coded and conflicting words and all of my unanswered questions ricocheted around my skull, and it all became just too much. I couldn’t find my footing or anything substantial to grab a hold of.
But I felt Daelon, holding on to me even as I fought him. I knew he wanted me to let him in, but I couldn’t without thinking of the last time I did. I saw our time together roll through like a tsunami—his hands on my bare skin, him begging me to trust him despite my doubts. We had told each other we’d never felt the way we did, not for anyone else. He made me feel like I belonged to him, and him to me.
It was the only way to keep up the charade,I heard Daelon tell Lucius.It was the natural progression of things.
I saw the look of icy detachment in his eyes before he left me in this foreign room. Then a vision of his possessive gaze whenever he saw me naked, each time like it was the first. I saw myself choking on saltwater from my ocean of energy, Daelon pulling me out of the darkness and bringing me back to life.
I saw him in real time, straining against my power even though it was hurting him. I heard crackling and spitting, and my vision was overcome by a brightness all around us. Was I actually burning this castle to the ground? Lucius would surely kill me, now.
In my panic, I let Daelon in. I couldn’t fight him any longer. Or maybe I didn’t want to.
Surrounded by flames both metaphorical and physical, I allowed myself to tune in to what he wanted to show me. He was giving me an anchor, a frequency of stability I could tap into in this raging storm. I heard the hiss of flames extinguishing, and my spinning thoughts settled and stilled. I had to surrender, at least for this one moment. I leaned into his desire to soothe me.
When I finally opened my eyes, there was no sign of fire. It was just the fluidity and suggestibility of this world playing tricks on me yet again. Daelon was staring at me, his brows creased in concentration. I felt weak, disoriented by the forces that had just moved through and threatened to overtake me.
He moved his hands from my shoulders, slowly down my arms. His grounding energy recoiled with him as he pulled his hands back. I caught one of his wrists in mine, turning his hand over to inspect the blistering red. “I burned you.” I looked from the burns to his eyes.
“I deserved it.”
I sighed, taking hold of his other hand, and whispered, “Heal.”I steadied my intent, allowing the frequency to move through me. The redness faded at my will.
Daelon studied me, his hands returning to his sides. “You’re trembling. Sit down.” Emotionally and physically, I was completely drained. “Please,” he added, knowing I was in no mood to be ordered around by him.
I ignored his request, weary to the bone of all of this… and him. “I want to be alone. You need to leave.”
He nodded. “Okay. Just think about what I said.”
This was eerily similar to Amos’s words when he told me to reconsider how I was feeling about Daelon. I was doubtful that was a coincidence. It seemed he was working all angles to get me to trust him again.
I crossed my arms over my chest, realizing I was, in fact, shaking. I needed more to eat after my unintentional hunger strike.
“I’m going to find a way to make you feel safe with me again, I promise. I just need time to… access it.”
Access what?I wanted to ask. But I stayed silent, refusing to give him the satisfaction of my interest. Instead, I watched him disappear through the bedroom door.
“People are starting to ask questions, and the gossip is getting out of control,” Taryn explained as we sat on the couch by the fire. Her role as my keeper seemed to be permanent, which didn’t actually bother me as much as it might’ve if it had been anyone else.
I was still reeling from the conversations with Amos and Daelon a few days ago. I hadn’t seen either of them since. I hadn’t seen anyone but Taryn, actually. Despite what was stirring in my intuition, I still hadn’t found a way to fully regain trust in myself, let alone trust in Daelon. I couldn’t even visit my meditative ocean without choking and nearly drowning in its waters, just as I had before Daelon trained me in control.
“So?” I finally asked, quirking a brow. “Why should I care what anyone here thinks?”
“Because…” she said long and drawn out, annoyed at my tone that admittedly had nothing to do with her. “Lucius wants you to acclimate to castle life and put all the talk to rest. You need to start making appearances in court.”
“I don’t know what that even means.” I’d seen a couple cheesy period pieces before about European royalty, but I doubted this strange and foreign culture—a blend of the modern, traditional, and magickal—held any resemblance. Maybe my anthropology degree would actually come in handy after all, despite what people on Earth liked to tell me. Learning this place would be more interesting than any ethnographic fieldwork I’d ever heard of.
