Page 17 of The Coveted
“What’s our next move, then?” I asked, at the same moment someone entered the room. I jerked my head around, relieved to see it was Daelon. But it wasDaelon—the man I tried to seduce while all hyped up on magickal witch potionandthe man who betrayed me—so I stiffened.
Amos’s face lit up. Then again, I imagined it always lit up no matter who it was. “Daelon, what a delight. Sit, sit.” Daelon did as he was told, grabbing a cushion and plopping down next to us like he’d done it a million times before. “I sense tension.”
That was the understatement of the century, on all levels. But with everything we’d been discussing it seemed a lot more trivial than it had before. There were much bigger things at play.
“Are you going to show her?” Amos asked tentatively, locking eyes with Daelon.
He nodded, turning his attention to me. “How are you feeling?”
That wasn’t something I thought I could answer in its entirety. Words weren’t enough. “Better,” I managed. I waited in nervous anticipation for whatever it was he’d been planning on showing me—something he thought would make me understand why he did what he did.
“Are you ready to dive deep again?” Daelon asked, and I knew he was referring to the trust in my power that had been broken. Overwhelming emotions prevented me from being able to swim in that ocean of energy without drowning.
But I felt stronger now, more in control. I shot a look at Amos, who gave an encouraging nod.
“Yes. I’m ready,” I said.
Daelon reached out both of his hands in the space between us, his palms faced up. “I need to show you a memory. A memory I’ve had to keep buried for a long time. I couldn’t think about it if I wanted to survive, but I’ve realized that it has been the driving force behind everything I’ve ever done.”
He looked at Amos, and I could feel their bond reflected through his pure white and lavender aura. There was only love and understanding, without judgment. He said he’d helped Daelon find himself—another piece of the puzzle falling into place.
I placed my hands in his and followed the sound of Daelon’s voice as he led us into a deep trance. Then, for the first time, he truly let me inside his mind. I knew I didn’t have full rein, but still. Daelon’s walls had always been tall and sturdy, and the only times I’d tried to sneak through he’d pushed me out decisively. The room spun away, and soon we took shape within his memory.
The smell of smoke filled my lungs, and a little boy running through a burning house came into focus. Daelon and I stood together, following him as passive observers. Soon I realized that the little boy was Daelon, and I was viewing the whole memory I’d once only caught a glimpse of—where he was running through the streets, calling for his mom—and as soon as he’d found someone the memory turned dark and spit me right back out.
Now, I gripped adult-Daelon’s hand as we followed the boy. I saw his father send him away with his final breath, and then I saw my mothers on that very familiar beach with Daelon’s mother. They said they wanted to see him before they escaped, and Momma Celeste was very pregnant. Pregnant withme. Tears pricked my eyes as I watched.
“I’ve seen things in the waves. Things that are to come. Your purpose is not to protect us, sweet boy. It’s to protect someone who will lead you back to us,” Daelon’s mom explained, and those words pierced through me like a dagger. I felt Daelon’s hand tighten around mine.
“You are going to have to live among enemies for a long while, but you mustn’t lose hope. We will never leave you, even when you can’t see us anymore.You will not be alone. There will be others of us, living in the shadows. You will find a way to survive until you find your reason to hope again. Do you understand?”
I saw her transfer some kind of magick to him, and then he begged her wordlessly to let him protect her. But she sent him away, just as his father had.
In a whoosh we were on the streets I’d seen in my ocean of energy, where young Daelon was trying to run back to his mother. I looked up at adult Daelon, but he was too engrossed in the memory. His jaw was set, and raw emotion swam in his dark eyes.
Then, a young boy and his mother appeared. He said he had a feeling and asked if they couldkeep him.I gasped as Daelon’s story finally all made sense. I watched as his younger self took young Lucius’s hand, and in a burst of light, all three disappeared.
My eyes fluttered open back in Amos’s living area to meet Daelon’s, and I couldn’t find it within myself to let go of his hands. My chest felt like it was splitting open; the layers of hardness that had grown over my heart after the betrayal began to melt away.
Daelon swallowed. He slowly looked from the floor up to meet my eyes. “Like I told you back at the cabin, I’ve had to do a lot of terrible things for the greater good. And for a while, I lost myself. I lost sight of the big picture. I buried that memory and the knowledge my mother planted deep inside me, and I just tried to survive. Amos helped me to go inside myself and find it again. All we knew was that there was a girl, hidden in the human realm, who Lucius sensed had an insane amount of power, but she was sent away and hidden by her mothers’ sacrifice. Our coven—yoursand mine—found a way to channel enough power to set a plan in motion for the future, to protect their children, to help us infiltrate the King’s City and castle, to find a way to preserve their ways and traditions, and to guide us back to them. It’s like they teamed up with the Universe to fight back. When Amos saw that you were out there, soon to break your mothers’ protective seal over your magick, we set it all in motion.”
I looked down at my bare wrist where my mothers’ silver bracelet had been for so long. It had suppressed my power until I was ready for it again. I broke its spell when I needed to use it to save my friend Rena from being hit by a cab.
Suddenly the deepest parts of our instant connection made so much sense. He felt like home because hewashome. We didn’t just have parallel pasts, we had the same past—different characters in the exact same story who were always destined to come back together again.
“We knew we needed to convince the King that you were of more use to him alive than dead. He was paranoid and jealous, convinced you were out for his throne. A weapon created by a list of enemies a mile long. It took many nights to plant the idea in his head, to encourage it without pushing, to influence his dreams and his moods. We risked our lives because of that one memory—my mother telling me it was my purpose not to protectthem,butyou.” His voice faltered, pain flashing through his eyes.
“I couldn’t tell you any of that at the cabin. I wish I could’ve, but it was too risky. You were untrained and still easily manipulated by your emotions, and I couldn’t risk the anger consuming you, or you running away, or accidentally letting Lucius know about any of this. He would’ve been able to use your emotions against you so easily, as you’ve seen firsthand, and the entire plan would’ve fallen apart before it had a chance. I felt guided by something greater than myself, and I knew I had to follow that intuition. You were always meant to bring hope with you to this place. To convince Lucius that he was still completely in control and triumphant, my betrayal needed to be real and brutal. Because now he doesn’t see any of us as the threat that we are. A simple dagger wouldn’t have killed Lucius, but it sure would’ve killedyou.”
Time seemed to stop as I just stared at Daelon, barely conscious of our audience. His words spun a familiar web, reminding me of everything I’d learned since I’d left the human realm. It was in the fragments of memories from my childhood and the words my mothers whispered to me in my visions and dreams. There really was this grand plan, this web of stories and events and spells and signs… and it was all connected.
Daelon watched me, seeming to hold his breath as I processed through so many thoughts. All of our time together finally made sense. Everything he’d said about feeling called to protect and help me, his begging for me to trust him when things inevitably became dark, and his insistence that he would always be on my side.
“Betraying your trust and keeping so many secrets from you broke my heart more than anything I’ve ever had to do, not since my parents sent me to live among enemies.” He rubbed his thumb against the top of my hand, and the walls he usually hid behind had long since crumbled. “I don’t know if I will ever truly forgive myself for what I did to you, even if it was a part of some great, cosmic plan. The image of you in that bed after we kidnapped you, when you looked at me like I’d abandoned you, like you thought I’d never loved you at all… that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
My heart swelled in my chest, tears springing to my eyes. Here I’d thought that I was the only one haunted by that memory. I’d never once thought to consider how Daelon felt. I couldn’t see past the front he had to bear for Lucius. But Daelon had always been so respectful and cautious with me. He’d fought our instant chemistry from day one, knowing all along it would only hurt me more when he had to turn me over to Lucius. But I pushed it because it was what I wanted and needed; it was an undeniable force just as strong as his call to protect me.
I swallowed, finally finding my will to speak. “It can’t haunt you for the rest of your life. I won’t let it. Because I—I forgive you,” I said quietly. The words slid off my tongue so slowly at first, and then all at once. “I believe you, Daelon. I was hurt, and the effects of that will linger, but I understand now. I just needed to step back and see the story from all angles. Thank you for showing me. I know it was painful for you.”AndI love you too,I wanted to say, finally. But I didn’t. Not yet.
