Page 43 of Eclipse of Fate
“It can’t be all bad…I mean, it’s not like you have a big family reunion to go to. You met all that's left.” I chuff. She’s not wrong, but hell if it isn’t kind of sad. My eyebrows draw in, and I look to the ground. “I know you and Dax don’t get along, and I don’t know why—that’s your business, not mine. But listen, he and Trent are good Fae. Maki too. And I have a feeling that you aren't as bad as you seem.” That brings a smirk to my lips, but she doesn't say anything to tell me she notices. “Dax will be…well, I guess he is the king, but I know he will be a great one. If you only knew him...the real him, not the version he wants people to see…” She shakes her head, her words trailing off and a smile tugging atthe scars on her face. Though I only see a fraction of them in the dimly lit night sky and in the angle of how she looks down at me. I've noticed she tends to do that. Angles herself just right so that when she's talking to people, they don’t stare at her scars. I want to ask what happened to cause them, but I know she wouldn't tell me. Now’s not the time.
“Dax and I have our issues, but don’t doubt that he will be a great king one day.” She hops down from the branch sinking into the sand and starts to fall forward, so I reach out to stop her from eating sand.
“Look who’s landing gracefully now…” I laugh.
“Don’t touch me.” She yanks her arm from my grip, and pins me with a look, but it’s not hate I see in her eyes. It’s vulnerability. Much like me, I can see that is a hard emotion for her to handle.
“You didn’t have a problem with me touching you before.” I smirk, stepping close to her, my tongue coming out to wet my bottom lip as though I'm tasting just how I touched her before. Even in the darkness of night, I see the pink rise into her cheeks, and it does something to me. I clear my throat, not knowing what to do with the emotion, and look away.
“I didn’t need your help.” Her voice is smaller than I’ve ever heard it, and the line between my brows deepens. She rolls her eyes, looking away from me, but she doesn't try to create space between us. “Look, I came out here to be alone, but I just want you to know that the Ravendene brothers are like my own brothers, and they are good Fae. You are their family, and they respect blood. But more than that? They respect those who keep their word. You offered yourself to Raelle, did you not? As her shield?” The fact is known now? I didn’t realize anyone other than Raelle and Dax were aware.
“Of course I did, and I’d do it again. Everything I’ve done is to see Raelle crowned in her rightful place as queen. Being a Ravendene doesn’t change anything. If anything, it solidifies my union with the crown. I haven’t even had a minute alone to talk with Dax. He refuses. His temper flares any time I’m around.” I say as I strike my hand through my hair, tousling it again. Leaving some falling forward into my eyes. She looks sidelong at me and rolls her eyes.
“Well, to his defense, you make yourself soeasyto like… especially when you tell Dax,the kingand fuckingnaturalshadow wielder, to‘fuck off’during a meeting, when he tells you to respect the queen, hismate.” She’s shaking her head and then pins me with an unamused smirk.
“I never claimed to be perfect.” I say as I walk out toward the water and leave her behind me. She scoffs.
“I’m pretty sure you actually have,” I grin, but wipe it away with my thumb before I turn back to see that she followed me.
“Look, I've lived a long time not giving two shits about what people think of me and not needing to impress a godsdamned one. I guess that’s one of the perks of being a dead man.” I grin, but it dies on my lips when I see the seriousness in Kait’s eyes. “It's hard to get used to, you know? Being alone for so long and then walking into this family that you have all built together.”
My brows cinch together as I realize how vulnerable I’m making myself. In front of this female, I owe nothing. Someone who I’ve shared a kiss, but have shared more insults than pleasantries. I don’t understand why I feel compelled to tell her any of this, but I continue regardless.
“Even before when I was‘alive’and around Ambriel and my parents… I never felt like I truly had anyone. My magic was different; I was a shifter, but none of them were. I wasdifferent…WhenI got my wings, it was the first time I felt truly happy. Being in the sky was like a freedom I didn't know I was missing, but that feeling died as quickly as I felt it because of the look on my Pa’s face. I felt like an outsider, even more so after seeing the devastation behind his eyes. Through that and many other things, I guess I grew a tough exterior. It's hard to just get past that.”
Kait strides right up to me. For a moment there, the intensity and determination in her eyes… I think she’s going to shatter my shell and steal a kiss from me like I did her. Instead, she stops only a breath away and places a hand on my chest, right in the center above my heart, atop the shield mark. I freeze. Rooted to the ground like a godsdamn tree, looking into her Creale sea—blue eyes.
“If you want to be accepted into this unkindness, Alaric,” Her voice is thick like honey as she leans in, tilting her head back and closer to my down turned face. I feel her breath fan over my lips, and I find myself transfixed in the ocean eyes that stare back at me, then flicking to the perfect bow of her lip. Her scent engulfs me in honey and musky earth, and I swallow hard, still frozen in place. She really is beautiful. The scars on her face only prove to show the world how fierce and strong she is, which only adds to her beauty. When she speaks again, her words snap through my mind like the clang of swords. “You need to stop being a dick.” I blow out a breath, stepping back. I shake my head, and kick it back in an unrestrained laugh. It feels so natural that it catches me off guard, and I purse my lips to stop. Kait looks at me like she’s never seen me before, and I guess in a way she hasn’t seen this version. And if I’m being honest, it feels good to allow myself a moment to be me again. The me I once was back when I was younger.
I take a step forward toward her and her tongue rolls out, wetting her lips. Her eyes flick between mine—
“Hey, you fuckers. What are you doing out here? You know the tide is going to come rushing in any minute?” Trent yells, hovering above us and over the crashing waves behind me.
“Hey you fucker, I can fly too, remember?” I mock him, taking a step away from Kait, I wink and let my wings snap out from my back. Kait’s gaze shifts down as she sees me retreat back into myself at Trent’s arrival. I'm grateful for his interruption. I can’t let this moment of weakness change me into some fucking soft bastard whocares.
“Maki wants us to all sit down for dinner. Come on.” He says again, turning and taking off for the castle.
“You heard him,” I say, and I don’t give her the option to deny. I scoop her up in my arms, and she curses, wrapping her hands around my neck. She holds on tight, and I laugh into the night sky as I race as fast as I can to catch up with Trent.
“Dick.” She spits the word with her venomous tongue, but the smile on her face is all I need to see to know she doesn't mean it, and something I don’t want to admit to within me curses at the realization. It's too fucking late. I think I started caring the moment she spit her venom at the tavern.
“If you want it, all you have to do is ask, little creature.” I chuckle.
Chapter thirty-seven
My prison has beenupgraded to a drafty room in the castle, but the chill from the dungeon hasn’t left my bones. The bed I lay on bites at my body just as hard as the stone floor. The thread-thin mattress dips in the center from use, and it causes my body to cramp. The ache in my muscles isn’t from the condition of where I’ve been kept, though. It’s been days since Thames visited my chamber to give me the dark shadow magic. Days since I’ve felt the relief and pleasure of their caress. I swear she gets off on my pain.
Cold air blows through the cracks in the stone walls, sending an aching shiver to roll down my spine. Gritting my teeth, I roll over, pulling the thin, rough cotton sheet over my shivering body all the way up to my chin. Sweat collects on my forehead and stings my eyes as the beads drip into them. Squeezing them shut, I use thefabric to wipe my face, just as another wracking shudder takes my body under its control.
My dry mouth suddenly begins to water, and the shiver works its way to my jaw as it begins to chatter. My stomach roils, even though it’s nearly empty of any sustenance, causing a stabbing pain that has me clenching my arms around my abdomen. “Ughhhh,” I groan loudly, the sound echoing off the walls.
Jerking my body upright, I grab the pail that has been left at my bedside for this precise reason. Bringing it in close, I hunch over it as the wrenching takes me into its clutches. The small amount I have in my stomach is lost to the bucket, and then only spasms of my muscles remain. I dry heave so hard that I feel my veins are bulging in my face and neck. I don’t even notice that Thames has entered the room until she speaks.
“Pitiful. Just look at you.”
I have no energy to say anything back to her. Instead, I slump back in the bed. My muscles no longer want to work for me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sort of weakness before in my entire life. I release my grip on the bucket, and it falls to the floor, spilling at the edge of my bed, and splashing up toward where she stands at a small table in the corner.
“Damnit, you fucking shadow junkie,” She hisses, lifting her cloak. “I should have known you’d be like this. Weak minds can’t handle this sort of magic…” She groans, “Flynn!” Her voice echoes through the small room and through my aching head, but the name causes my brows to dip. He’s the reason I’m in here. I’ll fucking kill him. Only I can’t. I’m just what she said—pitiful. He walks into the prison that is mine, his blue eyes snapping to me where I’m puddling on the bed and widening at the corners as he takes in the condition I’m being kept in, as though he cares. Ballingmy hand into a fist, I wipe my mouth on the back of it, and I keep my eyes locked with his..
