Page 39 of Blazing Desires
I pull out the chair next to her father and turn to Davina for the first time since we entered. My breath catches in my throat. She looks ethereal in this light. The sun is setting and the warm light caresses her and catches fire. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
But her eyes give her away. I can tell she's trying to keep a neutral face and to the others in the room, it's probably working. I have been staring at her for most of the last few days and I can see the tension in her eyes. The fear.
It brings the raging beast in my chest back to the edges of its cage, pacing like a mad animal at a zoo. I rip my eyes away and gesture for her to sit with my hand, not trusting my voice.
Fuck, get it together shithead.
She takes her seat, graceful as ever as I tuck it in. Once she’s seated, I take two steps back so I’m within an arm’s length of her should shit hit the fan. Her father’s gaze burns into my head, but my eyes are on her and scanning the room in intervals.
“Back to the wall, Blaze,” her father commands "There’s plenty of security here to keep my darling daughter safe, don't you think?"
He tilts his head, not a hair out of place as he lets his order sink in. The urge to disregard it is so strong that it reverberates in my bones. He's expecting me to disobey, maybe even wants me to. This is a test, seeing as I've pushed his authority since I arrived. There’s also no doubt snivelly Noel ratted on me if his smug expression is anything to go by.
So, I do the opposite and step back until I feel the roses at my back, never turning as I do. I can sense the disappointment in the room from almost everyone. It looks like I've not made any friends here, but I couldn't give a shit. I'm not here for that anyway.
Mr. Elodie turns his attention back to his daughter. With the way the table is angled, he can't reach her from where he’s sitting. It’s the only comfort I have while being this far away from her. I don't know what he's done to her, but she's afraid of him.
"Davina, darling, how has your day been?" His tongue coats the words with an acrid sweetness like burnt sugar.
"It’s been nice, father."
She doesn’t mumble or trip over her words. They ring clear and calm.
That's my girl.
"Are you not going to ask me how mine has been? Tsk tsk!"
He wags his finger back and forth while he berates her like a child. I lock my muscles into place, not trusting myself to stay over here while the urge to break every bone in his hand coursesthrough me. There are too many eyes on me, waiting for me to move.
"Sorry, father. It's just that this room always reminds me of mum, and I got distracted. How was your day?"
I watch him closely for a reaction, scanning for even a hint of emotion to flit across his face.There. A flash of disgust that he quickly replaces with feigned sadness.
"My day was going well until you mentioned your dear mother. She left us, darling. I hope that wherever she rests her head she isn't alone. Not like how she left us."
His lying tongue softens the words as he swirls the amber liquid in his crystal tumbler around. Davina says nothing in response. She simply nods once, agreeing with his deceitful words.
She doesn't know.
Relief courses through me. It’s unlikely she has any idea what he's done, but there had been a small seed of doubt trying to bloom in my mind that she knew and had been hiding it from me.
I don’t doubt you anymore, love.
“She always did have her head in the clouds, your mother and her friend Amélie.”
My spine stiffens, muscles staying locked in place until they burn. My lungs stop working as rage pinpricks across my skin. I don't move. On the outside, I look the same—years of training have enabled me to not show any signs of emotion or reaction, and I sure as shit won't be giving this bastard anything. On the inside, though, I’m a swirling cloud of black death, a beast that wants to be unleashed to wreak havoc upon the ground I walk on. This is my chance to discover if he knows who I am.
He may be the devil, but I am death itself. And I will take this man's life. Everything he has ever thought important will beturned to ash by my hand. He will die knowing I was the loose end he could never find.
“Da—"
Davina is cut off by her father roaring at her, “enough!”
Before I can move fast enough to reach her side, he rears back from the table, tipping the wooden chair he’d been sitting on seconds ago with the momentum. He slams the crystal tumbler on the table.
Time slows as dark amber liquid splashes and seeps over the edge, dripping onto the floor. The glass shatters upon impact and splinters off in every direction. Thousands of tiny crystal shards fall through the air, glittering in the ambient glow of the room, making it truly a summery version of a snow globe.
I'm striding towards Davina, my long legs eating up the distance as I watch her flinch in slow motion. Standing in between her and her father, I pull her out of her seat and behind me. Placing her hands on my waist and backing us towards the door with my pistol in one hand and a long knife in the other. Once Davina is caged in behind me, I scan the room, looking every fucker in the eye. All I see staring back are the faces of wolves, ready to tear us apart.
