Page 115 of The Dark Rising
Walking out the room and down the hallway with the same feeling of dread laying heavy in my stomach, I open my senses and try to listen out for anything. But all is quiet.
I’m not sure where Charles would be, I’ve only ever been in this wing and the gardens out the back. The rest of the Elites still don’t even know we are here, so we have been secluded to this part of the keep. Turning down another hallway, I hear a door close, a barely-there sound, but I hear it nonetheless.
Who was that?
Freezing for a moment, I wait for anything else. When nothing comes, I creep on light feet toward where I heard the sound. Rounding a corner, I tilt my head when I hear what sounds like shuffling from one of the rooms further down. Swallowing, I take small steps, wondering if one of my pack is in there, and my eagerness at hopefully seeing one of them has me quickening my steps. When a rustle of something reaches my ears, I pause in front of the door.
I reach for the handle when a scent assaults me.
My brows furrow, and my lips peel back. The scent is familiar in a way that I can’t pinpoint. One thing is for sure, it isn’t one of my pack members, and I don’t like it.
A breathy sigh comes next, a pitch to the tone that is female, and my eyes glare holes into the door.
Without thought, I’m pushing the door open. It swings back against the wall with abang, and the figure in front of me turns, a smile on her all too familiar lips as the strap on the left side of her dress slips down her arm.
As soon as she sees me, she freezes, her eyes wide as mine blink.
“Maize?” I growl, not sure I believe what I’m seeing.
“What the fuck areyoudoing here?!“ she demands, lifting her palms as her magic comes to it, azure in color.
I look around the room. No one else is in here, and I don’t hear anyone else coming. What is she doing in here? I look down at the dress she’s wearing as rage crashes to the surface. It’s barely a scrap of material, a slit up one side high enough to see she’s not even wearing any underwear. My eyes track up the body of the dress, the dip low at her chest, her boobs barely being held in.
She moves back a step, and my eyes go to the bed. That’s where her underwear went. She has it placed in the center, and I see a damp path there. My back teeth grind as my glare settles back on her.
“What are you doing?” I growl, taking a step into the door. Memories of her being near Kade flowing through me. She hurt him.
“You shouldn’t be here!” she shouts, her magic spinning in a ball wildly. “How did you even get in here?”
“I’m right where I should be.” My hands ball into fists, and I make sure to listen for any other signs of life. In case this is some sort of trap. Why is she in this wing?
“Does Darius know you are here?” she asks, her eyes looking over my shoulder. She smirks. “Oh, isn’t this lovely. I can deliver you to him as a mating gift.”
My mind stutters. “What did you just say?”
“Oh, you poor thing,” she mocks. “You think Darius, the Alpha of the Elites, would continue slumming it with you?” She laughs, the sound cruel. “You are a traitor, he wouldn’t want to see you. Well actually, he would, he would love to whip you some more.” I flinch, but I don’t even feel it, the wordmatingrepeating over and over again. “I watched you, you know,” she says, a smug smile on her lips and I tilt my head at her, but it doesn’t feel like it’s me. It feels like something else is slowly taking over my body. “I think you saw me at one point, tried to follow me to see, but you’re too stupid to look up in the trees.” My mind goes back to the time I asked Josh where the Elites were in the Eridian forest, so sure I saw someone, and I did, her. She frowns. “I feel so bad for my Darius having to put up with you, you were like a wanton whore with him, rubbing yourself on him like the desperate bitch you are,” Maize continues as I feel the warmth of my markings as they appear on my face. Maize raises her hands. “Maybe after I restrain you, tie you to a chair as Darius finally mates with me and makes me fully his...”
His?
I look to the bad, and then back to Maize, the move feels slow, like moving through a slog. The rage inside of me, however, is fast. It’s like a volcano ready to bust, and when Maize’s mouth continues to move, a smirk upon her face. My eyes once more go back to the bed, to her underwear, then to her dress, her words.
“... He will fuck me so good, and you can watch...” I don’t hear anything else, because I’m moving. The thought of this witch touching hm, of Darius fucking her... Does he know she’s here? Does he plan to fuck her on this bed.
That volcano just erupted.
My magic comes to my palms and I send out a ball straight to her. She deflects it with her own, shock flashing across her face before anger overtakes her.
She’s angry? She hasn’t seen anything yet. She was protected behind the Highers’ barrier last time, here, she is out in the open.
Both of her hands push out at me, and I’m sent through the air, caught off guard. My back connects with the wall, and I know it should hurt, but I don’t feel it. I rise to my feet and go at her again as she cackles. A shard formed from ice comes at me next, and I dash to the side of the room, knowing it scraped against the top of my arm. Still I move forward. My magic whirls inside of me, angry and wanting to be let out, and I let it. Strands of my power burst from my body, whipping out of my hands as I reach her and grab her by the throat. she screams, her eyes becoming bloodshot as I squeeze harder and my strands begin to pierce her skin. There is no rhythm to my magic, no control of thought over their placement against her body. All I can see in my head is two bodies on the bed. One of them belonging to me, the other belonging to no one.
Darius belongs to me, and I, him. No one else touches him in that way, has him in that way.
How dare she even utter the words.
A growl I didn’t know I was capable of, rising from my throat as Runa echoes it. Throwing Maize off to the side, I look down at her as I take a step toward, feeling a sting at my side. I look down. An ice shard protrudes just under my ribs, sticking out as my blood leaks around it. I grip it in my hand, my eyes locking with Maize as I pull it out. It’s in the way. She stares at me in horror as my magic is pulled back toward me, and I feel it traveling within me, rushing to the area where I’m hurt.
She casts her hands, and in the next second, she’s on her feet with a blade made of ice.
