Page 139 of The Dark Rising
“Not for you to worry, my dear. I think I can handle a few pesky creatures that come out of the below, especially with what you are about to give me.”
I raise my head, and with a strength I didn’t know I could have right now, I look toward the center of the platform where she hangs. The hooded figures raised their arms above their heads, and swirls of red come from their fingertips, flowing toward where she is. Darius tenses.
The man in the center cups her cheek next, having floated up to her at some point, and I can see the hate in her eyes. “You were always supposed to choose me, you know. If you had, perhaps this wouldn’t have happened, and I would have waited for your replacement instead.”
“Don’t you dare touch–”
Me. She was going to say me. I whimper when a blade at her throat stops her from saying my name, and Darius hauls me closer, concern written all over his face.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be touching anyone anytime soon. I have things I am required to prepare for.”
I fall to my knees, watching as the blood flows from her body, but she still finds the strength to speak as her Heir markings appear on her face.
“I curse those who commit wrongs against me and mine. I curse those who steal what is not freely given to feel pain and suffering over time. I curse these lands until its last days. His hounds will hunt and gather and kill all who did an injustice against the line.”
I shake against Darius, he’s murmuring words to me but I can’t hear him as I watch light shoot out of her markings and up into the night sky.
“No!” the man roars, and then the blade slices through her neck in one swift strike. I scream, clawing at Darius as I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to banish what I just saw.
“Rhea!” Darius shouts, and I’m picked up as light shines behind my closed lids. I can hear shouting and panicked voices, and then hands are touching me while Darius growls and snarls at them all. “Back off!”
I bite down into Darius’s shoulder as I scream, scratching at his neck, wanting to hide, wanting it to stop, wanting to never see what I just witnessed. I’m jostled, and then I’m placed on something soft as Darius’s body surrounds me, all of me. I’m trapped between him and the furs beneath me in a cocoon.
“What’s wrong, little wolf, tell me.” I cry into him, and his power coats me, cooling me and seeping into my skin. I take a ragged breath, gasping for air as he tries to calm me down.
“Rhea, tell me, now.” I can hear panic in his voice.
I loosen my bite in his shoulder. “It…it.” I can’t even say it, I don’t want to.
“What, Rhea.” He guides my head away from him, holding my face in his palms as his nostrils flare. “Little wolf, tell me what’s wrong, I will make it better.”
He can’t, he never can.
“The woman,” I gasp, holding on to his shoulders tightly.
“In the memory?” I nod.
“She’s,” I hiccup. “She’s my mom.”
Fifty Three
Rhea
That’swheretheymusthave taken her after they knocked me out, to that ruined place. I had always wondered what had happened, only knowing that she died because of the Highers, but to actually know the truth? It is even more devastating. They killed her like that, and also killed my dad in what they deemed a hunting accident.
“Fuck,” Darius says as he hovers above me, his eyes wild. “Fuck, Rhea, that’s why I thought it was you.” His eyes go hazy, likes he’s looking straight through me before he shakes his head.
“That’s not important right now.” I sniffle, and he closes his eyes briefly.
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have had to see that.”
I rub my eyes, they feel puffy and scratchy. “I had always wondered,” I croak out, my throat feeling raw. “They told me that she was dead, along with my father, this confirmed it.”
His hand comes up to move some hair out of my face. “Charles was responsible for their deaths.”
“He was,” I agree. He was the male to slit her throat. I gag, and Darius sits me up, and then a cup of water is in front of me.
“Take little sips.” I do, slowly drinking it slowly. I look around and realize we are in his room. He must have thought taking me somewhere quiet is what I needed. He wasn’t wrong.
