Page 66 of The Dark Rising
That hand still strokes my hair, running his fingers over the front of my forehead before moving back to the base of my neck, rubbing gently before repeating.
“I won’t betray you again,” he tells me, his tone serious but it sounds far away as fog starts filling my mind. “And I won’t let you go either. Not to the Highers, not to the people, and not to the lands. You can hate me all you like, but I would rather you look at me with hate filling your pretty, little eyes than to not have them on me at all. To not see the color of crystals that hold so much within them.” The bed moves and then I’m moving, my head hitting the pillow and the furs brought over me, making sure I’m fully covered. “I’ll ask Anna for something to help with the pain.”
Then I’m alone with my thoughts as the fog burrows deeper within me. I reach out to Runa and she comes, rubbing up against me and releasing a whine that’s so full of sorrow as a tear escapes behind my closed eyes.
I know what this pain is.
It’s the price of breaking the blood link so suddenly. I read about it in the books Edward gave me once. Pain can happen straight away or it can happen up to several years down the line, returning without notice. It’s a punishment for breaking the link that’s sacred among wolves. Of what the Gods gave us.
Is Kade feeling it now that I am? Is he okay? Is he safe? Gods, I miss him so much.
More tears fall and I bury my face into the pillow. Not wanting anyone to hear me or come near me. I just want to be left alone and ride this pain out. The sooner it goes, the sooner I can begin my task.
I refuse to leave the lands without spilling the blood of those that harm it and harmed my family.
I’ll get Kade back if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do, and make sure he’s out of the Highers and our family’s clutches.
I just need their hearts to stop beating first.
One by one.
And maybe my own needs to stop for the male that has just come back and is now pressing a cup to my lips.
Twenty Five
Kade
Ijoltawake,sweatdripping from my face, and I move my hand to my head, feeling remnants of pain shoot through it. I roll to the side, watching as the sun begins to rise through the locked window of the room I’ve been staying in at Wolvorn Castle.
I don’t know how long I’ve been in this room apart from when they take me to the basement. I don’t know if it’s been a week or months. Fuck, even years. I can’t remember the feel of the wind or the freedom of being with Axis as we run through the forest. All I remember is a jumbled mess of confusing memories, thoughts and feelings, none of it makes any sense.
A knock at the door has me turning and moving to sit against the headboard of the single bed I’m in. The room only has enough space for it with a dresser to the side, and a bathroom that only has a shower and toilet. I’m not sure what part of the castle I’m in, but they tell me it’s to protect me fromher, the traitor of Vrohkaria. They tell me she will come for me, that she will hunt me down until I’m in her grasp to do with what she pleases.
My mom and dad say this is what’s best for me. That they have missed me so much and it won’t be long until they can take me home. But that feels like forever ago when they told me that, or when I even last saw them.
Being cooped up inside is not good for a wolf and Axis has been volatile toward others sometimes when they enter the room. He’s claimed this place as his territory and he will do anything to anyone who he thinks threatens to claim it.
He moves within me, prowling restlessly and snarling viciously, wanting to burst out to wander freely.
The door opens, and I sigh and look toward it, waiting for whoever will come through it.
“Time for dinner,” a feminine voice calls as Maize walks through the door, a tray of food in her hand. I look away from her out toward the window again. I don’t like her, she hurts me too. “Stop sulking,” she warns, and comes closer to the bed.
She slams the tray down next to my legs and my eyes move toward it, not even hungry as I try to keep the growl from wanting to escape. No such luck as it comes out anyway, Axis backing it as I glare at her.
“Come now, puppy,” she laughs, playing with a strand of her long, dark hair around her fingers. “I know what could calm you down.” Her demeanor suddenly changes, and she places a knee on the bed, her strapless red dress riding up her thigh as she moves a hand to my leg. I watch in disgust as she continues to crawl along the bed until she straddles my lap and I grunt, fisting my hands at my sides. If I move, she will do that thing that makes me feel like my brain will explode.
She runs a fingernail down my cheek, and another growl comes from me, a warning, but her lips tip up into a sultry smile as she wiggles over me. She moans shamelessly, rocking over me like she felt something good, yet there is no sign I would want it. My insides revolt.
I can’t hold back. I shove her hand away. “What would your precious Darius think if he could see you now?” I ask her, and she finally stills.
“My future mate will not care what I do before we are fully mated. He knows women have desires that we cannot resist.” Her voice turns into a purr that feels like shards against my skin. “You’re old enough, and I can see that you’re stressed.”
“Then let me out of this fucking room.”
“Now, why would I do that?” She runs her hands up my thighs beneath the furs and I grip her wrists, my grasp firm. “Gods, you may be old enough but you are still a petulant child I see,” she huffs, and then climbs off of me and goes toward the window, straightening her dress as she leans against it.
“I’m sick of seeing the same walls, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to fuck you to pass the time. Wouldn’t be worth it at all,” I sneer at her and her head whips around, her eyes full of anger.
