Page 103 of The Dark Rising
I turn and run down the hall, going toward the steps that will take me outside, that will take me away from here right now.
Feet slap against the stone behind me, and I increase my speed, getting to the steps and running down them three, four at a time. Reaching the door at the bottom, I open it and slam it shut behind me, ignoring Darius’s shouts as I head for the willows.
Shoving open the gate with him hot on my heels, I throw a barrier up behind me and keep going. I hear him growl, but I continue on, the grass tickling my feet as I go.
“Rhea, just wait,” Darius calls.
“Get the fuck away from me,” I shout back, and then his barrier appears ahead of me.
I slow my gait, my chest heaving as I walk to the barrier and place my hands against it.
Nothing, not even a crack.
I growl and spin toward Darius who stands a little ways away from me, his brows furrowed. “Are you done?”
My eyes harden. “You had no right!”
“I did. We are not hiding anything from each other any more.”
“That was private.” Those were my memories of my childhood. No matter how horrid it was, it was mine.
Darius shakes his head, his nostrils flaring. “I told you I want to know everything where you are concerned.”
“So what? That makes it okay for you to do that?” I scoff and wipe a tear angrily as it falls. I should have known he would go looking for it, should have hidden it better. Darius will always get what he wants, regardless of his words. Though he is right, he did say for now. But this can’t go on. No matter the blood oath, there is no trust, and any trust that existed, he’s broken it. I can’t keep doing this.
So with that thought in mind, I ask him what I’ve wanted to know but have been too scared to up until now.
“Did you know?” I ask him suddenly. He tilts his head. “You know all sorts about me, it’s about time I knew something about you. Did. You. Know?!”
“Know what, little wolf,” he murmurs, but his eyes flash, looking off to the side.
“No more secrets, huh?” I scoff and turn to walk away, but a rope around my waist halts me. I look down and see his magic warping around me, holding firm but not hurting. I try to move it with my own, try to get it off me and I’m yet again unable to do so, just like his barrier.
“Darius,” I say, praying for sanity… I’m about to lose my mind. “Get. Off. Me.” I turn and see his pacing ramping up. His feet land on the grass more heavily, and he scowls at the ground as his arms swing aggressively with his walk. Stalks start to turn brittle, darkening in color, almost like they are… dying.
“Ask me and I will tell you. No more secrets, no more…hiding.”
“Hiding from me, or you?” I snap, and he shakes his arms out.
“Ask.” He doesn’t look at me as he paces, and I’ve never seen him so… uncomfortable maybe? Nervous? But this is Darius, he doesn’t feel these things.
“When you saw me in The Deadlands, did you know I was an Heir?” I watch him carefully, waiting for his answer.
“Not at first, but I suspected,” he says, and I blow out a breath. “I figured it out when you asked me to protect your family in the cave. Though I still didn’t know I was an Heir at the time, I just... knew. Felt you were one.” And yet he still didn’t out me, I outed myself. Why?
“And this?” I ask, moving my hand over the center of my arm. My fingers dig into my skin, not wanting him to answer, but I have to know.”
Darius looks over at me, at where my hand is and something flashes in his gaze before his pacing becomes longer.
“Did I know?” he asks, but I think it’s more to himself as his fists clench at his side. “I didn’t know until you said so.”
My eyes close briefly, and something like relief fills me that at least he didn’t know. It doesn’t make it better, but it doesn’t make it worse either. Runa lies down inside of me, head resting on her paws, but I can feel her anxiety, feel her tension.
“Would it have mattered at all if you knew? I wonder aloud and Darius stops, turning to face me. “Would you still have done what you did?”
He swallows roughly and thinks for a moment, then he shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
My heart drops, and I nod, a scoff coming from me. “Of course you don’t know. You’re the Alpha of the Elites, the Highers’ dogs, nothing else matters than that.”
