Page 102 of The Dark Rising
But my heart still hurts, and unfortunately, the one who hurt it is the only one who can fix it.
Thirty Seven
Rhea
Ilookdownatthe bite mark on my wrist and run my fingers over it, feeling the magic within tingling. Does it make me feel better knowing it’s there? I’m not sure.
I sigh and look at yet another lesia flower on the table, two this time, and I’m yet again left wondering where Darius got them from, or why he keeps bringing me fresh ones.
I’m not complaining, I love seeing them, and love the smell perforating the air. But I’m still left with the reasoning why he’s doing this.
I huff and get dressed, knowing I’ve slept far later into the early afternoon after what happened yesterday.
That thought brings me back to Runa as I don another one of Darius’s t-shirts.
She’s quiet, no more than usual, but it almost feels like she’s… sulking.
I wish she would have come to me instead of kicking me and Darius out, I could have seen her, apologized for not protecting her as I should have all those years ago.
But she shut me out.
I guess I should feel lucky that I was even able to be in the same space as her. I didn’t even know it was possible to be inside my own mind. Though I shouldn’t be surprised as I ended up doing that to Darius.
It felt so real though, like we were in a different space, which I guess we were. It wasn’t like we were an apparition or projected there somehow, no. I felt everything in there as if I was still on the lands. I know that to be true after Darius fucked me and then we gave each other a blood oath. I look down at the bite mark again and will it to disappear. It does at my command, as easy as thinking, just like with the scars upon my body.
The room suddenly begins to shake, and I wobble, reaching a hand out on the bed to steady myself.
The windows rattle, and cracks form in the floor. The glass holding the lesia flower wobbles and falls over, rolling until it smashes, the water spilling.
My brows furrow as I look at it, then I look to the door when I feel the power this commotion is coming from.
Moving on wobbly legs, I rush out the door and down the hallway, holding onto the wall for balance as the shaking intensifies. I hear shouts from somewhere, but I pay it no mind as I follow the invisible tether to the holder of that power.
I round a corner and come to a halt, noticing where it’s coming from. It’s like a concentrated well of magic, just ready to burst free from the door it hides behind.
Clenching my teeth as his dominance hits me next, my own rises to hold his off. Someone shouts in alarm in the direction of the stairs when another wave passes through the floor, and I move to the door, putting my hand on the handle and shove open the door.
Mist crawls along the floor in waves. It spreads out, but then recedes before repeating the motion. Every time it crawls out, the room shudders, as does most of the keep by the sound of people in distress.
My eyes snap to Darius as his body is coated in a fine sheen of black. His markings are apparent on his neck, and two larger masses spread above each of his shoulders.
“Darius, what—“ I start to say, but I immediately pause as I follow where his eyes are glued. They look glazed over, unfocused, but not. When I track them to the book he’s holding, I gasp at the symbol on it.
Darius’s head snaps up, his brows furrowed until he blinks. My heart hammers inside my chest at what he’s doing, at what he’s done.
“Rhea,” he mumbles, looking down at the book and then back to me.
I’m already shaking my head, my legs feeling weak at what he’s done.Trust.That’s what he said, and yet he went digging, finding the book I tried to hide so hard to hide from everyone, from him. And yet here he is, betraying that trust again and now he’s read some of it. Read what they did to me.
“Rhea,” he says again, letting the book hang loosely by his side in his grip.
“How could you,” I mutter, my stomach swirling with nausea. “You said you would drop it.”
“I said I would drop itfor now, little wolf.”
“You still had no right!” I shout, my body shaking with the need to move, to get out of his sight with the look in his eyes. I take a step back.
“Don’t you dare— “
