Page 23 of The Dark Rising
Life can be cruel and unkind, I have known that first hand, but for the Gods to tether me to him in more ways than one? It’s borderline evil.
Darius suddenly straightens, and I tense. The soft glow of his black Heir markings appears on his neck, and I brace myself for whatever will come next. Prepare to escape him from capturing me and taking me back to the Highers. Black strands of power form out of his hand as he lifts it, and I watch on in awe of it, wondering how he has so easily harnessed his power before it shoots forward suddenly, splitting off into six pieces. I plant my feet more firmly on the ground before I bring my hands up to chest-height, then spread them out. A near transparent blue and silver barrier forms before me, stretching as wide as I can make it. Making a wall of my power.
Darius’s power crashes into my barrier, and I hold steady, adding more power into it as my own markings appear. His power collides with mine and It feels so intense that I nearly drop to my knees. I lock them, but fuck, he’s strong. It’s more than that though, it’s the feeling of rightness wrongness that makes a balance as neither my wall drops and his doesn’t penetrate it.
I chance a glance over my shoulder, making sure they can’t see my pack. That’s all it took for Darius, though, because when I turn back he’s right there, in front of me. Just on the other side of my barrier. I flinch. I didn’t even hear him move. Ineverhear him fucking move.
He presses his hand against it, spreading more of that dark smoke-like mist along it like a spider’s web. I inhale sharply as his eyes flare, feeling his power against mine so closely, colliding, crashing. Like a wave meeting the sand, coexisting together. Like meeting like for the first time.
I sink into that feeling, letting it wash over me. Its euphoric, intoxication tinged with darkness. It’s… home. One I never thought I would feel, one I had buried so deep down within that now I just feel…lost. So fucking lost in how I’m supposed to handle this.
He moves a little closer, his face inches from the barrier and I press more power into it to hold him off. “Found you, little wolf.” I shiver at the same words he told me in The Deadlands. Where the lands and the below first met.
I can’t help but think how different things would have been under different circumstances. How I’m unable to help wish for it in the dark of night, under the moonlight where no one is watching, where no one can feel my pain.
Too much has happened though, too much has been done and can’t be forgiven.
“What do you want?” I whisper, a torrent of emotions swimming through my head. “What are you even doing here?” I bring my arms down to my sides, sweat coating the back of my neck as I still hold the barrier, stopping Darius and his men from getting any closer.
The latter just stands back watching, letting their Alpha deal with the traitor.
“Rhea,” he rasps, looking me over and taking me in greedily. He examines every inch of me, his ravenous gaze roaming over my body, peppering my skin with goosebumps.
He pauses at my wrists, noticing the pale, red scars wrapped around them from the terbium cuffs. I see a flicker of something in his gaze before he reaches back up to my face and takes in my markings. His eyes flash with possessiveness as he traces the delicate swirls, curves and strands, starting from the middle of my forehead then out to my temples, gently caressing my cheekbones before his gaze connects with mine, bringing a snarl to my lips.
He has no right to look at me like that, like I’msomethingto him.
He cocks his head to the side, looking over my shoulder briefly, causing me to tense. “What are you doing back in your homeland, Lasandrhea?” That name spills from his lips and I flinch, hating that name and hating him for saying it. The name that was given by my parents has forever been tainted with pain and suffering.
“That’s none of your business,” I spit out.
“I told you once that you are my business.” He lied, everything he said to me and told me in Eridian is a lie. “Kade’s not here you know,” he murmurs, and I hold back from asking where he is, locking down the emotions threatening to rise within me. “But Sarah is.”
I narrow my eyes, ignoring him. “Again, what are you doing here?”
“Rogures have been scryed here, as you have heard. They will have to wait as I have come across the traitor of Vrohkaria though.” His eyes bounce between mine when he says the wordtraitor.
I look away, grinding my teeth. I’m not a fucking traitor. I’ve done nothing to these lands, yet my blood has been spilled again and again in the name of what? A crazed, obsessed Higher who, for some reason, thinks he can take what is mine from me.
“Nothing to say?” Darius asks impatiently, “Not going to deny it?”
I look back at him, eyes cold. “What would be the point? I tried to talk with you once, remember? I tried to get you to see that I wasn’t the bad guy.” I shake my head and back up a step. His fingers twitch on the barrier. “What I say means nothing, to anyone. You whipping me is proof of that.” His hands turn into fists. “No mercy. Just like you told me you have none, and just like I acknowledged that Vrohkaria doesn’t either.”
“Don’t move another step,” he says, his tone low.
“Why?” I shrug. “So you can take me back to the Highers?” He growls and I scoff. “So you can whip me some more?”
His jaw ticks. “Tell me what you know of the curse? People are suffering, it cannot continue, or is that what you want?”
I laugh at his words, but it’s sad, tired. Bone fucking tired. “All I want is for people to live, to thrive. That’s what Eridian is…. was. I took in people who were hurt from those that are the real monsters. They are worse than the rogures roaming these lands, you know what you are getting with them. The real monsters?” I shake my head. “They stand in front of you and offer fake kindness, fake comfort, only to grab your throat the next second and squeeze, just to see how long it takes for you to pass out without air, how much you can scratch and kick them before you go unconscious. They are the real monsters, Darius. Not me. I told you about those monsters back in Eridian. You haven’t been listening!”
His men approach the barrier as Darius vibrates with tension. They spread out, eyeing it for weakness. It’s there, it’s slowly appearing as my power wanes and the barrier flickers. The ripples start slowly as Darius’s power spreads along it, and panic rushes through me. I’m untrained in my powers, mere basics are all I know and more of an instinct, yet I know Darius probably has a full grip on his Heir powers, on his wolf. Though I haven’t seen it, I’ve seen them both connected together at once, in total synchronicity. Runa? She won’t even come out.
My barrier is weakening rapidly, and enough is enough, time to go. We will have to come back for Sarah, there is no way we can get to her now.
Another failure. I’m not surprised by it anymore.
“Heir of Cazier,” I say to Darius, and his eyes sharpen, his markings pulsing with mine and my words. I give him a wake-up call with my next words. I hope they eat him alive. “I told you I was a child when the curse was supposedly done at Wolvorn. I would have been around seven when the rogures first appeared in the lands. Instead of jumping the fucking beast and letting anger rule you, you would have figured that out.” His brows furrow, and he leans his palms on my barrier. “You would have noticed that it doesn’t add up, that it’s impossible.” I look at them all. “You all would have, and needless deaths wouldn’t have happened.”
