Page 65 of The Dark Rising
“What did I say to you, little wolf?” He moves closer, his hands landing on either side of my head, crowding me. “What did I say, Rhea?”
“Sion,” I tell him quietly as his head dips and he runs his nose up the side of my neck.
“And what does it mean?” he murmurs, his lips now grazing my ear and I flatten my hands against the wall, driving off the need to touch him.
“Run. You told me to run.”
He pulls back and his eyes bounce between mine before I’m scooped up into his arms and lowered into the tub. I barely register the warm water staving off the chill in my bones after remembering that he told me to run from the great hall. From the Highers. I want to ask why he told me to do that after what he did, but I can’t seem to move my lips, I can’t seem to get the question out. I’m too scared of the answer, or what it would mean and what he knew. Because why else would he tell me to do that?
“You’re thinking too much,” he says as he kneels next to the tub and grabs a cloth. He dips it into the water before picking up a bar of soap and lathering it into the material. I watch his movements carefully, aware that I’m naked in a tub and if he wanted, he could easily push me under the water and hold me down until I couldn’t breathe. He didn’t any other time, but my mind is a mess right now. Is he messing with me?
Is this what he wanted? To knock me off kilter and to trust him when he says that he believes me? But maybe, he’s really preparing for me to go back to the Highers and then they can hand over my punishment to him so he can whip me some more?
Has he led me into a false sense of security? Have I let my guard down? Have I put my pack in even more danger by bringing them here? Are the words he said to me last night all a lie?
What am I doing?
My hands grab on to the edge of the tub in panic, preparing to launch myself out and head for the door, grab my pack and go back to Belldame’s. She will protect us, I know she will, or at least my pack. I could take them back there to safety while I go off on my own. I survived in the lands before. Sure I was near starved, but I was alive. I made it so. I could do it again and my pack would be safe, and the Elites and Highers would leave them alone because they would only be hunting me wouldn’t they?
They would be safe.
They wouldn’t be in danger—
Hands grab me and I lash out, hearing a grunt as I struggle in the grip that has a hold of me. Thrashing around in the water, I growl low and as I feel my power rising, I release it in a rush and I watch the blue erupt outward, like an explosion of shards as it crashes against the walls in all directions. A thin, black barrier flickers in front of me, and then I’m pushed back at my shoulders. My head bangs against the slant of the tub and I grunt, moving my hands to claw and hit whoever has hold of me.
“Pack that shit in, Rhea,” Darius growls down at me and I blink, my hands pausing against his chest. My chest rises and falls as he comes into view, and I can’t help the pained sound that escapes me.
Not because he’s bleeding from his nose and mouth, not because he has scratches down his face and neck. No.
Is it because he’s going to betray me again?
“Are you done?” he asks, his tone as hard as his eyes. “You nearly took the fucking room down.”
I continue in my struggle. “You’re going to send me back to the Highers, you’re going to send my pack away.” I catch him in his jaw. “You were never going to get Sarah and I’ll never get Kade back.” Painful sounds release from me. “You’re saying all these things, keep fucking touching me because you want me to start to trust you.” The water sloshes around me when I don’t let up. “You’re lying to me again!” His power seeps out of him, moving toward me and coating my body. I start to go limp in the tub, my head clanging against it and I drop my arms to my sides, letting them float on the surface as I breathe noisily.
“I’m not lying to you, Rhea,” Darius growls, his grip on my shoulders tight and he shakes me a little. “I’m not taking you to the fucking Highers either. I will help get Sarah, and then your pack and Kade.” He breathes out angrily. “And I’m constantly fucking touching you because I can’t help myself!”
I glare at him before looking at the damaged walls in the room, unable to trust his words, no matter how his last sentence has an affect on me. The stone is cracked in places with bits still crumbling to the floor. The window is smashed and there is water leaking from somewhere, but my focus soon goes back to Darius, uncaring of what I must have done to the room.
“Get off of me.” My tone is hard and Darius’s hands twitch against my bare shoulders.
“Want to tell me what the fuck that was first?” I stay silent, my rapid breaths easing as I try and think of a way to get us all out of here. “What is going on in that pretty head of yours, hmm?” I push against his chest, just now noticing that he’s fully in the tub with me, his clothes wet and I can see every ridge of muscle he has on display. “Rhea,” he snaps.
My eyes fly to his searching ones as my power settles to a low hum. Feeling a soft touch at my waist under the water, I look down, watching the tendril of Darius’s power wrap itself around me, holding but not hurting, grounding but not unsettling. I slump down and close my eyes, wincing as a sharp, stabbing pain rattles my skull.
“Answer me,” Darius demands, and I keep my eyes closed as nausea rises within me.
“Are you going to betray me again?” I eventually ask what I fear the answer will be. I swallow roughly, hating myself for asking, that he will know what I’m scared of. “Is this the plan? To bring me and my pack here, to take us to the Highers? To still punish me for what I did to your Elite trainees? For stopping you from being able to go back from Eridian to help with the rogures?” I breathe shakily. “Do you really believe I put a curse upon the lands? So you fill me with tasteful lies and deceitful words to gain my trust?” I peel my eyes open as the hands on my shoulders move, taking their warmth with them.
Darius sits back on his heels, his face a picture of shock and confusion. “I thought we have been through this. I told you I believe you.”
“And I don’t believeyou.“ I watch his throat move as he swallows, and the tick in his jaw begins to twitch in frustration.
“Come, the water is getting cold,” he says quietly. He reaches for me again and I slap his hand away. He growls and comes for me again, wrapping his magic around me so my arms are pinned at my sides. I call for my own, but it doesn’t answer. Totally subdued under his.
I’m lifted into his arms and he steps out the tub as I scream and wiggle in his hold. He’s unbothered with my antics, like he’s dealing with a naughty child, and I turn and sink my teeth into his collarbone. A grunt, then a chuckle is his answer, and then I’m flying through the air before I land on the bed. His power floats back to him and I scramble upright, quickly going to my knees as that pain in my head flares up again.
A gentle hand strokes my hair, ignoring my feeble attempts to swat it away, but my efforts are wasted as the pain makes me whimper, curling myself forward as I cradle my head in my hands.
