Page 155 of The Lands Defying
“Being questioned.” He moves my hand from my neck and inhales me there. “He is restrained and waiting for you.”
I lean back and see the fury in his eyes, the fury he restrained for me to be able to decide what to do with him.
I nod. “Are we ready to attack? To go after the Highers?”
“I don’t know,” he says honestly. “But we are quickly running out of time, little wolf. In the end, we will have no choice but to be ready.”
“And the people?”
“Some will rally, some are barely surviving, having no crops left from either rogures or the tax Charles demands.”
“We need to get them to safety, or at least get them food.”
He nods. “We will.”
I swallow roughly, my body tensing. “Where is he?”
Darius looks off for a moment. “He’s in a cabin, being guarded.”
“I don’t think that is necessary.”
“It is. He was with the Highers for a long time, we don’t know if we can trust him.”
“He’s Kade, of course we can trust him.”
He gives me a look. “Look what happened at Wolvorn, when you tried to get him to leave with you.” The reminder has pain shooting through me. “He is not well, Rhea, he is not safe for you to be around.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, my brows furrowed.
“He has these outbursts, and when that happens he thinks everyone is the enemy.”
My stomach drops and a harsh breath comes from me. Did it not work when I tried to clear his mind? Was it not enough?
Was I not enough?
“I will help him,” I say vehemently. Darius eyes me, but he doesn’t say another word.
I feel Draxton beneath Darius’s skin rubbing up against mine, and Runa comes forward then, greeting him.
She has been quiet until now.
“He wants to meet her,” Darius says.
“So do I.”
He lifts a strand of my hair and twirls it around his fingers. “We need her to come out, little wolf. The lands are in chaos, and I’m not sure we will see the other side if we don’t have all of us at full strength.”
“I know,” I say, picking at my fingers between us. “How do we get rid of the rogures?”
“They need to be gone from the lands, but we still need to figure out how.” He pulls me closer. “For now we rest, and then we will begin.”
“I need to see my pack, and Kade,” I say, but he rolls me beneath him in the next moment.
“Not yet,”
“Darius—”
“No,” he growls down at me, his face harsh but I see the pain residing in his eyes. “Not yet, little wolf. I can’t…I thought you were gone forever. So no, the others can wait a little longer. Don’t make me force you to stay, don’t make me makeyouangry at me right now.”
