Page 27 of The Lands Defying
“I’ll spend the rest of my days doing anything and everything just to have you keep your eyes on me. Do not doubt me in that. If they are not on me, Rhea, there is no hope for the lands. I would let it rot before you close your eyes and they never reopen. I would destroy anything that breathes life because you are life itself, and if you are not here, there is nothing. I will never regret meeting you.”
“Darius,” I breathe, my hands coming to rest on his arms. They twitch under my touch.
“I will spend the rest of my days looking after you and making sure you have a home again,” he goes on, and my heart beats so wildly that I’m sure he can hear it. “I don’t know where that will be, but I will give back what I helped get taken from you.” He moves a piece of hair off my face.
“Is that even a possibility?” I ask, voicing aloud my fears.
“Yes. If that is what you want then I will give it to you.” The determination in his eyes tells me he absolutely will. “We just have to hold out as long as we can so Charles doesn’t suspect anything. So we can plan andwin.”
“I know,” I whisper, my tone sullen. “But I want to go out and help others too when I can. I feel so helpless just sitting around. I don’t know where my pack is, we cannot get to Kade yet unless we are willing to die.”
“As much as it doesn’t sound like it, he’s safe there.”
“But they are hurting him.” It makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“I know,” he says, stroking my head. “But with him there, we know where he is and the Highers think they have the upper hand. When we can find out where your pack is and get them, we will go for Kade after.” I look down, but he doesn’t let me, gripping my chin tighter. “If we went for Kade now, your otherpack members will be in danger. I’m thinking as the Leader of the Elites, personal feelings are put aside. Getting to them first, along with the others that were stolen, we have a higher rate of success. We will have less deaths. You know if we went for Kade they would threaten and kill the others.”
I know what Darius says makes sense, I just don’t like it. I would do anything for Kade, and the need to get to him is so overwhelming sometimes.
“I know,” I tell him. “It’s just… he’s mine, Darius.”
“And you’re mine. I will look after you.” Darius pauses for a moment. “Come,” he says suddenly, lifting me off his lap and standing.
“Where?” I ask as he helps me up and starts to walk out of the branches of our hidden bubble.
“You said you wanted to help more, so you can help me.”
Nine
Rhea
Aliseon is a vibrant fishing town located on a huge lake that’s central of Vrohkaria. People fill the market streets, the smell of the sea wafting through the cold air as I huddle down under my hood.
Both Darius and I are hidden beneath our cloaks, face masks firmly in place. With the weather getting colder, no one thinks it’s unusual attire as we make our way through the market stalls.
“Get three fish for only two coins,” someone shouts further up ahead.
Different varieties of fish fill almost all of the stalls, buyers haggling for a better price, coins being exchanged, and little kids running around. This town is… happy. I suppose as the only way to get here is by boat or port stone, like we did, the rogures can’t touch them here.
It’s like they are in their own little place, just for them.
We have heard of how the Highers are sending their guards to villages and demanding more food tax, whilst also charging those that resist, so seeing this town is… such a stark difference to the rest of the lands right now.
I watch a couple laugh, and then the male spins her, dipping her close to the cobbled ground before placing a kiss gently on her lips.
A hand at the small of my back makes me jolt, my head snapping up to Darius as he gently nudges me along. I didn’t realize I had stopped to watch them.
“Did you enjoy watching them?” he asks in a low tone.
My cheeks heat slightly for some reason unknown to me. “Yes,” I tell him, looking at a stall that looks as though it has glass figures.
I move over to it as Darius says, “Is that what you want? To be spun around and nearly having your head cracked open from the ground?”
A laugh huffs out of me as I shake my head. “No, they just looked so happy.” He grunts, and I pick up a glass wolf, watching as a plethora of colors shine within, reflecting off its surroundings.
“Good,” Darius tells me. “I’m not the type to do such things like that.” Another small laugh comes from me.
Darius dancing in the middle of a cobbled road in the center of a town?
