Page 5 of The Lands Defying
My eyes flick to the back of his head. “That’s the first thing you say?” I whisper, my eyes automatically going to his back again as my brows furrow.
“Why are you still here?!” he demands, and I jolt at his anger. He’s angry at me?
“You would leave during the night when I slept, sometimes you wouldn’t even crawl into bed until the moon was high in the sky. But this time, you left going to get the crystal, so of course I came looking for you when you didn’t come back,” I tell him, rubbing my arms to stave off the chill down here. It’s not like the coolness of Darius’s power, that’s like feeling it on a hot day and welcoming it. No, the chill down here is deadly. “I’m still here because you are!”
“You shouldn’t have left the room, I would have been back soon.”
“I had waited long enough.”
I hear him growl beneath his breath. “Just leave, Rhea.”
“No.”
“I said leave!” He bangs his fists down on the table, and I hear it creak under the pressure.
“No.” My voice breaks on the word, and he spins around, finally facing me.
“I’m warning you, Rhea.” His hands fist at his side, and I shake my head.
He doesn’t scare me.
“Why?” I croak out, and he looks away from me. I stand and take a step forward to the barrier, and he moves back, banging into the table. I pause at his reaction, looking over his face to try and figure out where his thoughts are. “Tell me, Darius, please.”
“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”
“It’s not nothing!” I shout, my body trembling. “Gods, it’s not nothing,” I tell him softly, blinking my tears away.
His jaw clenches as he stares at me, stares at my tears and his eyes harden before looking off to the side. I follow his gaze, and my stomach drops as I see another whip on the floor. Darius’s eyes come back to mine, and I shake my head, pleading with my eyes.
The barrier turns a solid black.
“No,” I whisper. My heart beats so wildly in my chest that I can hear it in my ears like a beating drum, like it’s right next to me.
I hear movement.
“Darius, you can’t mean to…” I press my palms to the barrier, my fingers digging into it. My fingertips glow blue as they sink in slightly, just as I hear the first strike.
I hiccup over a sob, placing my forehead against the barrier as I flinch.
“Stop it!”
Crack.
“Darius,” I cry, pressing into the barrier and squeezing my eyes shut as my own memories threaten to surface. Runa whimpers within me, pacing restlessly.
Crack.
Stop it.
Crack.
Stop it.
I fall to my knees, hearing the whip slap against his skin again and again as I cry. Each strike goes through me, lances at my heart and cripples my soul.
Crack, crack, crack.
Stop it.
