Page 10 of The Lands Defying
“But you didn’t hide them from me now?”
“You saw them. It would be foolish to attempt to trick you into thinking you didn’t. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
We stare at each other for a moment before I continue again.
Darius doesn’t make another sound as I work, as I go to the sink and rinse the cloth again and again before continuing in my task. His power comes out eventually, a tendril of it moving over my forearm as I clean, steading me.
Comforting me.
“You were never meant to know what went on down there,” he says into the quietness of the room.
The only sound that has kept us company is that of the running water.
I hear the unspoken,especially after finding out about your mother.He doesn’t say that, I can feel that he wants to but doesn’t want to remind me.
“I assumed so,” I mutter, cleaning around a particularly deep gash. I feel his eyes on me in the mirror, his gaze a comfort as they don’t leave me as I get to work. “Your tattoos will not be the same now.”
“They haven’t been for months.” I pause… right. “It does not matter, the most important one isn’t affected.” I flick my eyes to his neck briefly as his eyes do the same.
I continue on in silence, the only sound is the water every time I rinse the cloth to get it as clean as possible. As the blood is cleared away, and with me closer to his scars, I freeze when I notice something almost similar. My eyes flick up to Darius in the mirror before I take a small step back and look.
Reallylook.
“They are the same,” he tells me before I can ask, and my eyes meet his in the mirror again. “I know where I put every mark on your body.” His hands fist on his thighs. “I made sure to give myself the same treatment as close as I could.”
This male…
He turns around on the stool as I stand there in shock. A large hand on my waist guides me between his spread legs, and thenthat hand is moving. It goes under my t-shirt and starts crawling up my back. I shiver at his touch, my eyes never leaving his as he traces one of my scars he can’t evenfeel.
“We are the same in many ways, and completely different in others, but never forget this, little wolf. What is done to you shall be done to me.” I shake my head, and his hands move to another scar, tracing it back down with a clenched jaw. I shiver. “The scars on your back are my reminder, the scars on my back are your reminder.”
“My reminder of what?” I whisper.
“My regrets, my punishment, my vow and your justice,” he says, pulling me onto his lap suddenly. My legs dangle on either side of his thighs as he brings us nose to nose. “We are one in ways no other can be. I’m a selfish bastard when it comes to you, so I won’t accept anything less. So, the next time you threaten to hurt yourself, remember I will do the same. I will take advantage of that soft heart of yours and use it against you to keep you from harm.”
The fucker isn’t even sorry about that.
My eyes narrow. “It works both ways, Darius.”
He rubs his nose with mine and nods. “I’m aware of that, little wolf.” He nips at my chin. “And that is why I won’t break my vow.”
He lifts me, and then he’s carrying me. “What are you doing, I’m not done yet,” I protest.
“We are. I’m not going to let you stare at my back when it hurts you to look at them right now. Plus, you do know I can feel when your magic touches me.”
“Yes.” He turns and sits on the bed with me still in his lap.
“Then I know you used some of your magic to heal me.”
“It still needs to be taken care of,” I mutter. I did put some magic into his wounds, trying to speed up the healing process,and even though the wounds started to close, it’s not fast enough for my liking.
“Other things need to be taken care of.”
“Like what?” He grabs my hips and pushes down. I raise a brow. “Really? How can you be hard after that?”
“You only need to be in the room, Rhea, for me to get hard, no matter the circumstance.”
“But your back…” I trail off as he rips my t-shirt off over my head.
