Page 307 of The Lands Defying
Darius never has sad eyes.
My hands go back to the barrier.
“It will be okay,” he tells me, and I shake my head frantically at that.
“No,” I whisper. I don’t believe it.
I can’t.
He raises his palm and places it over mine through the barrier. I feel him there, so close yet out of reach.
He’s down to his waist now, and the sound that comes from me is like a dying animal. But that’s what I feel like.
I feel like I’m dying.
“I have to keep you safe,” he tells me.
“I’m safe where you are.”
“They are from the below, Vihnarn,” he tells me gently, looking around at the creatures. “They can only be gone if I take them with me.”
“Get someone else!”
Zahariss,please! Cazier!
He shakes his head. “I would give you anything, but not this. You would never be safe with them roaming the lands, and that would eventually mean you would no longer walk the lands.”
“Dar,” I whisper, my lips trembling. His eyes tighten and he releases a deep sigh, moving closer toward me, his own fingers flexing on the barrier.
Runa comes to my eyes, watching on with whimpers that rattle around inside of me.
“Remember when you told me you would do anything to protect those you love?” I sob, tears rolling down my cheeks as my fingers curl against his on the barrier. “This is me protecting it, Rhea.”
I sag against the barrier, crying, body shaking as I try to breathe. My lungs feel like they are about to give out, and pain travels around my body, my ears ringing.
This isn’t fair.
“Vihnarn,” he says, his deep voice seemingly trying to reach the bones of me, and the ground begins to shake at my feet.
I look down toward it, seeing black mist rise, getting thicker around his waist until it’s touching up against the barrier at the bottom. Like waves splashing against rocks.
“Drop the barrier, Darius.” Another head shake. “Darius,” I plead.
“I can’t, little wolf.”
“What do you mean you can’t? You can. Just call your power back and drop it!” My heart begins to race and I push all I have into the barrier, trying to break it.
“The land has always wanted something back.” He tilts his head. “To right the wrong.”
These words will forever haunt me.
“Not like this.” He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes briefly, his features pained as he opens those light green eyes of his, and I see the truth of it all with them. “Darius, please don’t go.”
“If I don’t do this, more will come. They will destroyeverything.”
“It doesn’t matter. We can kill them all, just don’t leave me, you can’t leave me. You said we would go to the lesia field.”
“I saidyouwould be there, little wolf.” That stops me short and I think back. He never said he would be there. “When you walk under the moonlight, remember I will be right there below you, following in your footsteps.”
