Page 35 of The Lands Defying
“What are you doing?” I grumble.
He gazes up at the sky. “Isn’t this what people do?”
My brows furrow. “Do what?”
He clears his throat. “Look at the clouds together… or something like that.”
I blink, then look up at the clouds too.
I guess kids do it. I did it when I was younger. My mom and dad also did it. I would look at them through the window when they said it was their time…
Wait.
“Do you mean this is what people do when they…mate?” I say hesitantly.
Darius doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I kind of want the ground to swallow me up.
Just when I begin to pour my power into it, knowing I can try and get it to take me down, he speaks.
“Yes. I saw a mated pair do it once. I couldn’t understand it, why the fuck are you looking up at the sky?” I huff out a laugh and Darius shifts uncomfortably. “I realize it’s just about spending time together.”
I lean into him further, looking as a cloud slowly passes by. “I guess we can do this.”
He grunts, but a rumbling purr comes from his chest and I can’t help but snuggle deeper into him.
“My sister asked me once to do this,” Darius suddenly says, and I tilt my head toward him a little, to let him know I’m listening. “I told her I was too busy, that father wanted me to train. She nearly cried that day.”
Poor girl.
“She just wanted to spend time with her brother, she wouldn’t have understood you had other things to do.” I try to reassure him.
“Training wasn’t important.” His voice is low as he says it, and I can feel the regret he feels.
“But it was,” I start. “Without the training you couldn’t have protected those that needed it.”
“I didn’t protect her.” My heart breaks for him. I sit and turn sideways so I’m looking down at him.
I realize at this moment that we both have no family left. We are all alone.
“What happened to them?” I dare to ask. Darius doesn’t talk much about himself, or his family.
He looks at me, his throat moving on a rough swallow before looking back up at the sky.
“They were in a town. They wanted to look at the wares they had that day. My sister liked to collect little trinkets. It could be like the glass wolf you have, or it could be a holder for a candle. As long as it was pretty, she would want it. Of course my mother gave it to her, especially when she gave you pup eyes. How could anyone resist?”
I smile, moving to take his hand in mine. He tenses for a moment, but he relaxes when I turn it over and start moving a finger over his palm and around his wrist.
I just needed to …touch him.
“Rogures attacked the town. They didn’t stand a chance. There were no defenses, there were little guards there and the townspeople couldn’t face them. There were too many.” He squeezes my hand, still not looking at me. “When I got there, it was too late. I killed and ripped and tore apart any rogure I came across, trying to find them, trying to keep them safe. But when I did find them, I was too late.”
No. I swallow at the pain in his voice, the way his eyes are distant and I wished I would never have asked this.
“Mother held Isabell against her chest down the side of a home, facing the wall. They were both full of injuries all over their bodies, full of the black poison leaking out of them. The trail of blood before them made me think she dragged them both there, trying to get to safety. I can only hope their deaths came quickly.”
Tears sting my eyes and I lean down on Darius, wrapping my arms around his neck and I hold him.
He doesn’t move at first, but when his arms wrap around me and a deep sigh leaves him, I let a single tear fall.
