Page 76 of Touched By Sin
Blinding pain sears through me. I try to look Ronan in the eye. I try so fucking hard to be brave. But I’m not brave, and in the end, I squeeze my eyes shut and scream.
ChapterTwenty-Two
AURELIA
Adrop of blood falls on my lips, followed by a second that rouses me when it trails through the seam of my mouth and onto my tongue.
“Drink, baby.”
I blink my heavy eyes open to find Dariana smiling down at me softly while a human girl sits beside me on the edge of the couch with her wrist pressed firmly against my lips. I frown, trying to piece together what’s happened. I had a dream. I injured my leg.
Now the girl?
“Don’t think so hard. Just drink.”
Judging by the dazed look on the girl, she’s not fully here, realizing what’s happening. Maybe her mind is still in the human world. She’s definitely not an enslaved person in these lands. Her blood is too rich. Too potent.
“Good girl,” Dariana encourages, brushing my hair out of my eyes when I grip the wrist tighter and take deeper pulls. My body takes over, shutting away my innocent angel in a back room where she can bang her fists against the wall all she wants.We need to feed to regain our strength,my body says, retreating back to the here and now and the healing blood that’s slipping down my throat.
Daemon is pacing over by the mantelpiece like a caged, feral animal. The flames in the fire are high and flicker wildly. “Why isn’t she healing?”
“Relax,” Dariana says, watching me. “It takes time.”
My eyes roll toward the back of my head. I dig my teeth in even further, relishing the girl’s pained whimpers. No one says a thing; they wait while the human’s heartbeat slows before stopping altogether. The last weak thump is loud in the room. The ensuing silence is even louder. Daemon chews on his thumbnail as he continues pacing. Ronan sits on one of the armchairs with his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands, and Alaric toys with a yo-yo of all things. Up and down it slides, again and again. It seems to be the one thing keeping me grounded. That yellow spinning circle—a splash of color in a dark world.
“Anything?” Daemon snaps.
Dariana slowly removes the girl’s wrist from my mouth, ignoring my snarling. “The human is dead. There’s no more blood to be had.”
The girl slumps over on the floor, empty eyes gazing upwards.
I shoot upright, snarling when Dariana touches my thigh.
“It’s okay,” she soothes my animal. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Soft fingers trail over the damaged skin, too gentle to hurt. I breathe harshly through my flaring nostrils. Pain is all I’ve known here in Hell. Pain in all its forms. Life outside of Eden hurts in more ways than one. I’m starting to see now that there's a sharp thorn for every fragile petal of pleasure.
“It’s healing. Let her rest.”
“One of us needs to stay with her at all fucking times. If she got this injured today, fuck knows how bad it’ll be next time.”
“What did she say happened?” Ronan asks, looking up.
Daemon rubs his hands over his face. “She said she fell over a tree trunk.”
Dariana knits her brows together, glancing between the boys. “And this started with the meditation?”
“Yeah, she said she scratched her arms on the tree branches. After class, she had scratches all over.”
“And now it’s happening in her dreams?”
“What’s your point?” Daemon asks, exasperated. “How the fuck can she hurt herself in her dreams like that?”
“I don’t know,” Dariana says quietly, “but I think we need to accept the fact that she’s an angel, and we know nothing about ‘true’ angels.”
“She’s changing,” Alaric comments without looking up, and they all glance over at him. “Her wings stay white, but she’s growing fangs and thirsting for blood. I bet she’ll be able to master fire soon.”
“So she’s becoming a fallen angel?” Ronan asks, leaning back in his chair and placing his ankle on his knee.
