Page 102 of Touched By Darkness

She slides down my other strap, her fingers dragging over my breast, before she palms the weight. “I don’t know why.” The tone in her voice is almost mystified as she kneads them. When I gasp, she stops and looks up. “Scrap that. I do know why. Despite your raven feathers, you have a refreshing innocence about you. It’s either genuine or well-crafted to fool the heir to the throne. I’m yet to figure out which.”

Movement behind her steals my attention, and I let out a shriek as my eyes lock on the hooded figure between the trees.

ChapterTwenty-Two

DARIANA

Ispin around and catch sight of a robed figure escaping through the trees. “What the hell?”

My thoughts are soon distracted by the trembling angel behind me, with her ruined dress clutched to her chest. The fear on her face is undeniable, yet it could be another trick.

But no, she looks genuinely terrified. No one is that good of an actress, right?

I frown. “How did the stalker know you were here?”

Instead of answering, she shoulders past me.

“Hey.” I chase after her and pull her to a stop, if for no other reason than to stop her from walking alone in the woods. It’s not the brightest idea she’s had when there’s a crazy person on the loose with an unhealthy obsession with her. “He’s still out there.”

“I can’t do this anymore,” she replies in a defeated tone. She tries to walk past me again, but I step in front of her.

“I’m not letting you walk back alone.”

She looks at me then. Really looks at me. “Why are you doing this, Dari? Why are you here?”

“You have a fucking stalker.”

She snorts humorlessly and tries to step past me.

“Will you stop running away?”

“No,” she growls, turning back. “I am so fed up with this. I have tried everything to make you and the others notice me and look at me the same way again, but it’ll never happen. It hurts, okay? It hurts to love someone so much and be met by a closed door at every turn. A door that used to be wide open. I get that things will never be the same because this version of you met me under different circumstances. I get that… All the memories I have… all the… it never existed. And now this?” She gestures to the clearing in the trees where the stalker watched us. “I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’ll step back. I’m done trying.”

Something inside me smarts. “You think Daemon will ever let you go?”

She throws her arms out. “He’ll grow bored. I’m a novelty.”

“What about Alaric? He has worn your scent like an expensive cologne all week.”

“I’m a toy to him. Nothing else.”

“If you think that”—I kill the distance between us—“then you’re just as naive as I thought.”

She slaps me, and strangely, it makes me smile.

“There’s fire in you, after all.”

When she remains glaring, I shrug. “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you’re too blinded by your memories of us to see the truth in front of you?”

“The truth?”

“You have this vision—this idea—of what love looks like. Or rather, what Daemon’s love looks like.Alaric’s.You said it yourself; we met under different circumstances. Why would the emotions express themselves the same? From what I see, you’re quickly wrapping Daemon and Alaric around your little finger. Daemon is out there hunting you like a rabbit. The poor fucker is probably frothing at the mouth at the thought of what he’ll do to you when he captures you.”

“I need to go.”

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