Page 125 of A City of Flames

Venator voices suddenly float through the dungeons from near the entrance. Shadows of them appear on the brick walls and I look to my right at any place we can hide when Darius lets go of me and tugs me back against his body without warning into one of the hidden corners. One of his arms wraps around my stomach and the other across my chest, securing me. I hold onto his upper arm as the back of my head rests on his chest and I decide not to utter a word as I take several deep breaths along with him as we wait for the venators to pass. When we hear feet scrape to a stop along the ground, I clutch onto Darius’s arm harder.

“Do you think the general has already killed that thief?” One of them says and my heart races. The general is still unconscious or… might not be anymore.

“Won’t be long,” the other says. “You saw how he left him the other day.”

I bite my tongue as their obnoxious laughter merges together but almost as if Darius can sense my need to go at them, he presses me harder against him. I feel his heart drum in a slow rhythm on my back and as the noise dies down, I say quietly, “I think they’re gone. You can let go of me now.” Neither of us makes a move and I’m positive my fingernails have dented into his skin.

“It doesn’t seem like you want me to, Goldie,” Darius whispers it against the arch of my ear, and I can already feel his lips curve into a smile.

I let out a breath, sounding thick and ragged before I realize where we are and push his arms away as I turn to him with a glare. “I see that it didn’t take you long to return to your aggravating self.”

His eyes illuminate in delighted mischief before I roll mine and grasp his hand, leading him out of here. Shouts can be heard as soon as we make it past the entrance and I imagine they’ve realized Darius is no longer in his cell.

Darius’s strength picks up and we dart through the spiraling steps that lead us to the outside. The grass wisps in every direction with the wind and I look ahead to where the woods are.

I shake my head, realizing that he thinks I am going with him. That was the plan, but now… “Wait, wait, wait!” I say, planting my feet to the ground as Darius turns to me with a frown. “I can’t go with you,” I add, catching my breath.

When he looks as if he’s about to disagree I continue, “I still need to do one thing. And don’t try and say I’m putting myself at risk because I know I am, I have been since I came here, so please leave. Tibith is at the den, as are two witches, Leira and Aelle, they will explain what they know so far—”

“What happened when you left me back there?” His voice hardens and my breath heaves out of me in deep pants.

Your brother killed my father.

The general is behind it all.

I can’t go with you because I can’t leave without hearing it from Lorcan myself.

“Nothing happened,” I whisper because if I tell Darius now, he’s capable of abandoning the thought of going to the den, and he’s capable of the worst.

He takes a purposeful step toward me, and his eyes show such conviction I want to do nothing more than to look away, but I can’t. “You have to learn to stop lying to me.” His hands lace through my hair, and I unintentionally wince when he touches the side I’d been slammed against. As he draws his hand back, he notices blood on the tips of his fingers.

Panic edges its way through me as his gaze lifts to meet mine, so wild with rage yet concealed for my sake. He stays silent as he starts stalking back to the dungeons, and I spin, shouting his name.

He doesn’t listen, and I brace myself in front of him. “You have to go.”

He’s not focusing on me. He’s zoned out from everything around him, the air, the woods, life.

“Darius, stop!” I yell, and my words finally transmit to him. Exhausted breaths come out of me as our eyes are on each other. “Stop pretending you give a shit,” I whisper, and the words taste bitter in my mouth. His eyes widen with incredulity, but I don’t give him a chance to respond. “I told you nothing happened. I need you to go, and I promise I will come but not now, okay?”

His jaw moves and there’s something so raw in his gaze that it peels back layers of my own, my vulnerability, and my need for sudden comfort.

Whatever he wants to say, he keeps it to himself. It’s like he knows he can’t win this time, not with this argument and not with me.

He brings out a fisted hand, uncurling his palm to show me the crescent and a sharp sting pierces my chest.

I always wondered why it was so special… now I know.

My lips quiver and I stare at it for a minute too long before dragging my gaze up at Darius and saying with enough coldness to my voice, “Keep it, I don’t want it anymore.”

He looks at me like he knows there’s more to it, like he wants to ask what’s wrong but at the same time I can’t bring myself to tell him that the person who was once his only family, broke mine.

“Please go,” I say, about to lose all the resolve I have and he nods with such hesitance. He turns his back to me and I watch him walk away. Disappointment swirls in my veins, it’s unexpected when I know he has to for his sake but… he only makes it halfway before he stops, looks off to the side, and shakes his head with a grimace as he twists and advances toward me.

I don’t have the chance to ask him what he’s doing as he drops his forehead onto mine and I close my eyes in an instant, letting us stay like this. I don’t try and fight, yell or argue like I usually would. I’m too defeated and for once, I’m scared that if I move or push him away, I won’t have this feeling of peace ever again.

“I hate that you’re so stubborn,” he says it with a sigh.

I keep my eyes shut. “Is that the only thing you hate about me? Because I have a long list when it comes to you.”

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