Page 139 of His Darkest Desire

Vex’s brow furrowed. The desperation that had crept onto her face and into her voice was reminiscent of what he’d witnessed during her first days here, but it was layered with something more. Something deep and sorrowful, a wound that time had not yet healed.

Shade floated closer to her, their voice as gentle as wind through long grass. “Fair of skin. The male is dark of hair but light of eye, with a thick beard. The females are golden haired and dark eyed.”

“Oh God, it’s them,” Kinsley rasped before rushing toward the voices.

“Kinsley!” Vex raced after her, but something stopped him from reaching for her, from halting her. He recognized the rawness in her voice. Recognized the loss.

The illusory autumn broke, reverting the forest to its natural, dreary state, and Kinsley didn’t miss a step despite the drastic change. Those ghostly calls continued, louder with every step, and though they remained unclear, he knew now why they sounded so familiar.

They were shouting Kinsley’s name.

She finally stopped when she reached a mass of vines and moss at the edge of the mist—her car, now entirely shrouded and unrecognizable. Vex stopped behind her.

Those voices were loudest here, as though the humans in the other realm were standing before Kinsley. Their calls echoed eerily off the trees, rippled through the fog, pulsed in the fabric separating their world from this one. And though the words were no more intelligible than before, the distress and anguish they carried were clear.

“It’s them, Vex,” Kinsley whispered, voice shaky. “They’re here.”

Vex curled his fingers around her arms. She trembled beneath his touch. Gently, he turned her to face him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes glistened as they met his. When those voices called out her name again, she closed her eyes, and her features contorted with pain.

“They’re still looking for me,” she said brokenly. “They still think I’m alive.”

“Kinsley…”

“And I am alive. I’m alive, and I’m right here, and I can’t even let them know it.” A sob escaped her. “I can’t comfort them, can’t tell them I’m okay. And they’ll…they’ll just keep looking, wondering what happened to me, never getting any answers. Never getting any closure.”

Vex pulled her against him, and she clutched at his tunic as she cried against his chest. His heart ached like a hole had been torn into it. Not since the queen had taken everything from him had he felt so powerless.

Had he not saved her, Kinsley would have died. That would’ve provided closure to her family. But she would be gone, her spark extinguished, the entire universe left darker in her absence.

She would have been forever lost to Vex.

He would never regret saving her. Would never regret sharing his lifeforce with her, would never regret prying her from the jaws of death. Yet she did not deserve this suffering. She did not deserve to be trapped here, and it was even crueler than his imprisonment because she still had people out there who loved her. She still had people out there to mourn her.

She hadn’t forgotten her world, and it had not forgotten her.

Vex slid a hand into her hair and cupped her head, holding her closer. He stared at the mist as the voices continued calling around them, as his mate grieved, as despair flooded his chest.

The wisps hovered near, brushing tendrils of ghostfire over Kinsley, their lights dim.

“Take me home, Vex,” Kinsley whispered against his chest. “I…I can’t…”

Gently as he could, Vex lifted her into his arms and summoned his wings. She clung to him, face buried against his neck, her tears hot and wet on his skin, and didn’t look up even when he leapt into the air. He sent a wave of magic ahead, forcing apart the branches above to clear a path.

Raindrops fell from the overcast sky, breaking cold upon his wings. The slow rainfall mirrored the sorrow of her tears, as though all the realm wept with his Kinsley.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

There was no comfort to be found in the warm red firelight and the dancing shadows it cast. Neither the soft blue glow of the crystals on the walls nor the darkness beyond the circular window could provide solace, and the familiarity of the bed and blankets offered no respite. There was no peacefulness in the steady drumming of the rain on the roof.

Vex would not sleep this night. He’d known it when he’d first lain beside Kinsley hours ago, and it had only become truer with each moment.

He smoothed a strand of hair back from Kinsley’s face. His fingers tingled as they brushed her skin, but she didn’t stir.

They lay on their sides, facing one another, with her head upon his arm and his wing draped over her. Though she’d succumbed to exhaustion some time ago, the usual nighttime serenity had never settled over her face. The swollen pink flesh around her eyes evidenced the multitude of tears she had shed since hearing the voices of her family that afternoon.

Each sob, each sniffle, had driven another blade through Vex’s heart.

He cupped her cheek with his palm, tenderly stroking the skin beneath her eye with his thumb.

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