Page 10 of Cursed Shadows 4

I want no dark fae to find me.

I won’t be needing them—so I leave them on the floor.

Click,

clock,

click,

clock.

The sob strikes through me.

My face crumples as my hands slap to my leathered thighs, and I double over. My cries are of silence, the kind that make my face all damp and ugly.

I don’t even have my Eamon to comfort me.

How empty I feel to not have his arms around me in this moment, his familiar scent of oak and wine and valerian to tickle my nose.

Eamon left for Dorcha right after Aleana’s funeral. I held him like it was the last time we would touch each other, see each other, love each other—because it very well might have been.

I might never see him again.

I might not survive.

He might not survive.

And even if the gods shine on us both, and we are reunited… what will happen then?

Taroh flashes in my mind.

His hand raised to strike me down. Father takes his place, and the back of his hand connects.

I flinch.

Sucking my mouth inwards, I grapple with my unravelling.

Click,

clock,

click,

clock.

Running out of time.

I blink my teary eyes.

And my shoulders jerk with a fright.

The door shudders with a single, firm knock.

I loosen a grated breath.

The knock was a message.

I know it must be Daxeel out there.

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