Page 192 of Hidden Kingdoms

No matter how much I tried to spin it to myself that I was doing this for the good of the kingdoms, there was no denying I was doing it to help Elodie. I’d barely known her for a few weeks, but it felt right.

Another reason I couldn’t tell Bastian.

There was a slight chance I would be able to convince him it was worth it, but if I told him I was doing it to get Elodie hermemories back because I cared for her in any way, he would freak the fuck out.

Shadows wove tight around me. I could let them out to play in the solitude of my room, holding me in place as my mind sunk under the reality of the choice I had made. My feet were moving of their own accord with little direction from me, and within one moment of clarity to another, I found myself already on my way to her. It wasn’t long before I was in front of Elodie’s door, the thought of seeing her one last time enough to lift the fog that clouded my future.

The darkness within me streamed from my skin, as eager as I was to get to her, their essence pressing against the lock that softly clicked open, and I slipped inside on silent feet.

The ache in my chest that gripped my heart like a coiled vine, drew me to the slightly ajar door she slept behind. The smell of sweet cinnamon reaching me even before I stepped foot in the room. I inhaled deeply, letting it sink into my lungs, willing it to infuse into my skin so I could carry it with me wherever this decision would take me.

The sound of Elodie’s gentle breathing was the only noise in the room as I carefully pushed the door open, my racing heart something only I could hear. Moving closer, I gazed down at her, curled into a ball right in the centre of the bed, her white hair trailing over the pillows, and the blankets tucked around her. Her face scrunched into a small frown, and I reached out, running a finger gently down her cheek and those anxious lines smoothed under my touch.

I remembered the way her face had lit up when she shared the new memories of her mum; I wanted that wonder to never leave.

With nothing more than a thought, seven white peonies grew in my fist, their tightly pressed buds bursting open to reveal layers of fluffy petals.

I should leave before it becomes impossible to do so.

Instead, I edged round the bed, unhooking the blades that I kept strapped to me at all times, before setting them on the unit. Pulling back the blankets, I slid in beside her, my heart hammering as she uncurled, settling next to me yet still lost in sleep as I held her close.

There wouldn’t be a morning that I got to wake up with her. To watch as she blinked away dreams to find me by her side, bask in the shy smile she would offer before I leaned down to kiss her good morning.

I made a promise to Tieralla that this wouldn’t be the last time I felt her as my fingers travelled across the golden expanses of her skin, my touch featherlight as I revelled in the secret caress that had her breathe out a sigh. Her soft body pressed against the hard planes of mine was almost irresistible. The need to slip my fingers beneath the waistband of her shorts, feel the slickness that would be there. Taste her again as I had in those sacred waters and feel her writhe beneath me as she woke with my tongue inside her—was overwhelming.

The need to have her was consuming. It was animalistic, raw. I didn’t want to consider what it meant as it all but begged me to make her mine, my magik pulsing, desperate to feel hers.

But I couldn’t do that. It had long been since I had been a slave to my power, and like fuck was I going to lose that control now.

If she woke now, there was no part of me that could leave her.

These few hours of darkness were all I had left, because when Xol finally swept his rays across the frozen ground of this kingdom, she would wake, and I would be gone with only the memories of her to keep me alive.

68

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

ELODIE

Ihad been content with my time away from the clearing, but now I found myself back there. In the perfect circle of trees swaying lazily in a phantom breeze. The blue sky mocked me with its calm, the dusting of fluffy clouds that drifted past utterly unbothered by the coil of dread that wound inside me as I watched them.

The tall willow was where it always was, centre stage in this delusion, its weeping branches trailing through the pool that lay at its roots. The gems hidden under the surface illuminating the waters with their jewel tones. I was closer than before, the reach of its shade almost sheltering me from the heat of the sun. The rustling of the trees and the persistent buzzing of the bees that dipped into the wildflowers surrounding me, were the only sounds besides the deep pulls of air I was taking to calm my spiralling thoughts.

I was ready for the peace to break this time, waiting for that tell-tale crack. That thunderous roar that would shatter the stillness I was surrounded by.

I knew it wouldn’t last, knew it was just a matter of time before it all went to shit. I reached for my magik, already resigned to what I would find, and sure enough it was lockeddown. Stuck behind a barrier that this dreamscape seemed to relish in. So, I waited, knowing there was little more I could do.

Movement from behind the willow caught my attention, and a dark figure stepped from behind the wide trunk, as others had before. Their tall frame was one I would recognise in any circumstance, and a sliver of hope wormed its way inside me.

Maybe this one would turn out different?

Kaius moved from the shade of the trees, the willow fronds trailing over him, touching any part they could and not releasing their hold until he had stepped far beyond their reach. I waited, that coil of dread only knotted tighter around the hope seeing his face had created, and as he came to a stop, face blank of any emotion, it smothered it.

The perfect planes of Kaius’ face morphed into an expression of agony, my breath catching in my throat as a sharp gasp of pain left him. His teeth gritted, hands clenched so tight, I could see the thick tendons standing along his arms.

My heart was pounding within the confines that squeezed it, tugging painfully as a guttural cry left his lips, setting my magik flaring inside its prison. And they kept coming, each one landing a blow against me.

As I had no choice but to watch, he changed. His form flickered, shrinking down. Arms that had been covered in the art I loved to admire, were now unblemished, the youthful smoothness of his jaw belied nothing of the beard that had been there only a moment ago. For in his place was now a young boy with a face as angelic as the one I had come to adore.

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