Page 131 of Rising Out of the Darkness
“Dec—”
“I’ll probably only end up hurting her, ruin what she’s meant to be, endanger all of Ehora?—”
“DECLAN!”
“It’s for the best,” I grumbled. “She deserves so much more than me, Clara. Elena deserves someone who will allow her to shine as bright as all the stars in the sky, as bright as the rays of the sun. I’m the Lord of Shadows. I’ll only drag her further into the dark.”
Saying the words that had been spinning in my head for days now tore me wide open. My chest burned and it felt as if my heart was going up in flames.
The last thing I wanted to do was let her go, but I’d sacrifice my only chance for happiness if it meant it gave others a chancefor survival. I’d sacrifice anything for her, even if it meant my own heart died in the process.
“You know this is the most ridiculous decision you have ever made, right?” Clara snapped.
“It’s not?—”
“Oh, it’s completely fucked up, Declan!” She tossed her hands up in frustration.
“Clara—”
“Don’t you dare Clara me! I’m so livid right now, you don’t even know.”
“I know.” My words fell between us, just like my hope for happiness.
“No! You know absolutely nothing, Declan!”
Ouch.
“I had to watch you shatter, break and fall apart when you decided thatyouweren’t enough for this world. I watched as you gave up, as you tried to sacrifice your own damn existence for the lives of others.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. I tried to grab her hand to comfort her, but she slapped it away. “Now I’m watching you give up the one thing that might bring you happiness. The one that has already begun to bring you back to life again. I can’t… I—I refuse let you destroy yourself again. I won’t let you do this.”
“It’s not my choice?—”
“It is.”
“But Warren?—”
“I don’t care.”
“Clara…”
She sighed deeply, her fingers digging into her legs. “When has the word no ever stopped you, Dec?” Her eyebrows rose, challenging me to deny her words, which I couldn’t. “You have always fought for what’s right, fought for those you love. Youdidn’t give up on us…don’t give up on her. Change. Your. Damn. Mind.”
Two hazel eyes pierced into mine. They were full of a dangerous combination of annoyance and sadness. Without another word, she shifted to her feet and stalked back towards the castle, leaving me alone to fall deep into my spiraling thoughts.
Chapter 51
Declan
It had been two days. Two long, excruciating days.
I’d yet to come to a decision about whether to end things with Elena or give in to my heart and fight for her with all I had. We were stuck in a painful standstill.
The ball that my father was throwing was at the end of the week, and I still had to help Lena come up with something to display in front of everyone. A display that demonstrated that the king was still in control of the most powerful dynamis in Ehora. A grand show that wiped away doubts about his rule and provided him with a more willing flock of sheep to herd towards attacking the Rebellion. The only problem was that being around Elena, even just for mere moments, was torture.
I’d been dwelling in my shadows, watching her from the sidelines as she trained with my friends…ourfriends.
She took my breath away. Elena had come such a long way since we’d brought her here. Don’t get me wrong, I’d always known she had strength within her. However, what I saw now shattered every expectation I’d ever held of her.
In weeks, she’d learned several different forms of dynamis, each one complex on its own. We would never tell her this, because it would make her question herself, but it had taken therest of us months, years even, to learn what she had mastered in weeks. When Killian and Nayla told me about how she’d created an entire peony bush from nothing, I almost fell out of my chair. Terrans had always been able to manipulate living things, but never had they been able to give them life.
