Page 166 of Rising Out of the Darkness
“How about the elixir?” Warren inquired.
“Clara and Elena began to work on it today. I’ll have more information about it by the day’s end.”
Fallon chimed in, “Finding a way to release the suppression would give us the edge we need. Especially if we end up in battle.”
“Let’s reconvene at the end of the week,” I said. Everyone mumbled agreement and began to shuffle out of the room.
Fallon stopped me on my way out of the door. “It’s good to see you smile, Declan. Keir would have been so happy for you.” With a pat to my back, he stepped aside to give me some space. “I know it’s been difficult these past years, but he would be proud of how you kept fighting through it.”
“That means so much to me, Fallon, thank you.” My words rasped through the emotion lumped in my throat.
“Your brother was my best friend, and you know I’ve always thought of you as my little brother as well. You’ll always be apart of my family Dec.”
“Did Eloise come with you all? I haven’t seen her since after your brother…” He swallowed, the rest of the words tugged under by emotion.
“She did. She’s been helping new arrivals get set up. You should go find her, it’s been a long time. I know you two were close. I’m sure she would love to see a familiar face from happier times.”
Fallon grasped my hand in his and pulled me in for another embrace. “It’s good to have you home, brother.”
Elena
It had been three excruciatingly long days. From sunup to sundown, Clara and I had been working hard on combining the right ingredients to recreate Lenora’s elixir and find one that would release Declan from Alastor’s curse. Clara thought that the two cures we needed might be more similar than we realized.
Unfortunately, everything we’d tried so far had failed, and the mark of the curse remained on Declan.
“It’s sweltering out here.” Clara wiped the sweat from her brow.
We woke up early to harvest some more herbs and flowers for more batches of elixirs we were working on. Clara was right, this field was amazing. Rows of every herb and flower as far as the eye could see. It overwhelmed all my senses, reminding me of all the hours I spent working our small garden with my mother. Every smell, sight and petal I touched was wrapped around in a memory of her.
“This should be enough to work for today.” I assessed our baskets full of herbs and blooms. “We should head back and get started.”
On our way back into town, I glanced to the side to see Nayla chatting with a girl, a little younger than her. I paused, takingin the similar umber skin and long, dark onyx hair. Clara’s shoulder bumped against mine as Nayla embraced the girl, both breaking out in tears.
“Is that…?”
“Yes,” Clara whispered. “Killian and Liam went out and got her sister last night. Things have gotten bad everywhere since…”
I nodded, knowing what she meant. Since we’d all disappeared.
“Nayla’s mother was worried about her safety. So Nayla sent a raven and had her brought to one of our extraction points—safe houses and areas around the kingdom where we can immediately get to people when they need our help.”
“Let’s give them some privacy,” I whispered, and Clara nodded as we both turned to go back to our workstation.
I wasn’t prepared for the sight that I stumbled upon, however. Liam, Killian, and Declan all had their bare chests on display as they worked on constructing pieces of furniture under the heat of the sun. I swore all of them must have been modeled after the gods themselves. They shouldn’t be allowed to walk around shirtless. Accidents might happen.
They glistened with sweat, and my mouth went dry when I felt the heat of Declan’s eyes on me. I didn’t even have to see him to feel the weight of his stare.
“You’re blushing.”The deep timbre of his voice inside my head sent my heart racing. “The question is…which one of us is making you blush?”he growled, causing me to jump. Clara eyed me inquisitively.
“Liam,” I deadpanned. Declan’s hammer collided with his thumb, causing a string of obscenities to fly from his mouth.
“Wildfire,don’t make me come over there and show this entire damn city exactly who you belong to.”
I gasped, my back straightening from his words. “You wouldn’t dare…”
At the same time, Warren came around the corner carrying more wood, and following behind him was Brietta carrying a pitcher of water. A devious smile stretched across Declan’s face.
“I wouldn’t?”he inquired, sliding his thumb inside his mouth to clean away the blood. “Just to be clear,I’d take you right here, right now in front of everyone… including your father.”
