Page 15 of Tales of a Deadly Devotion
I could see the pain in his solemn grey eyes, how haunted he was by hope, the cruel temptation of it. How mortal he seemed with it. Despite how I knew he was anything but, how the room creaked with the warning of the cursed magic trapped beneath his skin.
I didn’t know all the stories. Not of the Verr and the curses beneath. Couldn’t understand most of them but I knew it costhim to be close to that darkness. He’d paid it for Kat and I couldn’t hate him for that.
Then my gaze caught on those unhealed marks made by my claws. The memory of William’s desperate screams in my ears. Shame burnt through me, cold and sickly at the thought of all the horrid things I’d said. How they’d scraped at my throat on their way out as if splintered with glass.
‘Here.’ I held the small tin of salve between us, still curled in my other hand. The only peace offering I was willing to give. ‘Those marks will upset her when she wakes.’
I wouldn’t say sorry. I was too much of a proud bitch for that. No matter how my chest ached with the weight of my guilt. The discomfort from where it sat, heavy against my ribs.
The shame that I’d always bite before I’d listen. Something in me too broken to be fixed. Too sharp to be soft.
‘She’ll be waiting for you.’ He took the small tin from me. His thumb tracing the label she’d written just as mine had. Not dismissing my gratitude but not accepting it either. Just leaving it there between us.
She’d be waiting for him too. Like the fool she could be.
A fuckingVerr– of all the creatures she could choose to keep. Yet, how could I fault her. She’d kept me too.
He hesitated for a moment more. Fist curling around the tin, darkness seeping between his knuckles like smoke before he left me there. The house releasing a quiet, sad groan.
I made it to the bedroom. A thousand thoughts racing through my head, a humming like bees trapped within my skull as I forced myself forward.
Finding the stern form of Gideon standing at the base of the bed, looking through a healing bag that lay open on the ottoman at the base. I didn’t make a sound. Couldn’t, and yet he still looked up.
‘Miss Darcy.’ He straightened, folding his arms behind his back.
‘Emrys said you see an improvement.’ I ignored his formality.
‘Her pulse is stronger. No more tremors and she hasn’t had an adverse reaction to any of the healing tonics.’ His words were cautious, with a deep crease of worry at his brow. ‘However, I doubt we’re out of the woods yet.’
‘We’ll find something else then,’ I answered too sharply for the peaceful quiet in the room. Not allowing him to dampen my hope. Not willing to accept just how fragile my grasp of it was.
He considered me for the smallest of moments and I refused to be ashamed by what he saw. A tired and lost creature. A madwoman with monstrous scales.
‘As you said. We’re not finished.’ He dipped his head in agreement, running his hand through his golden hair, letting it curl between his gloved fingers as those sad blue eyes came back to my own. ‘Have some time with her, and then we’ll have another look at that.’
He nodded towards my arm, as he moved to leave the room.
‘Thean and Emrys already—’ I began.
‘It’s the least I could do,’ were his parting words before he left me standing there.
The moment I heard the door click shut, I lunged for the bed. Reaching for her wildly, needing to press my trembling fingers against the skin of her hand. To feel she was real. Warmth brushed my fingertips, the barest flare of heat from her magic like a spark against my skin.
A sob left me, bowing me over as I took hold of her hand. Dropping into the chair next to the bed, tightening my hold on her no matter how it made the wound on my arm sting.
Kat.
Her cheeks were flushed. Breath sliding easily between her lips. The barest flutter of her eyelids, something new that made too many emotions rush through me, fuelling that burning hope inside my chest. Ribs tightening their hold on it like a startled bird so it couldn’t escape.
I curled our pinkie fingers together. Holding hers so tightly as I kissed the back of her hand. I cried harder with relief, as I pressed her hand against my cheek, unable to stop the smile that came to my trembling lips.
She pulled in another breath, deep and steady. Each one chasing away the sadness that forever lingered inside of me.
‘I’m here,’ was all I could say as my head dropped onto the bed. Tightening my hold and hoping she could feel it – wherever she’d wandered to. Letting the sound of her breaths settle me, deep and greedy for life as I let exhaustion have me once more.
Chapter Seven
Kat
