Page 6 of Darkness Consuming
Chapter Three
Stay Forever
Violence
My joints ache when I lie down. The soft bed is no comfort to my tender body. Exhaustion blankets my mind. There’s a fearful span of time that’s vacant in my memory.
There was the injection …
And then nothing.
I didn’t sleep. I don’t feel like I’ve slept. But the time just isn’t there. When my thoughts returned to me, I was here; standing in my room staring at the steely wall.
Out of everything, what hurts the most is knowing my terrible thoughts are all that will keep me company through the night. The pale moonlight isn’t here to watch over me. The cool winds can’t cradle my body. The men who I grew to trust no longer exist in this place.
It’s just me.
What did he do? What did my father do while my mind was away?
I lie ever so still against the smooth blanket of my bed while the small room presses in on me. The steel wall is my focus for so long I no longer see it. My thoughts are empty. A weight presses against my chest until there isn’t a gasp of hot air for me to breathe.
My eyes close tightly.
Why am I like this?
The most powerful woman in the Dark Kingdom, and yet I can’t defeat my own terrible mind.
When my eyes open slowly, he’s staring down on me.
I blink hard, trying to see the darkness more clearly.
But he’s there. Right there at the edge of my bed. The image of his body is more than shadows as the candle light dances across the walls of the room. Oddly, it’s like he has a light of his own though.
“Nollix.” A whispered word is all I can speak.
My thoughts are playing tricks on me.
They have to be.
His long hair skims his jaw as he lowers himself, kneeling on the floor until we’re face to face. His smooth skin is so bronze it practically glows in the darkness. He’s more beautiful than I remember.
I study him, knowing he must be another test sent here by my father. I can’t make sense of it but I know it’s a trap.
“Vi,” he pauses, his hand hesitant against my knuckles. Ever so slowly, his palm pushes over mine.
It’s an odd feeling. A tingling feeling like the wind caressing my skin.
“Vi, what’s wrong? Tell me where you are and I’ll come for you.” His words are a quiet and promising whisper.
He’ll come for me. What a strange thing to say.
This is definitely a trap set by my father.
“I don’t need you, Nollix.” My lip trembles and I clench my jaw tighter as I stare up at his pretty eyes. I forgot how beautiful and shining his eyes are; like looking at the most dangerous part of the ocean and wanting to dive right in.
But there’s a darkness just below the surface. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it.
He seems to let that terrible confession linger in the dark. His lips part but he doesn’t have a thing to say to that. Deep eyes trail across my features.
