Page 83 of Curse of Darkness
It’s a second before I realize that although the sheets on his side of the bed are still warm, he’s no longer there.
Panic jerks me to full awareness.
Gone.
No.
Slipping from the bed, I jerk my nightrobe on and hurry from our rooms, my heart racing—
There.
There’s a light down the hallway.
The ache in my chest collapses in on itself when I see his familiar silhouette marking the door ahead.
He’s caged in his glamor again. Wings vanished. A male formed of shadows and perfection as he leans against the doorjamb at the entrance to Amaya’s room, wearing only a black silk robe.
Amaya lies asleep in her bed, golden candlelight washing over her serene face. Beside her, not even bothering to lift his head from the pillow is Grimm, golden-green eyes unblinking as he stares at Thiago.
It’s not entirely a friendly look.
Sliding my arms around him, I glance over his shoulder. “She’ll be so excited to see you in the morning. It’s all been an enormous shock to her.”
Thiago turns away, tugging her door closed behind him. There’s nothing on his face. Just… emptiness. “Perhaps it’s best this way.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “What?”
Taking my fingers, he leads me back to our rooms. The second the door is closed, he kisses me again, but I push my hand against his chest.
“What did you mean by that?”
“It’s nothing.” He turns away, slipping outside and pausing by the railing.
The lights of Ceres flicker below.
Tugging my robe around me with a shiver, I follow him. “That wasn’t nothing.”
“Vi, leave it alone.”
The forlorn shape of his silhouette tugs at my heartstrings. I’ve dreamed of reuniting him with his daughter. In all my dreams, he would wrap Amaya in his arms and squeeze her so tightly, promising that he’d never let her go….
I find my voice again. “Together, you said. Together, I pledged. And I meant it, Thiago. Whatever is going through your head right now…. You owe me that. You never told me about the Darkyn and I need to know the truth if I’m going to be able to help our daughter through whatever changes her body may face.”
The hard edge of his profile doesn’t shift. Instead, the muscle in his jaw locks. “I can always sense my father out there somewhere. It’s an itch beneath my skin, a driving need to find him, to take that which belongs to me.” Dark eyes flash toward me face. “Or maybe it’s not me who feels him. Maybe it’s the piece of me that belongs to Death, yearning for the other pieces of itself.”
The heat drains from my face as I understand what he’s saying.
“It’s worse with her here in the castle. I can fucking hear her breathing, Vi. I can sense that dark flame just on the edge of my fingertips, mine for the taking if I only reach out… Reach out and take it.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Thiago clenches his fingers, looking down at them. “I wouldn’t. Icouldn’t.” But the rawness of his voice shows how much he’s bleeding inside. “I wish you hadn’t brought me back, Vi. It was safer for her without me here.”
Swallowing down the hard lump in my throat, I force myself to look at the facts. Hediedfor her. He loves her. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that he would never,everhurt her. “You’re not a threat to her. I know you. I know you would never harm her.”
I trace my fingers down his spine, an act of comfort.
He shudders at my touch. “You don’t understand, Vi. Sometimes I don’t see Amaya when I look at her. Sometimes… all I see is the shadow within her. The darkness I want to consume.” Stark shadows darken his eyes. “My wards are gone. I don’t know how much of me… how muchisme. I was trapped in that Darkness for nearly a year. I did things to survive—things I’m not proud of. Everything I’ve spent centuries locking away deep inside me I set free, and now, I don’t know if I can put the leash back on it.”
