Page 8 of Imbalance
I slid my hand up so my fingers rested on the edge of the ink before forcing myself not to move anymore.
"You are not naked anymore," I mumbled, and my brow furrowed. "I mean, you’re shirtless, but not naked...Why are you not naked?" Wow, that sounded very forward and not at all how I’d meant it. Words were clearly hard for me right now.
Someone made an amused sound in the background, most likely at my expense and embarrassment, but it was enough that I snapped out of my weird haziness.
“You were shivering while you slept, and I wanted to provide you a little more warmth,” Damien answered with a mixture of amusement and compassion in his voice.
"...and I am still touching your chest like a weirdo," I stated awkwardly, retracting my hand as he let out a low rumble from his throat. My toes curled at the noise, and I met his eyes, which seemed to be sorting through a million different emotions—none of which I was capable of currently identifying. Or maybe I just wasn't comfortable placing them because that would make me think about my own emotions.
Honestly, after everything that had happened at the Summit, I was mentally and emotionally drained. I was frustrated and stressed that my dad and some of the others' parents were being held captive—and that we didn't have a plan to fix that.
I was angry that King Roarke & Queen Ava of Tenebris had successfully pulled off an attack on the other royals of the kingdom after assassinating their supposed allies, King Marcelo & Queen Anastasia of Peccatum.
I was experiencing an array of turbulent emotions towards the men around me—everything from annoyance to affection—along with, of course, a level of frustration with my own inability to bring the two sides of myself fully together. Sure, I had gotten the whole “use my Succubus powers” thing somewhat down...but I felt like there was an entire side of my magic I hadn’t explored yet that I now craved.
"Ama," Damien's words were soft and concerned, "you were screaming while you were unconscious."
Had I been?Well, that was a bit awkward. How much did we want to bet that wasn't going to win me any sleepovers with the princes around me?
"Yeah," I muttered, "I dreamed of falling into a river of magma. It was freaky."
"Not far from the truth, if we hadn't moved after you passed out," Damien muttered, running a hand through his messy dark hair. I blinked, trying to figure out what he was saying, only to remember the earthquake and the distant mountain peaks that had begun to emit clouds of ash and billowing smoke.
Ah, shit, the volcano. I clearly remembered Adrien saying something about that before I'd gotten dizzy and blacked out.
A brisk wind blew across me, and I curled further into the large long-sleeved button-down Damien had pulled onto me. Where had he gotten this shirt? Or any of his clothes, for that matter?
“Finias,” Damien explained with a small smile, “used one of his runes to create some. Pretty fucking cool, actually.”
I was a bit worried he would be cold, but more thankful than anything because the climate here—wherever “here” was—was far different than in the capital or in my own kingdom. Seriously, it was cold enough that my teeth nearly started to chatter, and probably would have if Damien hadn't tugged me against him, causing me to melt into a puddle. I had to resist the urge to nuzzle against him.
That would be weird. Totally weird. But honestly, it being this cold in hell was even weirder.
"We need to keep moving." The sharp voice made me frown, and I looked up to find Colt staring down at the two of us with what could only be described as anger.
I bit back my retort about how he needed to stop taking his anger out on us. I seriously needed to know where we were. Clearly, we hadn't gone to the capital as Colt suggested, so...were we really trying to find this hybrid city in the darklands? I wasn't positive about how I felt about that. There was a weird stir of excitement and nervousness, which came on the heels of the realization that I would likely meet others like me. If we ever found the damned place.
"Moving where?" I tried to clarify as Damien brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear gently, Colt's gaze tracking the action before he shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Back to the devildamned capital," Colt ground out.
"Ignore him," Damien shook his head. "We are trying to find the hybrid city Adrien mentioned. He, Drayven, and Finias split up and went the three other directions besides the direction we'd been walking from. They should be back soon. Hopefully, before it rains. We need to find somewhere to shelter." I couldn't help but find Damien's calm and collected rationale comforting.
At the mention of rain, I looked skyward to find a cloudy gray skyscape so dark, it looked like night. Light droplets of cold rain occasionally fell on me, stinging against my face, which felt like it had been out in the harsh wind for far too long. At least now the canopy of trees we were surrounded by in this smaller opening was providing some semblance of coverage.
Although the trees were almost alien, their trunks sheathed in charcoal-color bark, covered in randomly placed thorns, and topped with massive, dark leaves that looked sharp at the tips. They were deadly and oddly beautiful, making me feel like we were in some weird, skeletal, dead forest. The ground beneath my fingers was made of gray, dusty, cracked soil. I swear this was the stuff of horror movies, right down to the chilled mist coming from between the trees.
I was starting to understand why they called it the darklands.
"They have been gone for three hours," Colt growled, and his statement chilled me to the bone. They shouldn’t have been gone that long, right?
"Why don't you just sit and chill?" Damien suggested, his lips pressing to my shoulder in an action that seemed to piss Colt off even more. I couldn't exactly blame him, but this temperamental side wasn't one I’d expected. Then again, considering the situation with his parents, I had a feeling it was specifically reserved for me.
"Chill?" Colt bit out with an incredulous expression. "I can't fucking chill, Damien. We are in the middle of devildamned nowhere, while our kingdoms—and the capital itself—are in peril because—"
Because of me.Because somehow, I was the big baddie in Colt's mind. What were his words? I'dbewitchedhim, and he hadn’t listened to the voice that told him I would fuck everyone over? Right. BecauseIhad planned the coup.
It was such bullshit, yet I couldn't even find it in myself to be mad...because I did feel guilty. I felt torn between feeling like the situation at the Summit had escalated because of me, while also feeling validated that I'd given at least some warning that things were all fucked up before the coup. I’d tried to devise a plan with all of the guys.
