Page 25 of Black Onyx
But my attention is on Loki. His eyes are on me as if he’s trying to figure something out. I’m not sure whether I want him to or not.
“Control,” I answer this time, “when I come back from the Void, I’m filled with my power, my gifts completely replenished and released from the binds that I use to keep tight control of them. You saw what happened, I had to fight Magnus, Storm and Reaper to get complete control back, and that’s unusual. It normally takes a lot more.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to go in?” Reaper asks, and I nod.
I’m ready to get this conversation over and done with so that we can get Killian enrolled. There’s an urgent need that’s riding me hard to get it done sooner rather than later, but before I can make the suggestion, Loki strides over to me. He gently wraps his arms around me, which surprisingly doesn’t make me flinch and buries his head in my neck before taking a long inhale.
“Wha . . .?” I start to ask, but he pulls back with a dark frown on his face that is so unlike the person that I’ve come to know over the last couple of days that I look to the others for reassurance, only to find them all looking at him just as shocked as I am. The fact that they also look slightly wary is worrying.
“Loki?” Reaper asks, a cautious note in his voice.
The others all step closer, I know I should be worried, but I’m not; I instinctively know that he would never hurt me. I’m more curious than anything. The guys, though, they clearly are worried, apart from Killian, who just stands back and watches this unfold like he knows something that we don’t. To be fair he could; visions are a bitch sometimes.
“Farren,” he starts, his voice betraying an inhuman growl to it that has the guys moving even closer, including Storm.
“Yes?” I reply, my voice steady.
“If the Void heals all your wounds whenever you enter it as you did earlier, then why do I still smell fresh blood?”
“Darlin’?” Killian asks, a thread of worry in his voice now, not because of Loki but because I might be hurt.
I decide it’s probably easier to show them, and I’m still wearing a sports bra anyway, so I quickly whip my shirt off and turn around, showing them the long score marks that mark my back.
“I fucking knew it,” Loki mutters, and I turn around, seeing the turmoil and, for some reason, indecision in his eyes.
“Fuck,” Storm hisses.
“What happened?” Reaper asks, concern darkening his features.
I look to Killian, needing some sort of sign that I should proceed with this and not just shut them down; he nods with a gentle smile. That’s all the reassurance I need, at least to tell them this.
“Erm, well, from the couple of things that I let slip when I was stabbed . . .”
Loki and Killian growl at the same time at my words, and I ignore them both. I also ignore that I found the sound of their combined growls stupidly fucking hot. Loki’s growl turns into a confused frown, and I look away, I guess I’m not as good at hiding my emotions around these men as I am everyone else.
“As I was saying, you have probably realised that my father is not a great one.”
“He did this to you?” Storm seethes, and once again, we all look at him, slightly shocked at the amount of anger he has on my behalf.
“Yes,” I reply shortly.
“Are you not healing because of that potion he gave you?” Rival asks, proving he was listening before.
“No, that burned out of my system when I went into the Void. Father spelled the wounds on my back to heal extremely slowly, and he used dark magic to do it. They won’t heal for a long time yet. Not even the Void can do it.”
“That’s fucking insane. Why would he do that to you?” Rival asks.
“Because he’s psychotic, he likes control and more importantly, he likes hurting me,” I reply blandly.
“So you’re just going to carry on bleeding and being in pain until it heals?” Loki asks, his voice slightly strangled.
“Yeah, but it’s okay, I’m used to it, and I won’t cause any issues for you guys. I think I proved that I could still fight well enough in combat and weapons class.” I try to reassure them.
“You think we’re worried because your injuries might cause issues for us?” Storm asks incredulously before he shakes his head and starts to pace, muttering curses.
I look at the others, and seeing my confusion, Killian takes over, “Darlin’, they’re upset because you’re hurt, and they don’t like that, not because they’re worried that you will cause problems for them.”
I wrinkle my nose in confusion, “Huh?”
