My pulse quickened, and Daelon didn’t stop until he was only a couple feet apart from the man—who grinned as he crossed his arms.
Did they know each other? I wished I could hear them, but the ocean was loud in my ears.
The hairs on my neck stood up again at the recognition of another presence—this time on the outskirts of my mind rather than here in the physical. I knew it was Lucius trying to communicate with me, and in my frustration with Daelon’s imposed helplessness, I let him.
You could hear them, if you so desired… he purred.
I watched as the man wagged his finger at Daelon, and I could tell now that he was sneering more than smiling.
Don’t you want to?
I pursed my lips, clenching and unclenching my fist at my side. How the hell did Lucius know what was happening? Did that mean he knew where we were?
Yes, I answered, surprising myself. I told Daelon I would trust him. But that didn’t mean I would allow him to hide things from me right in front of my face. Not when I could so easily get at least some semblance of answers…
After a moment’s hesitation I closed my eyes, concentrating as I projected my hearing outward.
Good.
Unsettled by Lucius’s sudden mental presence, I shut down our telepathic connection. I concentrated only on Daelon and the stranger.
“He knew?” Daelon asked, his voice hushed.
“Suspected.”
“You think you can use this to your advantage.”
The man shrugged. “I have no idea what you mean. I don’t see how it’s my fault that while I was busy putting out fires you were fucking the—”
Daelon lunged, punching the man square in the face. He stumbled backward, catching himself in a dune.
“You’ve dug your grave,” he spat, wiping blood from his nose. “Man of honor.” He laughed—an ugly, cruel sound.
“Oh I doubt that, Nathaniel.” Daelon’s voice was surprisingly cool and collected given he’d just assaulted someone. “We both know this changes nothing. You’ve never been anything more than aggressively mediocre and unimpressive.”
They sounded like quarreling brothers, surprisingly petty even as they hinted at a deeper conflict, one that I was desperate to unravel. In a flash, the stranger—Nathaniel—shot out a dark bolt of energy, which slammed into Daelon and sent him flying backward.
I cut off my audio channeling and flew into action, forgetting all about Daelon’s command to stay put. Without stopping to wonder if it was possible, I jumped through space rather than waste time running.
In a rush of wind and disorientation, I appeared in the sand next to Daelon, which stunned both men into momentary pause.
“I told you not to follow me,” Daelon growled through clenched teeth, pushing himself back to his feet.
I took a purposeful step forward, placing myself in between the two men. Nathaniel eyed me up and down, and I was glad to be wearing clothes again. Humor danced in his hazel eyes.
I stiffened, narrowing my eyes at the instigator as my palms tingled in anticipation. “I saw that you boys weren’t playing nice,” I said without meeting Daelon’s gaze, which I could only assume was deadly right about now.
“Marvelous,” Nathaniel mused, spitting blood in the sand to his left. Something about his face looked very familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place it. “Here I thought Daelon turned you into his pet,” he laughed.
I bristled, feeling power swarm us. What the fuck did that mean?
Daelon stepped forward to be level with me, letting out a sharp breath. “I think we’ll be going now. Always a pleasure, Nathaniel.”
Before Daelon could turn away, Nathaniel stepped forward. “Oh, come now, Daelon. Don’t be selfish.”
I watched as Daelon’s jaw clenched, his eyes fiery. The tension was palpable, and my anger at this stranger and his arrogance bubbled up, threatening to spill over. If he came any closer, I couldn’t be held responsible for what happened to him next.
“You try it, and I’ll cut off your hands,” Daelon spat. It was like I missed a portion of their dialogue.
Nathaniel grinned. “You’re going to cause a lot of trouble for yourself, you know that? I think you’ve forgotten yourself.”
“You have it all wrong. Goodbye, Nathaniel.”
Daelon grabbed my arm, but before either of us could begin to channel, Nathaniel unleashed another attack with the flick of his wrist. It was a dark, aggressive energy that flew at us, as sharp as a dagger and as chilling as the energy I’d felt radiating off of Lucius. It was the frequency that my body rejected.
Failing to brace myself, it knocked the air out of me and sent Daelon and me in opposite directions. The sinister magick slithered in my blood like paralytic venom, leaving me immobile as I lay on my back in the cool sand.
Panic began to set in as Nathaniel strode over to where I lay, crouching down next to my helpless form. He looked completely unbothered, curiosity dancing in his eyes.
“Don’t worry. I just want a taste.”
I glared, searching for my power as I fought in vain against his insidious spell. Every command to my body to move my limbs, to run far away, was thwarted. I felt unbearably cold, shivering as I did that day in the clearing. This magick was corrupted, polluted, dirty...
It was evil.
He reached for my arm, just above my wrist, and began to syphon like the energy vampire had done weeks ago. It was so invasive, and I was so cold.
“Ah. It’s true, then,” Nathaniel said, still pulling from my power as he grinned, appearing to be in pure ecstasy. “I’ve never felt anything like it.” He licked his lips as his eyes grew wide, and the tugging feeling grew more and more uncomfortable as the biting cold hollowed me to my core.
Help, I called out, digging deep into my psyche for my source of connection—all of the forces that seemed to be guiding me, revealing a cosmic story piece by piece. I needed them now.
“I will fucking kill you, Nathaniel. Get away from her,” I heard Daelon bellow from a few feet away.
“What’s wrong with her?” Nathaniel asked, staring down at my shuddering, cold body pensively.
I closed my eyes, moving beneath the cold, the dark, the ugly—following the voices of my mothers, the songs in an ancient tongue, the sound of the ocean roaring in the distance, and even the magick that seeped through the land beneath me—and I found my footing again.
In a surge of strength fortified by thousands of witches, I began to channel.
“Ow, shit,” Nathaniel cursed.
My eyes flew open to see him clutching the hand he had grabbed me with, which was red and blistered now, as if he’d touched it to a hot stove.
I sat up and reached out an arm, my palm pointed toward him. I lifted him up into the air with little effort.
“Wait, Áine, stop,” I heard Daelon say, but it barely registered. I was too immersed in my magick now.
I held Nathaniel midair as he flailed, his nostrils flaring and his glare sharp.
I smiled sweetly. “Doesn’t feel very good now, does it?”
“You stupid bitch. Do you have any idea who I am?” he spat. “You’d do well to do as you’re told. Or you will regret it.”
“I don’t think so,” I said coolly, my voice sounding slightly detached from myself. I didn’t care who he was. I wanted him to feel as helpless as I had just felt.
I let my hold over him travel up to his throat and squeeze at his airway. That was enough to finally wipe the smug arrogance from his features. He held his hands at his neck, wrestling with a force that eluded him. His eyes turned from dark to pleading as he struggled.
It was funny to me how cruel men cared so little about empathy until they needed to evoke it to save themselves.
Out of the corner of my vision I saw that Daelon had been freed from the paralysis, jumping to his feet and moving toward me. He stepped between me and Nathaniel, who was choking and sputtering.
“Enough.”
I am not
your pet, I hissed telepathically.
“I know,” Daelon said with a roll of his eyes. “But we both know you don’t want to kill him. Because you’re better than him.”
I considered his words, reminded that I was pulling a page from Lucius’s playbook with this move. Daelon was right; I wasn’t him. I snapped out of my warpath and eased up on my attacker’s throat, and with a sigh I released him and let him fall to the ground in a heap.
He pushed himself up, dusting sand off his front as he fumed. “Consider whatever this is,” he spat, rubbing his throat with one hand and gesturing to Daelon and me with the other, “over.”
And with a rush of wind, he disappeared.
Chapter 21
Daelon offered me a hand, his eyes wild and features stricken with unfathomable anger. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. He turned away from me, running his hands through his hair before clasping them behind his head. He kicked the sand at his feet, sending the grains flying in the wind in their multi-colored shimmers.
I furrowed my brows, attempting to reel in my racing heart and erratic breathing. Every fiber of my being was still teeming with electricity and limitless potential. It was hard to make sense of the strange, rapidly escalated series of events I’d just bore witness to.
“How did you know him? And what did he mean by consider this over?” If he was indicative of the wrong crowd of Daelon’s past, then I understood why he wanted to conceal it from me.
“It means we’ve run out of time.”
My heart dropped. The conversation between Daelon and Nathaniel played on a loop in my head as I struggled to make sense of the conflict. “What does that mean? And how did he find us?” I sucked in a breath, remembering how Lucius had found me somehow, too, at least mentally. How had he known what was happening? Did that mean we were in danger of him showing up now, too?
I paled, looking around the vacant beach. Daelon turned back to face me, his features stony now.
“Probably because of whatever happened in the ocean, when I lost you for a moment. I don’t know, maybe wherever you went was out of reach of my magick.”
We’ve run out of time. The words sent me into a tailspin, my gaze warping into tunnel vision as I stared at Daelon.
Something wasn’t adding up. Actually, a lot of things weren’t adding up. How powerful was Nathaniel that even after Daelon threatened his life, he also still stopped me when my grip was around his throat? And how was he able to end our time together?
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, for what felt like the thousandth time, my voice strained. All of my pent-up frustration was rising up again. I was blind, and I wanted to rip the damned blindfold off.
I took a step toward a motionless Daelon, a thousand emotions cycling through his dark brown eyes.
“I—”
“What are the rumors about me? Why am I such a threat to Lucius, who by the way, is apparently a king? Whatever that means.”
Daelon looked momentarily stunned, but stayed silent, watching me unravel with an infuriating impassive expression.
“Also, he knows where we are. Yet he isn’t here, which I find strange considering he wanted so desperately to elude your protection and find me.”
Daelon’s forehead creased. “How do you—”
“No!” I held a hand up. “I’m asking the questions. Who are you?” I was still chilled to the bone from Nathaniel’s magick. A shudder passed through me as I stood planted before the man I felt so connected to just moments ago.
His eyes softened. “You’re freezing. And justifiably emotional. Let’s go home.”
That place isn’t my home.
I narrowed my eyes, tensing as he reached for me. I begrudgingly let him pull me into an embrace, still holding tightly to the questions he refused to answer.
“I’m so sorry,” he consoled. “I want him dead for touching you.”
I let out a ragged breath, still refusing to relax into Daelon’s hold.
“I know you do.” But you didn’t want me to actually kill him. “You could’ve stopped him from doing whatever he’s about to do—however he’s going to blow up our bubble. Why’d you let him go?” I pulled back, needing to see Daelon’s eyes as he spoke.
He reached for my hands like he wanted to teleport, but I flinched, pulling back. He stared at me wearily, a desperation setting in. “You don’t understand, Áine. Killing him only would’ve made matters worse. It was already in motion. Nothing I could’ve done would have stopped it. I just wish he hadn’t seen…”
“Us? Together?” I asked, the wheels of my mind turning. Daelon resisted our magnetism from day one. He said over and over that he couldn’t be with me.
I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to generate warmth. I still felt the magick’s residual darkness like a storm cloud over my power.
“I—Áine, please. Let me get you home and we can talk more. It’s safer there,” he said, urging me, nearly pleading. It wasn’t a disposition I was used to on my supposed fearless protector, but it was one that was becoming more and more frequent.
I cast a glance back at the ocean, wondering why I had been called here. I thought something important would be revealed to me—like everything would finally fall into place. Instead, I was attacked and violated.
At least I got to see my mothers again, before the chaos ensued. They even seemed to see me, somehow, through means by which I was only beginning to comprehend. I watched as dark clouds began to form in the sky, my stomach sinking. Daelon was right about Aradia being so easily influenced.
Maybe things were starting to fall together. Maybe the problem was that the pieces weren’t completing the puzzle I’d once imagined—one where I finally found the connection I so desperately chased since my mothers passed, one where I finally felt complete and my purpose was clear, one with a happy ending after the fight, one with triumph, hope, and light. Maybe the puzzle taking shape was something else entirely.
The low roar of thunder rumbled in the distance, and the atmosphere shifted decisively.
Daelon followed my gaze toward the now turbulent waters, paling at the sight. “It almost never storms here.”
We stared at each other for a moment, and Daelon reached for my hands once more.
I hesitated before finally giving in. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Hot water cascaded over me as I stared straight ahead through the steamy glass, moving on autopilot as I washed the last traces of ocean from my skin. I couldn’t even remember the few words I mumbled to Daelon after I left him in the clearing and retreated to the cabin without him.
All things change. The fundamental truth of existence was impermanence and transience. I was naïve for thinking that I—we—could defy the very nature of reality. Whatever was coming for us was always destined to come.
I wrapped myself in a soft white towel, studying my face in the mirror. My eyes looked frighteningly empty, my appearance far less vibrant than it had been this morning.
“Áine. Are you all right?” Daelon called from beyond the closed bathroom door.
No.
I stepped away from the mirror, and with a sigh I stepped out into my bedroom, where Daelon sat on my bed in wait.
He glanced over my body. “Are you okay?” he repeated.
“I’m fine.”
He studied me skeptically, his dark eyes probing.
We’ve run out of time. I couldn’t shake the words away. They clung to me like the sticky strands of a spiderweb.
I swallowed, turning from him to rifle through my dresser for clothes. “How much time do we have?” I asked, my tone flat. I grabbed some leggings and a sweater, not really concerned with what I wore at the moment.
“I don’t really know,” Daelon sighed. He crept closer to me, concern in his eyes. “What are you thinking?”
I dropped my towel, watching as his eyes traveled my exposed body, flashing something intense before returning to mine. I pretended not to notice the change in his breathing as
I dressed myself.
“I’m thinking that I don’t know what to think. Because how could I when I don’t even know what’s happening right now?” I snapped.
Daelon strained, fighting an internal battle that I wasn’t privy too. He let out a breath, his jaw unclenching.
“I can’t protect you from him much longer.”
Lucius. “Why?”
Daelon hesitated. “He’s too powerful. I was always meant to train you for as long as I could. Until you’d have to face him.”
“What does Nathaniel have to do with it? Or us being together, for that matter?”
Daelon shook his head, his eyes burning with anger. “You were right, Áine. You’re a threat. And we were in a place with a lot of complicated history. You are so… powerful. I knew you were incredible but feeling it in the ocean…” he trailed off, averting his gaze. “It was bound to set things into motion. To force Lucius to make his move.”
I slammed my dresser drawers shut with my magick, which made Daelon startle. His anger had dissipated into something more mournful.
“You’re saying that I caused this? By simply existing, I guess,” I muttered. “And now Lucius is going to come and kill us, I presume?”
Daelon was unreadable now. “I will never allow him to hurt you.”
I nearly asked what he’d do about it if Lucius was that much more powerful than him, but I knew that those words would hurt Daelon more than anything else. By the look on his face, he was probably already thinking it.
Suddenly all the times he’d allowed me to read his energy came rushing back, and it was as if I was currently reading him all over again. The soft golden and pink hues of care, devotion, and awe swam around me, reminding me of the man I knew he was—underneath all the secrecy and front of perfect control.
“What will happen when he comes, Daelon?” I asked. “Why are you still hiding so much when you said you’d tell me everything when the time came? The time has come, so tell me.”
I begged with my eyes, pleading for him to earn my trust. I didn’t want to lose him. I didn’t want to believe Lucius’s whispers of betrayal. More than anything, I didn’t want to be out of time.
The Discovered Page 22