Dacia Wolf & the Fallen Prince

by Mandi Oyster

  What Cody said was a repeat of what I’d just told Samantha and Dan, but hearing it from his mouth, ripped my heart out. All the torture I’d been through in the last year had nothing on the pain I felt now. I folded myself into the fetal position, closed my eyes, and let my tears flow.

  Cody blew out a weighty sigh. “I’m sorry, Dacia.” He knelt beside me, his thumbs wiping the tears from my face.

  I heard the door close and realized Samantha, Dan, and Aurelia had left. I sat up and faced Cody. “I-it’s fine. I understand.” He looked like he was going to start talking, so I held my hand up to stop him. “I couldn’t handle it. I hate myself for doing this to you. I hate that I’m too weak to stop him from controlling me.”

  “Don’t … don’t hate yourself, Dacia.”

  The pain in his eyes about undid me. “Why shouldn’t I? All I do is hurt you.” I stared down at my hands, twirling my promise ring on my finger. I hadn’t had it very long, but in that time, I’d gotten used to it being there. A fist clenched my heart, squeezing an extra beat out of it, when I realized I was going to have to give it back to him. “It’s better if I hate myself than if you hate me.”

  “I don’t hate you.” His voice was a little less than a whisper.

  “Not yet.”

  Cody had always been the rock in our relationship, but he looked vulnerable hunched over with his hands on his lap. He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a ragged breath. “I can’t hate you for this. It’s not your fault. You can’t help that he controls you. You can’t help that he set his sights on you.”

  “Maybe not, but … I can’t keep doing this to you.” I took my ring off before I could change my mind and held it out to him.

  “Don’t want that back. Please, don’t make me, Dacia.” He pushed my hand away. “Give me time.”

  The ring sat in the palm of my hand. The ruby sparkled. “It’ll keep happening. I can’t stop it.”

  Cody curled my fingers over and pushed my hand down. Then he pulled away like he couldn’t bear touching me. “Didn’t like seeing you in his jacket.” His voice was soft, but anger and betrayal simmered in it, threatening to erupt. “Don’t like him giving you gifts.” He dragged his hands down his face. “Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  I lifted my hand up, wanting to comfort him but afraid he’d pull away again.

  He looked at my hand, then my face. “I don’t know how to handle it. I’m jealous and angry.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that?” I clutched my promise ring, unsure if I dared to put it back on. If I did, I wasn’t sure if I could take it off again without losing a piece of myself. “Do you think I don’t see how this is destroying you? I hate it! I wish there was something I could do, but I can’t. All I can do is sneak out of here like a rat being called by the Pied Piper. I’m breaking your heart, and I hate myself for it!”

  “Stop saying that.” His voice was harsh, and his irises were icy.

  I held the ring out again. “Please … please take your ring back. Find somebody else. Somebody who’ll be good for you.”

  Tears dampened his eyes. “No, Dacia, please don’t.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. His hand ran through my hair as he rocked back and forth. “Please don’t. Don’t hate yourself. We’ll find a way through.”

  “How?”

  “We will.” He pressed his cheek against mine. “We love each other. We’ll get it.” He peeled my fingers back, revealing the ring. “Put it on. We have what? Twenty-eight or twenty-nine days? We can make it, right?”

  I couldn’t say anything. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest.

  Chapter 21

  Incognito

  My eyes were swollen and sore when I woke up. I wasn’t ready to face another day. My dreams had been filled with visions of Cody leaving me, and even though I woke up in his arms, I knew there was a chance they would come true. If he’d seen me in Mavros’ arms last night, he’d hate me as much as I hated myself. He’d know there was a reason for his anger.

  “Hey.” Cody’s voice was husky. “You okay? Nightmare?”

  “Why do you care?” It came out harsher than I’d intended. “How can you?”

  He pressed up onto his elbow and looked at me. “What do you mean?”

  “With everything I put you through, why do you want to be with me?”

  “I love you. It’s not your fault. Once Mavros is in the Abyss, things’ll go back to normal.”

  “Normal?” I laughed humorlessly. “What’s normal? Nefarious … Draconian … dragons … Mavros. There is no normal.”

  “So, you don’t wanna try?”

  “I don’t understand why you do.” Once again, I was hurting him, and this time I could do something about it. So, why wasn’t I stopping?

  “Dacia, you’re my world … my life.” He brushed my hair back from my face. “You’re going through a lot, and I’m sorry for the way I acted.”

  “For the way you acted?” I jerked away from him, not understanding how he could take the blame. “What about the way I acted? How can you blame yourself? This is all on me, Cody. I’m the bad guy, not you. I’m the one who snuck off to be with a demon. I’m the one who flew off into the mountains with him. I’m the one who came back still wearing his coat. Not you. You did nothing.”

  “Please, Dacia, please … don’t do this.” He squeezed his leg between mine, pulling our bodies closer together.

  “You left me in my dream.” I pressed my hands against his chest, holding him back far enough for me to look into his eyes. “I can understand that. I can’t understand why you’re holding me now.”

  “Because I love you … because I promised to take care of you.” He held my hand up and twirled my promise ring. “I promised to love you forever, and I will.”

  “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  “You’re mine, Dacia. When you accepted that ring, you made a promise to me.” Anger colored his voice. “Just because Mavros made a play for you, don’t expect me to back down. I’m gonna fight like hell to keep you.”

  “But, he doesn’t fight fair.” I remembered the dream I had before my birthday. Cody’s broken body filled my vision.

  “That’s okay.” A slight smile pulled up his lips. “I have the advantage.” He put his hand over my heart. “This belongs to me.”

  “Hear, hear.” Samantha cheered him on.

  “Good speech, Cody.” Dan peered over my loft at me.

  I looked at the three of them and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I’m glad you’re ready because you’re in for one hell of a fight.” I traced my fingers along his face. “Are you sure the prize is worth it?”

  “Only prize I want.”

  Even though I didn’t want to, I got up and went to class. I needed to pretend my life was normal. So far this week, going to classes had been a waste of time. I hadn’t paid attention in any of them. My grades were going to suffer this semester if I didn’t start concentrating during lectures and doing my homework.

  My first class was Creative Writing. Of all the classes I’d taken this semester, there was a better chance this one would hold my attention. Aurelia walked me to the door before telling me she was skipping. “I want to spend some time with Arion. He needs to get out and exercise. I will be waiting for you when class lets out.”

  “Be careful.” I walked into the room feeling like there was a lead weight in my stomach.

  I sat at my desk, doodling on a piece of paper. With every stroke of my pencil, I saw the look of disgust on Cody’s face when he realized I had Mavros’ coat on. I saw his revulsion when he saw the pendant dangling from my neck. I kept hearing the door slam, the sound of him walking away. How could I keep from hurting him? If I managed to send Mavros back to the Abyss, would I win, o
r would I end up losing everything that mattered?

  “May I sit here?” somebody asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said without looking up.

  The chair scraped across the ground, and the owner of the voice plopped down so close to me that I felt the warmth radiating off of his body.

  I slid my chair away from him and started shading the mountain scene.

  A hand shot between my paper and my face. “My name is Damon.”

  How rude, I thought to myself. I shook his hand just to get him to move it. “I’m Dacia. Are you new here?”

  “Yeah, I actually just got here yesterday.”

  With that comment, I looked at him for the first time. He wore a tight black t-shirt that failed to hide his muscular body. His hair was dark and tousled. Glancing into his eyes, I sucked in a startled breath. They looked just like Mavros’.

  “What’s wrong?” He edged his chair closer to mine than was necessary. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I moved my backpack and scooted away from him. “You remind me of somebody.”

  A playful smile tugged at his lips, drawing my attention to his mouth. “Somebody you like, I hope.”

  “Yeah, somebody I like even though I shouldn’t.” My voice trailed off. Why can’t you just keep your mouth shut? I thought to myself.

  He raised one eyebrow. “Why not? Did he do something to you?”

  “It’s complicated.” This wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with a total stranger. I went back to doodling, hoping he’d drop it.

  “Well, if you need to talk or need a shoulder or whatever, let me know.” He edged closer. “Like tomorrow night, we could go to dinner.”

  “Oh.” My pen slipped, rolling off the desk. “I can’t, but thanks for the offer.”

  Damon bent over and grabbed it. Then he seized my hand, gently wrapping my fingers around the pen.

  I was too shocked to move, to pull away, to tell him to get out of my space.

  His fingers brushed mine as he pulled away. “Maybe some other time then.”

  “I’m, uh …” I lifted my hand, pointing at my ring. “I’m flattered, but my boyfriend wouldn’t like that.”

  He leaned closer to me. “You don’t have to tell him.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

  “Do you know anybody named Mavros?” The question popped into my head and out of my mouth at the same time. Mentally, I slapped my forehead.

  “No, why?” His face didn’t give anything away. He didn’t look surprised by my question or on guard or anything.

  “That’s just who you remind me of. It’s your eyes. They look just like his.” But they don’t have the same effect on me, I thought to myself. Thank God!

  A cocky grin drew my focus to his mouth. He licked his lips, and his smile widened. “Is he as charming and attractive as me?”

  “Uh, well, he’s the best looking guy I’ve ever seen, and he can be very charming.”

  “So, what’s the deal?” His fingers brushed my shoulder. “If you like him so much, why are you with this other guy?”

  “It’s complicated.” I pointed my pen at him. “Remember?”

  “Oh, so we’re back to that again?”

  “Unless the two of you want to share your words of wisdom with the rest of the class, could you please quiet down?” Professor Fisher asked. “They actually pay me to talk, and since I need the money, I would like to do my job now.”

  “Sorry.” Heat crept up my neck and onto my face.

  When class was over, I shoved everything into my backpack and darted for the door. I was hoping to avoid another conversation with Damon. His persistence was overwhelming.

  Unfortunately, he fell into step beside me, closer than comfortable. “So … what other classes do you have?”

  We walked through the hallway surrounded by other students. Voices bounced off the ceiling, and footsteps pounded against the tile floor.

  “I have Mythology this afternoon and Scientific Computing and Shakespeare on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. What about you?” I asked more to be polite than anything else.

  He smiled a cute lopsided smile. “Oddly enough, I have the same schedule.”

  “Oh, well that’s quite a coincidence.”

  “Or … maybe it’s fate.” He shrugged and held the door open for me.

  As soon as we stepped outside, the fresh, clean air whisked away the stale scent from the hallway.

  I lifted onto my toes, searching for Aurelia. As soon as I saw her, tension fled from my muscles. I veered toward her, and Damon shadowed me. As we strode closer, I noticed her watching Damon and looking between the two of us. She fell into step beside us, and Damon didn’t even seem to notice her. Of all the things I’d seen since starting college, this was the strangest. Everyone stared at Aurelia the first time they met her. Some people never quit staring.

  He grabbed my elbow, stopping me. “Can I join you for lunch?”

  “Look, Damon”—my voice was harsher than I meant it to be—“you seem like a nice guy, but my dance card is full. I already have a guy trying to pull me away from Cody, and I don’t think I can deal with another one right now.”

  He nodded and dropped my arm. “So that’s the complication with Mavros. Okay, I’ll back off. I’ll listen if you want to talk. I’ll be here if you want me to be, but other than that, I’ll lay off.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled at him. I hadn’t expected that to go so well.

  “See you in Mythology.” He turned around, heading back the way we came from.

  “What did you tell him about Mavros?” Aurelia asked in a fierce whisper.

  “His eyes look like Mavros’.” I dug through my backpack, searching for my sunglasses. “He was being relentless, so I asked him if he knew Mavros. I wanted to see if his expression gave anything away, but it didn’t. Anyway, I told him that Mavros was a complicated subject, and that was the end of it.” I hefted my bag onto my shoulders, and we started walking again.

  Aurelia glanced over her shoulder a few times. I wondered if she sensed Mavros, but she didn’t try to hurry me along.

  “What?” I asked after she looked again.

  “There is something about Damon that rubs me the wrong way. Something feels off about him.”

  I stepped closer to her and lowered my voice. “I think he’s Mavros.” I kicked a rock. It bounced along the sidewalk before rolling into the grass.

  Aurelia’s pupils slitted, and a nearly invisible stream of smoke blew out of her nostrils. “I will not skip classes if that is the case. You seem to be a magnet for trouble.” Her dragon hovered just beneath the surface.

  I looked away from her, afraid of challenging her and making things worse. “I wish I wasn’t. I’d change it if I could.”

  “I know you would.” She rested her hand on my shoulder.

  I glanced at her. Her pupils were round again. “Why is evil drawn to me?” With her already riled up, it probably wasn’t the best time to ask, but I needed to know.

  “They feel your strength.” She lowered her hand. “I have never seen another like you, and unfortunately, evil is drawn to power. All the demons, all the villains will want you to stand with them. Each of them will want you for their own. They do not understand that you are a phenomenon … a genuinely good person.”

  I stopped walking and lowered my head. I didn’t want to hear this. I longed for peace. I didn’t want me or my friends to keep going through this. How long could I keep them safe? “I’m never going to get a break. Am I?”

  “I hope you do, Dacia.” Sympathy and sadness filled her golden eyes. “However, I do not see it happening, not for a long time. I thought you might have a chance, but then Mavros showed up. It was too soon. Nothing should have happened to you … not for
months or maybe even years. There was a possibility it was just a coincidence that Draconian found you so soon after you defeated Nefarious, but Mavros has proven it is more than an unfortunate twist of fate.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned my eyes away from hers. “That’s not what I wanted to hear, but thank you for telling me the truth.” I turned back to her, feeling tears roll down my cheeks. “I can’t keep dragging my friends through this. I can’t keep endangering their lives.”

  “If Arion has taught me anything, it is that you need friends, and they need you.” She gave me a sideways hug. “You cannot leave them out of this. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but whether you like it or not, they are part of your life.”

  My pulse ratcheted up as fear twisted my gut. “How can I keep putting them through this? How can I continue allowing them to be tortured and kidnapped and traumatized … and maybe even killed?” I felt like I was stuck in quicksand, slowly being pulled under.

  Students veered around us. Several looked at me with concern, others indifference, and some disgust. I wiped my eyes and focused on each step.

  Aurelia’s voice was soothing. “They love you and want to help. If they could, they would move mountains for you.” She held the door to Wisteria Hall open. “If standing by your side is the most they can do, they will take the hardships that come with that decision. You have to let them make their own choices. If it becomes too much for them to handle, they will walk away on their own.”

  Before starting up the stairs, I turned and looked her directly in the eyes. “I know that I need them, but are you sure they need me?”

  “Yes.”

  I trudged up the stairs, trailing my hand along the railing. “Cody is not going to like Damon.” He’d already put up with enough thanks to Mavros. He didn’t need to see Damon vying for my affection too.

  She nodded. “It promises to be an interesting afternoon.”