Damien studied me, but said nothing, thankfully. I didn’t really want to talk. Even though I knew it was coming. I’d be interrogated about what had happened and everything I knew about Matthew. It made me sick to my stomach to think about. I felt his eyes as they swept over my body, ensuring that I was indeed safe and physically unharmed. Of course, Matthew hadn’t hurt me, but there was no way that I was going to convince Damien of that.
“I’m fine,” I whispered in a poor attempt to ease his fears. I cleared my throat when he didn’t respond. He kept his eyes trained on mine. I didn’t like how it made me feel, like he was sizing me up to see if I would tell him the truth, or maybe he was waiting to call me a liar about something. “How did you find me?”
He shifted slightly, looking down as he spoke. “After you were taken, we re-grouped. We sent a raven to your father immediately, of course, but we stayed where we were. It was the last place that we saw you, so we didn’t want to lose the trail…” He dragged his hand across his face and back up to his hair, his arm resting behind his head for a moment. “It was hell, Eva. Being without you. We didn’t know if you were safe… I couldn’t reach you. I’ve never felt so utterly helpless in my life.” His eyes drifted back to mine. “Why did you go with him?”
“I didn’t really see that I had a choice. I did it to save you,” I shrugged. Surely he saw that, didn’t he?
He rolled his eyes. “Eva, I don’t need saving, but obviously you do.” His words stung like a slap across the face. What the hell was going on? I watched as he seemed to flip a switch from the Damien I knew, to someone else entirely.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I felt the flames underneath my skin, his words lighting the match that was sure to set me on fire.
His expression changed, sneering at me as he spoke. “If you have the mindset that you need to constantly sacrifice yourself for others, then you’re deliberately attempting to make yourself a martyr – or maybe you really believe that you’re indispensable. Either way, you’re a danger to yourself. You cannot be trusted. Even your father agrees, Eva.” Godsdammit, why was everyone so keen to call me a martyr lately?
My hand connected with his face so fast that I surprised myself. “Get out.Now.” I growled at him. “I didn’t need you to save me. I don’t needanyoneto save me, and I was in no danger. Matthew didn’t harm me, nor would he have.”
“One week with him and you’re so sure of his intentions for you?” Damien scoffed. I’d never seen this side of him, not directed toward me at least. This side of Damien was hateful, lashing out at me for some type of pain that he apparently felt. “Tell me, how did he get you to trust him so easily? He probably only told you that you were safe to get his dick wet,” he laughed.
Fucking laughed in my face.
Rage flowed through me as I felt my hands grow hotter. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but the horrible words that were coming out of his mouth. He was standing far too close to me, and I was extremely uncomfortable. “Did you fuck him? Is that why you’re defending him? Tell me, did you think about me when he touched you? Did you cry my fucking name, or did he make you his little whore?”
The ball of fire left my hands before I realized what was happening. My hands shook with unbridled rage. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I watched it graze his side, causing him to scream out and tumble to the floor. I looked down, surprised to see fire flowing freely from my palms. I felt invigorated for the first time tonight; the power circulating my body. I even fought the urge to smirk as I watched him writhe in pain on the ground.
The doors flew open. Luka ran in at the commotion, glancing between the two of us. He came to Damien’s side and inspected his wounds, but Damien’s hateful eyes were locked on me. The wind picked up around us, blowing the balcony doors wide open. My hair whirled around us, and they stared at me in horror.
“How dare you talk to me like that. Do you really think so little of me I would let him do that? That I would do that toyou?” My words had hit their intended target. I watched as realization crossed his face that he had gone too far.Waytoo far. I snorted. Caught up in his own anger, that’s the excuse that he’ll give me, but that was not a justification to hurt the one that you supposedly love. He didn’t love me, which was plain to see.
I was nothing more than an obsession to him.
Luka stood up and angled his body in between the two of us, my palms still flaring. “Eva,” he cautioned. “Let’s all take a breath and calm down. He didn’t mean it. There was a lot of confusion after you left, and it scared us.”
I scoffed. “Anger and confusion aren’t excuses to treat me like shit. Get. Out. Now.” I nodded my head at Damien before I turned to walk into the bathing room. “Take him with you.”
I begged the wind to slam the door behind me as I slid down to the floor and cried again. The tears wouldn’t stop, they flowed freely.
The flames were easy to recall once I wasn’t staring at Damien, but how his eyes looked would be forever burned into my memory. There was anger and hate that built up there, and a darkness I couldn’t put my finger on.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my wildly beating heart, but it just wouldn’t stop. I felt like I had been climbing to the highest peak on the tallest mountain. I searched down deep for the rope to comfort me and gave it a slight tug. I managed a smile when I felt the familiar tug in return.
I didn’t know if I could forgive Damien for the way he acted tonight. He had crossed a line, and the fact that he thought so little of me? Disgust was written on his face. I was almost ashamed, but I didn’t have a reason to feel that way. He had no right to say what he said to me. Foremost, I was his damn princess. I didn’t like to pull the royalty card, but I needed to knock him back down a notch. And what did this mean for us? For what we were supposed to be? Every fear regarding our relationship came back to haunt me, and it broke my heart that I had been right about every single assumption.
I knew he wouldn’t let me go; he was far too obsessive. He wanted to control everything that I did. Lock me up in a cage and treat me as if I would break. Well, I had news for him. I wouldn’t break. In the end, if I had to, I would break him to prove it.
As I walked back out to the bedroom, I noticed a stark black raven perched on the railing of my balcony. I stepped through the doors and let the cool air wash over my body as I moved toward the bird. It was gorgeous. Its feathers were black as midnight, the color of my hair, and they gleamed under the moonlight. It peered up at me with curious eyes, a note tied to its leg. I reached toward it, carefully as not to disturb it, and untied it.
Elegant handwriting graced the paper. I traced my fingertips over it, knowing who it came from immediately. The thought of him made me smile. The raven quirked its head to the side, and I had a feeling it wondered what was going through my head.Don’t be stupid, Eva. It’s a bird.
“Are you okay? I just need to know that you’re safe.”
I searched the room for an additional piece of paper so I could write back to him. I felt like I was playing with fire, but that was okay. I was made of fire, and therefore I could not be burned. I don’t know how long we had been separated, but it was long enough that I wanted this small level of communication.
“I’m fine. No need to worry.”I paused before writing,“Are you okay?”
Quickly, I tied the note back onto the raven and it flew off. I watched the bird until it faded into the sky. My fingers thrummed anxiously on the balcony as I waited for a response. I couldn’t explain it, but I had a gut instinct that told me I would know if something was wrong with Matthew.That damn rope, I thought. Though, it didn’t stop the anxious feeling from creeping in and settling in the pit of my stomach.
There was no way I’d be able to get any sleep at this point, especially with so many emotions coursing through my body. I paced back and forth on the balcony, smiling to myself as I heard my mother chastising in my head.
When I was a child, she would get mad at me when I paced. She told me I was going to wear a hole in the rug if I didn’t stop. I chuckled, her scolding washing over me. It never failed to surprise me when small memories like that popped into my head. It was strange that something so insignificant, like a scolding, has stayed with me over the years, but I loved it all the same.
