“Hmm.” Emeric strokes his chin. “No meltpuffs.”
Damien tosses a pillow at him. “Of course, yours would be food related.”
“Hey, I’m a simple man.”
“Don’t we know it,” Elias adds, and we all burst out laughing.
“Okay, okay,” Akari says, trying to compose herself. “Damien, you’re next.”
He sits up off of his hands and wraps them around his knees. “Peak… a conversation I had with Ryder.”
“About what?” Akari interjects before he gets to his pit. He hesitates, but she presses him again. “Damien, what conversation?”
“I’m going to the palace to extract Kane.”
As if a bomb went off, the entire group instantly shoots up.
“Are you insane?”
“You can’t!”
“That’s a death wish!”
Everyone is firing off their thoughts, but I can’t seem to do anything but stare back at Damien whose gaze is equally as fixed on me. The rest of their reactions seem to muffle as my mind begins running wild with dark thoughts.
Without thinking much about it, I take off back towards the passage that leads underground. My thundering heartbeat pounds in my head with each quick step I take.
“Stop!”
A tight grip catches my wrist, spinning me around. Damien’s expression is strained, and it almost looks like he’s fighting back tears.
“You can’t do this.” My voice breaks and I have to look away from him.
“I need to, Reign.”
His grip softens as his hand finds mine and that’s when it hits me.
“You’re doing this for me.” It’s not a question, but more of a statement.
“I want to be the man you fell in love with.”
Anger or perhaps fear begins to suffocate me. I grab onto his jacket, pulling him into me. “You don’t have to do this. I know things are different between us, but you can’t do this.”
“I have to.” His hands wrap around my clenched fists. “I may have come back from the dead, but my soul still needs saving.”
He rests his forehead on mine, and we stay like that, holding onto one another. His scent sends a wave of memories crashing into me and when I look up at him again, I seehim.Not the man who deceived me, but the man who stole away myheart. The look in his amber eyes seems to melt away the lingering resentment I’ve been holding onto for far too long.
Now, it’s just us. Damien and Reign. Two souls that somehow keep finding a way back to one another.
He runs his thumb along my cheek, wiping away the tear I didn’t realize had fallen. My heart aches feeling his touch. It burns into me as I try to push away the truths burrowing themselves into my mind.
I just got him back and now I’m going to lose him all over again. Maybe this time for good.
“You could die or—”
“Shh.” He pulls me into his chest, wrapping his strong arms around me in a blanket of warmth. After everything that has happened, I shouldn’t feel safe in his embrace, but I do. It feels like home.
“I need you.”
