AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Over the next several minutes, Trinity became annoyingly attentive, diverting my attention whenever I tried to steal a glimpse of Darius. Each time I managed it, I found him still watching me through narrowed eyes and with a hardened expression. Even when I wasn’t looking at him I could still feel his gaze prodding my back. It both thrilled and annoyed me, especially considering his look was no longer the soft one I’d caught only a glimpse of when he first noticed me in the shop. I longed for that look, needing it like I needed air.
Trinity paused in another attempt to pull my attention away and looked towards Darius with a pensive frown. She glanced back and forth between us with that familiar searching look; I instinctively tensed, worried about which secrets she’d discover.
To my surprise, her resistance suddenly vanished and she heaved a resigned sigh before edging closer to me and lowering her voice so that even Blaze couldn’t overhear. “You miss him, don’t you?”
I was afraid to answer her, certain my admission would get back to Mother. But as usual when it came to Trinity and her unique power, answering was unnecessary.
“I can see that you do. I don’t particularly like him myself, but I can’t deny your connection, as much as I want to.” The corner of her lips twitched, as if she yearned to smile but was determined to feign indifference. She glanced over my shoulder. “He’s approaching. I think he intends to snatch you away.”
“He’s coming?” As much as I wanted to be near him, my panic swelled, and I gave Trinity a desperate look.
She nodded and studied my appearance with a tilt of her head, and after a second nod of approval and a small wink she turned away to give me privacy.
I gaped at her back. Was she...helping me? But it was impossible to dwell on this particular puzzle long before I became fully aware of Darius’s presence drawing ever closer. It was the strangest sensation to be so aware of his movements as tofeelhis approach, as if the part of me I’d lost was returning to me. And then he was there, his breath caressing my skin as he leaned towards my ear, causing me to shiver.
“I need to talk to you.” Before I could respond, Darius firmly yet gently took my elbow and led me from the shop.
“Where are you taking me?” I protested as I feebly tried to tug myself from his grip, all while fighting to ignore the goosebumps that had erupted on my arm from his soft touch.
He didn’t answer as he wove through the swarming crowd. We left Main Street and its line of shops behind and slipped into the dark forest. My hope grew with each step deeper into the ornate trees whose shield would grant us privacy; perhaps during this excursion Darius and I would finally make up.
But no. When he finally stopped and spun me around to face him, his expression was fierce. “What could you possibly be thinking?”
Disappointment clenched me. So it was a fight he wanted. My heart couldn’t take much more disapproval. “Please let me go.”
He did and I used the opportunity to back away, needing distance from him in order to think, but he only stepped closer and closed it. “Why are you with Blaze and Trinity?”
“Did you really abduct me just to ask me that?”
He jabbed his finger in the direction we’d just come. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you associating yourself with them?”
I folded my arms across my chest in hopes the gesture would serve as a shield for my weak heart during what promised to be a painful confrontation.
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Of course it is,” Darius said. “They’re nothing but trouble. You can’t associate yourself with them.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m already in plenty of trouble,” I snapped. “It can’t get much worse.”
Darius’s expression grew grave. “It can. Please, Eden, I’m begging you—you can’t associate yourself with them and whatever they’re involved with.”
The defenses around my heart were weakening. No, he couldn’t do this. He couldn’t stay away for so long and now return to taunt me with what I couldn’t have. I defiantly lifted my chin and he sighed.
“Please Eden, you must listen to me. Considering you’re the daughter of the dangerous Ebony and have been framed for crimes that resulted in your suspension, you’re already in enough of a mess. To be linked to Blaze and Trinity in addition to all that...” He shook his head. “Please Eden, tell me why you’re with them. Let me help you.”
The concern filling his eyes softened me. Did he truly care? Oh, how I hoped that he did, despite my offenses against him. “Not that it’s any of your concern, but they’re my family.”
I wasn’t sure what answer Darius had been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that one. His mouth fell agape. “What?”
“Blaze is my mother’s younger brother, and Trinity is his Pair.”
“They’re yourAunt and Uncle?” Darius rolled his eyes up towards the constantly cloudy sky, glimpses of which could be seen poking through the canopy of leafless branches above. “Unbelievable. The Universe just keeps conspiring against you.”
A strange wave of defensiveness I didn’t expect to feel towards Blaze and Trinity—Trinity in particular after her help getting me alone with Darius—rose in my breast. “What do you have against them? You don’t even know them.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t I? I seem to recall this being our second conversation about them.”
Then I remembered: the day he’d witnessed me entering Angel’s spectacular candy-land dream—a day that felt like an eternity ago—he’d given me a similar warning that Blaze and Trinity weretrouble.
