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I was getting used to the bitter, cutting remarks he made at my expense. The only thing that remained consistent in our talk was his openness about his attraction to me. Nothing else felt like my sarcastic, rebellious friend.
“By all means, stay down here. Bore me with your monotone drawl and your pointless books.” His filthy hands pushed at his hair. “Waste your time on me, Ryker. I dare you.”
Every word he spoke was to encourage me to stop. As if I could accept that my friend was no longer as I knew him, but this new, dangerous version of him.
Sighing loudly, I turned back to the page I had been reading. “The subject can choose to fight the demon for moments of consciousness, but the more the demon wins, the stronger they will become. That doesn’t sound good.”
Daethian stood, kicking at the dirt. His bare feet were darker than the rest of him. Suzetta had suggested that we take away his shoes because the laces could be used as a weapon against us or himself. He even walked differently now that he was the way he was. What before was confident and kind, now felt more brash and lordly. The sway of his shoulders over his lean hips as he tilted his body at the slightest angle only portrayed an overwhelming arrogance.
He squatted at the bars, lowering his face to the level where I sat, leaning against the uneven wall with my pile of books. “You need to accept me.”
“This isn’t you,” I pointed out.
“It is now.” Daethian licked his lips, his head tilting as he stared at me through the bars. “I’ve changed.”
“I’ll wait for the old you to come back. That’s the Daethian I’ll always fight for.” Pressure built in my chest, squeezing against my heart.
“Oh, just admit it,” Daethian growled.
“Admit what?”
I could hardly look at him. Everything he did, every painful, cutting remark that he said, riddled me with regret. His finger trailed over the door briefly in a lover's caress. My gaze followed the trail as he talked.
“You like me better like this. As much as you refuse to admit it, you like the idea of a bad boy. That’s why Dace is so appealing to you. Everything he does comes across as the wrong thing, but he does it anyway. Just say it out loud.”
Every second that I remained silent his smile ticked upward.
“You’re wrong,” I said.
“You’re lying. You’re damaged and broken and every time I call you a name it secretly turns you on.” He took a long deep breath. “I can smell it.”
“Just keep telling yourself that, Daethian, but it isn’t true.”
“No? Come here then. Come close and tell me that you won't want to kiss me. Draw close and tell me there isn’t a fire burning under your skin, begging you to touch me.”
I pulled the old book up to my chest, hugging it to me. Any proximity to him was potentially perilous. It didn’t stop me from wanting to prove him wrong.
I stared back at him, unable to back down from his heavy gaze. Dust collected on my pant legs as I dragged myself across the floor. My shins pressed into the uneven floors, holding me up on my knees as I edged near him. Our noses brushed, his smile growing more wicked and sure.
“Do you not long to kiss me?” he whispered. His breath, still smelling like breakfast, warm and sugary, fanned over my face. His lips felt dry as they brushed near mine. Slowly, his eyelids became half hooded. One hand slipped through the bars and caressed my cheek.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Not because I enjoyed it, not because there was so much love in the touch despite the evil inside of him, but because I wanted to feel something. If me loving Daethian helped him, if it fixed him, then part of me wanted to love him in that way, but the feeling never came. Shame squirmed low in my belly.
Letting my lips skim over his, I responded quietly. My attention rose to his eyes as I spoke. “It would never work out between us.”
He sucked in a breath as I shrugged and leaned away from the bars. Inside of me embarrassment still churned. Daethian growled low and deep inside his chest. I ignored him and pushed myself back to the books, propping one open in my lap yet again.
“Stop trying to distract me.” I sniffled as I heard a long, deep groan. My attention flicked up to Daethian, but I quickly realized it wasn’t coming from him. The noise continued, deep within the walls. The ceiling above began to bow, the boards contorting unnaturally. Rising to stand, I pressed my hands against the walls, urging my magic forward to feel the tug of someone else's magic at work. Was one of the other Nymphs attempting something? No, it didn’t feel very friendly. Angry, taunting powers continued to push, forcing my magic to back away.
Daethian stared at the ceiling as well. He took a step back, only moving to cover his face with his arm as shards of wood exploded all around us. Support beams snapped with loud cracks. One fell with surprising speed, knocking me to the ground as it hit my shoulders and rolled down my body. I gasped at the pain and the sudden drop to my worn-down knees. Daethian pressed himself back against the farthest wall, looking from the hole back to me.
Heavy wood pressed against my legs as I looked up. Dust had clouded around the hole, but I could still make out the dangle of feet as someone dropped themselves onto a tilted beam. Dark, dirty boots hit the wood and stepped effortlessly over the destroyed boards. Lean hips and a shirt as dirty as Daethian’s appeared, covering a broad chest. The soft cheeks of a boy, the sharp dimple of a knowing smile, and the terrifying glare of emerald green eyes cut right through the cell.KingGanglin. One wall, that kept Daethian in, crumbled just a little bit more as the former king took another step down.
Daethian tensed as he recognized the man, my gut tightened similarly. Seeing King Ganglin step into the pits of the castle, a self-assured smile lifting his cheeks, sent a shiver down my spine. I found myself feeling oddly cold. Every part of my mind wanted to deny what I was seeing in this very moment because it couldn’t be real, but I knew what I was seeing, I knew who I was seeing.
King Ganglin turned to look in the cell, finding only Daethian, who breathed heavily and stared at the large opening. “Where is he?” King Ganglin commanded.
I tried to pull my legs free so I could stand, but pain burned as I tried. If I gave my back to King Ganglin to lift the beam off of me, I could do it, but I wasn’t willing to take that sort of risk. Not now.
