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All at once my chest seizes and the pain swallows me whole. I can feel the long, sharp claws retract within my chest and my skin returns to normal. Rune lowers me to the floor and the room lightens as the shadows retreat.
Everything is panicked and loud. People are shouting and gasping, Violet’s barking orders, and as I stare at the ceiling I see my beautiful God of Death, his gorgeous white hair falling just as perfectly as it did so long ago over his ebony horns.
“Kastian,” I croak. Everything's so blurry. What’s happening? Why is he here?
I catch his lips mouthing a word. I don’t hear it over the chaos, but I would know it anywhere, especially from his lips.
Elodie.
* * *
The scents of fresh lilacs and lavender fill my senses. Soft sheets and a bed that I know is much too comfortable to be mine stir me awake and when I look up and find a handful of faces staring back at me, I nearly scream. Violet watches me with darkness in her gaze and it makes me feel sick.
I sit up quickly, pulling the cover with me as my memory floods back. The torture room, me freaking out, and… My hands shoot up and I sigh when I see they’re back to normal.
My eyes flick back up and I look at Violet. She’s is in a silk dress darker than a starless night and she’s sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me like I’m a marvel. Wellsheseems to like whatever happened to me in the torture room.
“What’s going on?” I glance past her and study the other faces in the room. “Where’s Rune?” I’m looking at Kastian as I ask for my Dreadius and I don’t miss the pain that flicks across his expression.
Violet nods off to the other side of the room. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching me. Relief flows over me and it takes everything I have to release the ache in my chest.
Thank gods he’s okay.
“Are you going to tell us what the hell happened?” Violet narrows her eyes at me, but there’s something considerably more eager in her gaze than before.
I glance at everyone in the room once more. Kol is standing behind Violet. Willow, Naminé, Kastian, and a few other familiar guards are sitting in chairs that look like they’ve been brought in from outside. There are wet splotches on their shoulders from melted snow. How long have I been out?
I look down at my hands once more. Small traces of dried blood are beneath my nails, but otherwise I’m clean.
“I don’t know.” I stare at Kastian, still not sure what exactlythisis. And although I love him, I don’t trust him. “What are you doing here?”
He doesn’t break our gaze but keeps his lips sealed. If he was going to save me, wouldn’t we be fighting our enemies—not having fun with her at the festival?
Violet leans forward and taps my forehead with her index finger. “We’ll give you a few minutes.” She winks at me. Bitch knows how to make my nerves flare. If she’s really leaving him in here with me alone, then that makes one of us that trusts in him.
I watch carefully as Violet and her guards leave. Only Kastian and Rune remain. When I look at my crimson male, he just shakes his head as if he already knows I’m about to ask if he can leave.
Fine, whatever.
The room falls silent for a few minutes before Kastian makes his way over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed and resting a hand on mine, his ebony wings resting on the bed behind him. My skin instantly reacts to his touch, warming and sending a shiver down my neck.
“I’ve missed you so much, Elodie. No amount of time can heal the emptiness of not having you.” My heart lurches, but I watch him as carefully as he does me. I’m guarded. I know that, I know I’m probably a cold and hollowed version of the Elodie he remembers, but it’s who I am now. Who I have to be… and I don’t mind the new me either.
“I missed you too… ” I swallow the lump in my throat and meet his azure eyes, so deep and lonely, just as I left them. “But why are you here? Like this… I’ve been hoping and dreaming you’d come for me, but I saw you with Violet at the festival.” I look back to my safety net. Rune’s red gaze is steady and gives me comfort instantly.
Kastian dips his head down. White tufts of his gorgeous hair fall over his forehead as he lifts my hand to his rosy cheek, desperate for my touch. My chest aches, and when he looks back up at me I can’t help it anymore. I lunge for him, hugging him so tightly and never wanting to let go.
His arms wrap around me and he rocks me in his lap as I let a few tears out. Sage fills my senses, a lovely and endless dose of him. I’m so fucking happy to see him again. To see my God of Death. He runs his hand down my spine soothingly as he presses kisses into my shoulder.
“I would doanythingfor you. I need you to know that.” He pulls from our embrace and I let out a whimper, trying to grab onto him again, but he stops me. “Elodie, look at me.”
I stop and look at him with blurry eyes.
“I’m here to save you, but it’s going to take time. I’ve… I’ve made a deal with Violet and it’s going to be really hard…” He strokes my hair and wipes my tears. “It’s going to be so fucking hard, but we’re going to get out of this in the end. You have to trust me, okay?”
Trust.
I fucking hate that word more than anything in this godsforsaken world.
