AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her face scrunches as she purses her lips and I suck mine between my teeth to stop myself from tasting her again.
“Sacrifice of what?” she asks.
“Fuck if I know. I’m on my knees hoping it’s not sacrificing yourself. But I’ve been racking my mind trying to figure it out.”
She bites her bottom lip as she thinks. When those grey eyes meet mine, I find myself completely lost in her. “Let’s not worry about it tonight, but I will try to turn everything I know over to see if I can decipher the meaning.” She dips her head into my neck, placing tender kisses in a path up to my jaw. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Always,” I say easily. I won’t ever hide anything from her.
She looks towards the window. “I have to go—"
“I know,” I say quickly. “You have to go.” And I can’t even hide the way her leaving makes me feel. Like my heart is cleaving in two as I tighten my hold on her.
Her eyes cast over in a cloudy haze with a slight watery sheen. “It’s not safe for you near the palace,” she says softly. “If Aiden sees, it’s all over. I’ll come to you.”
All I can do is nod against her because I can’t fight her on this.
“Hey.” Her voice is so tender as she cups my jaw to lift my face, forcing my eyes to meet hers. “I don’t know when, but I will be back.”
“It’s killing me inside to send you back to that hellish place, ruled by yet another monster who only wishes to see you bleed. The only way I will feel better about this is if you stay or I snap their necks. There is no in-between.”
She shakes her head in amusement, grabbing my hand and placing it over her heart. The strong beats thump under my palm, calming something inside of me.
“This time, I’m strong enough to deal with them and fight. They will never hurt me again. I won’t let them because I need to protect this heart.” Her eyes close and I can not only hear the organ in her chest grow frantic but feel it beneath my palm.
“My heart is yours, Draven. It always has been. There are no words powerful enough to truly encompass what I feel for you. I—” Her voice catches before she breathes in, opening her eyes until they stare all the way into my soul. “I love you.”
My own heart skips a few beats, pounding ruthlessly in my chest. This is the girl who has suffered at the hand of so many males in her life. The girl who still has a good heart after all the abuse that paints her body. The girl who was simply waiting to die, never afraid to toe the edge of death, while actively hoping for it to end her suffering. And despite all that, she is letting me into her heart. Trusting me to not destroy the last thread of hope that is barely hanging on.
I grab both sides of her face and press my forehead to hers, letting our lips brush in a featherlight touch. “You stole my heart from the moment those beautiful lips cursed me with a dagger to my throat in the alley. I fell for you then. I just didn’t realize it yet. But know, I love you endlessly, little demon. And I will shatter the world for you.”
Her soft smile lifts her cheeks with a sniffle. She bites her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. So, I help her out as I press my lips to hers in a final kiss for the night. No more words need to be spoken because everything is said in this single kiss.
As soon as we pull apart and make ourselves look more presentable, she gives me a final heartwarming glance before she cloaks herself in shadows and disappears into the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Fynn
Energy builds at the palms of my hands, vibrating with tension as I center my mind. I just need to open a door to another realm, no big deal. My breath is thready as I grit my teeth. Carefully balancing this much power just beneath the surface is risky. Every strand of energy tangles with another, and it’s up to me to find the right one without snapping any of the others.
Cora and Kye spar on the other side of the room, and Draven stands nearby with his arms crossed for support. I drown them all out. Only focusing on the steady hum of my power. On my exhale, I free it. It beams into the air until it creates a tear, opening wider and wider.
Grunting, my feet slide back, and I press them harder into the ground to keep my body firmly in place. The portal continues to expand, and I ever so slowly shift my hands to help guide it. But in the next breath, it snaps. Fizzling out into nothing, and the ricochet of power shoves me back a step.
“Argh!” With a pounding heart and heaving chest, I roar with every ounce of frustration. I’ve been trying to tap into the other realm for two days straight with hardly any sleep, and I have had zero luck. Yes, there has been progress, but not nearly enough.
The strain of power to another realm is buried beneath all the others, but that’s not the hard part. It’s keeping my hold on it—to guide it free from the web of energy that all leads to other places in the world for me to manipulate. But this one fights back. Similarly to how one may catch fish for dinner, once it’s hooked, it tries it’s best to pull away. Each time I try, I bring the strand of the portal closer and closer, but every failed attempt just pushes me dangerously near the edge of losing my mind.
“You held it longer that time.” Draven’s voice registers through my thoughts.
“Didn’t feel like it,” I respond before inhaling deeply and blowing out of my mouth.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” His hand grips the back of my neck. “You are doing something that is thought to be impossible. I have no doubt you will get it, but I suggest you get some rest.” He smiles as he steps back. “As some bastard once told me, you won’t be any good to anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.”
The fucker winks as he tries to imitate me. I stop my eyes from rolling when he spins on his heel and waves to Cora and Kye as he exits the room.
The clapping of leather smacking against leather stops as footsteps head my way. I pace back and forth as my hands pull roughly at the roots of my hair with my chin tucked to my chest. I’m spiraling. Losing myself to the self-destructive thoughts that always sneak their way in, to grab hold of me until I believe it.
