Aurora. Auroooooraaaaa.Her voice… It calls to me, threatening to open old wounds.
“Open your eyes, pet.” He uses such a quietly disarming tone that my eyes pop open, a tear slipping free. “I see you.” His blackened nail tip swipes up the tear and places it on his pointed tongue, swallowing hard.
I find it hard to take my eyes away from his dark, smirking lips as he takes in my essence, something oldy sensual about the act. He places a sharp, pointed nail under my chin, urging me to look deep into theendless lakes of shining obsidian. “Bewitching,” the word falls from his lips. However, it could’ve fallen from mine if I could catch a breath.
“Help me, my pet, and I will giveherback to you.”
My mind, my body and my soul do not need to think twice, knowingherinstantly. “How?”
His pointed tips travel down my neck, leaving prickled skin, not stopping his descent. The bond pains at this male, who is not its owner, and I squirm at the discomfort. Fury’s hands are now on my chest, travelling down to my navel and pressing on my womb. Alarm bells fire, but I repeat my simple phrase, “How?”
“She is already within you, waiting,” he pushes firmly, and my body reacts in ways I choose to ignore. His touch is strong but surprisingly gentle.
If my body could sink into the wall behind me, it would. Fury’s hand on my lower stomach, his strange words, his promise to bring her back. It is too much. My psyche cannot connect what he is saying, or is he just being deliberately devious?
“I don’t understand.”
“Help me off this island, and I promise, she is yours.”Life is not this simple. This must be a trick.
Gripping my dishevelled tunic, I clench my eyes closed.
A war wages inside me.If I let this daemon free, he could go on a killing spree. He hasn’t killed me yet, but he wants something from me. I cannot live with the thought of other people’s lives in my hands. He said he wanted revenge. What it boils down to is trust. Trust is not a part of this equation, so I have only one answer for him. I refuse to be put in a position where my power could be lost again.
Shaking my head, I softly speak. “No.”
He does not anger or rage. Instead, Fury pushes my head up, bringing us forehead to forehead. “I am giving you the choice, Dove. If you don’t pick correctly, I’ll choose for you.”
Argus rears his head and blows—a bellow, a shriek of steam and fire that reaches every inch of my awareness, warming all the parts of my soul, and I shove with all my might at the monster covering me.Why does every male have to exhibit their force in such a way? It is infuriating. So infuriating,I smoulder.
“Then you have given me no choice at all, and I am nothing but a puppet.”That’s all I’ve ever been to the people around me: a servant to be controlled. But I have had it. I will not be controlled anymore.
I vibrate with a ferocity I never knew existed within me as Fury cocks his head to the side, a small smile never leaving his lips. “Maybe I underestimated you, pet.”
“Most people do,” I want to say, but I no longer want to waste a breath on the daemon in front of me. He is cruel. I can see it in the pleasure he takes from my torment with his smug smile and glittering eyes.
I suppose being stuck on this island for centuries would send anyone crazy.
“I’ll give you the night to sleep on it. My freedom for your other half.” Without giving me the chance to ask another question, he spins around and strides towards the door, his long silver hair whipping out behind him. His wings are placed firmly against his back, not giving one ruffle.
Finally, I see Gideon. A statue. His eyes dart from me to Fury, his body strung tight, facing my direction.
“Come now, Gideon, we must let our guest rest.” On Fury’s command, Gideon’s whole body loosens and he follows behind him, not paying me a second glance.Strange.
Once alone, I curse the hand I have been dealt. “What would you have me do, Goddess?” I throw my hands up in the air, beginning to pace the length of the room from fireplace to bedpost.
What choice do I have? Maybe I can play Fury’s game.
He is right. There is more to me than meets the eye. I have taught myself to read a forgotten language, for Goddess’s sake. I can label every plant and their properties within Haven’s walls by name. I’ve read and memorised the Goddess’s song, resurrecting her magic. I am not lacking. Everyone else can underestimate me, but I will bite them when they least expect it, like the vipers that used to slither undetected through the garden beds of the temple.
I will no longer underestimate myself.
Fury will not know what has bitten him. I am nobody’s puppet.
If the Goddess herself had told me last sunrise that I would be spending the darkness in a stone tower at the centre of an island cast in ash and ground bones, I would have laughed in her face. Not a nice, gentlelaugh, either. No, a full cackle. A wheezing, breathless show at the absurdity that is my current existence.
I am meant to be seeing my people to Terra, making sure their travels are fruitful. The wisps will guide them and keep them safe like they did Rivern and me, but it is in my nature to worry for these people who have put their faith in me. They had nothing, and when I told them my story, without hesitation, they believed inme.They saw through the king’s deceit, and they believedme. A girl who, once upon a time, barely had the confidence to speak. Who leant into the lies she was once told until an indefinable dark force overcame her and saved her from a continued downfall into the void of her existence.
But that dark force is no longer unknown. He has stood before me within this very bed chamber. Towered over me. Given me an ultimatum. A hurt he cannot let go of. A familiar feeling.
