“He has been, but unfortunately, you are our keeper. Now that he has tasted your blood, he will withdraw from it. It’s safer if he learns to control it than going cold turkey,” Lycus said, also not looking happy about the situation. My eyes glanced over at Tobias, who was now clutching his hair, looking rather stressed out.
Darius followed my line of vision before speaking to him. “We asked you earlier if anything was up with you, and you lied,” he scolded.
“I had it under control,” Tobias said.
“Well, could have fooled me. This wouldn’t have been an issue if you had told me you had been struggling since trying to take the shadows from her. I could have cleansed your blood,” Darius snapped furiously.
“I thought I had control,” Tobias growled. Darius growled at him, and I scooted to the edge of the bed before placing my feet on the ground.
“Where do you think you are going?” Darius said, his head whipping in my direction.
“I need to pee,” I said, pointing to the bathroom door. He nodded, and I got up; vertigo washed over me. I clutched the bedside table as I stumbled before noticing a photo. At first, I thought it was Tobias until I saw an almost identical man beside him in the picture. Was Tobias a twin?
They looked the same age, and I could swear I had seen him before. I tried to rack my brain. My hand moved to pick it up when it was suddenly gone and placed in the drawer. Looking up, I noticed Tobias was beside me, and he was the one who’d snatched it before I could touch it.
He glared at me, and I looked away before he watched me stagger into the bathroom. An exasperated breath left me as I locked the door only to hear them lock it from their side, too. I shook my head before quickly using the toilet. When I was finished, I washed my hands and twisted the doorknob after unlocking it, only to find it still locked. I sighed with relief.
Obviously, they decided I could remain in my room. The sound of their arguing stopped when they heard the door, but I turned on my heel and walked over to the one leading into my room. Just as I stepped inside, I listened to the lock click on my bedroom door. I sucked in a deep breath waiting for it to burst open.
Chapter 36
Iwaited, thinking someone wascoming in, but whoever it was had moved back to their room. Rubbing my arms at the coldness of the room, I made my way to the fireplace to see if I could light it. Kneeling in front of it, I got a sense of déjà vu, which sent a shiver down my spine and made me glance at the door.
No one came in, and I turned back to the fireplace. I looked for the flint and tried to get the fire going. Stacking the kindling in and some wood. Just as I was about to light it, I heard the door. My heart skipped a beat as it unlocked, and Kalen stepped in.
He looked upset as he carried a tray in his hands. The smell of hot food wafted to my nose, and a few seconds later, Darius walked in behind him. He tossed a fireball at the fireplace, and I jumped when it rushed past me before he sat down in the chair.
“Can’t she stay in our room just for tonight?” Kalen pouted at him.
“I prefer to be in here,” I told Kalen before Darius could answer. Kalen dropped his head and walked over to me while Darius moved to sit on the small armchair in front of the fire. Kalen placed the tray in my lap.
“You should eat,” he said, and my stomach growled hungrily as I looked down at the plate, which contained vegetables and some steak. Real food, and it smelled delicious. Yet when I went to take the knife off Kalen to dig in, the plate was removed along with the knife. I sighed before looking at Darius, who then cut up the meat, and I rolled my eyes and looked over at the fire.
“Seriously, Darius?” Kalen whined at him. Darius ignored him before handing the plate back to me but keeping the knife. I took it from him, feeling like a child that I wasn’t even allowed to use a knife like a normal person. He placed the knife on his lap.
“She could do just as much damage with a damn fork.”
My fork was suddenly plucked from my fingers. “Thank you for pointing that out,” Darius growled at him.
“Darius, I didn’t mean for you to take it from her,” Kalen snarled.
“Quiet, or you can go back to your room.”
“How do you expect her to eat?”
“It’s fine, Kalen. I spent most of my time in the woods anyway. No cutlery there,” I told him before picking up a piece of broccoli off the plate.
Darius leaned back and closed his eyes while Kalen watched me eat and talked to me. He was very talkative, and I preferred this sunny side of Kalen as he animatedly told me about different things.
“So, you spent most of your time in the woods?” Kalen asked, and Darius scoffed, making me realize he had sat up to listen to our conversation. I plucked another piece of meat off the plate. The sauce was making my fingers sticky.
“No, mostly traveling. I was trying to find a human settlement or city to bunker down in.”
“Why a human one?”
“Because I was running out of magic,” I answered.
“The man on the footage from the school, who was he?” Kalen asked.