My father’s whispers still lingered in my mind, making me tremble with memories of my past. I rarely dreamed of my parents anymore. Mostly because I trained myself not to. There were so many mornings I’d wake up with the hope that that day might be the day they returned to me, only for it never to happen.
They were dead.
I felt it in my soul the moment the earth source became mine. That only occurred when the former anchor perished.
So it’d all been in my head. Because of Emelyn and her cruel—
“Here.” A bottle of water appeared in front of me, courtesy of Kols.
Shade took it from him, removed the cap, and brought the rim to my lips. “Drink, little rose. It’ll make you feel better.”
For whatever reason, I listened to him, and the second the cool liquid touched my tongue, I was glad I did. Because, mmm, that felt nice. So nice that I closed my eyes and just let him hold me while I accepted the refreshment down my throat.
He chuckled against me. “I think this is the most agreeable you’ve ever been in my presence.”
He wasn’t wrong.
But I didn’t have it in me to comment on it. I was too tired of everything. The bickering. The feelings. This whole experience. I just wanted it all to go away and leave me alone.
Shade took the bottle away from my lips, the liquid gone.
Silence followed, the noiseless activity blissfully welcome. I inhaled his peppermint scent, allowed it to cling to my lungs and fill me with comfort.
It was wrong. I should push him away and tell him not to touch me.
Instead, I leaned into him more, seeking his strength.
The death fields always drained me; just the notion of their threat hurt my heart. They were gone now, thanks to Queen Claire and her mates defeating the abomination who’d created the vacuum of trapped souls.
That didn’t stop me from remembering its existence.
Shade’s lips met my forehead, his strong arms holding me tightly in the foyer of Kols’s suite. The reality of the moment should have drawn a disbelieving laugh from me, but I felt too dead inside to utter such an amused sound.
Footsteps echoed around us as someone stepped through the threshold, the woodsy aroma warning me of Zeph’s presence. I snuggled deeper into Shade’s chest, longing to disappear.
I felt weak.
Alone.
Just so done with it all.
This helplessness would pass, the emotion residual from the illusions Emelyn had created. I hated her in that moment, despised her ability to make me fee
l so worthless and meek. She’d gotten off easy because Kols had stopped me.
Why? Because she was his betrothed?
My jaw clenched with the thought. How ridiculous that he would stand up for his fiancée after spending days in the human world bedding mortals.
A growl threatened my chest, my annoyance mounting by the minute.
He was a horrible mate.
He denied me after our bond snapped into place, accusing me of planting the seed on purpose. Like I could control an Earth Fae connection on my own. A level-three placement meant he wanted it, too. But he burned all my things in response, sent me running into the LethaForest, and filled our bond with such exquisite power that I felt as if I were about to burst.
Then he claimed not to hate me and, less than a day later, had me imprisoned.
Well, technically Shade had me imprisoned with that recording.