Page 151 of Where Darkness Falls

Large hands arearound my wrists, but I buck and flail the rest of my body, attempting to break free. “No,” I cry. “You can’t hurt me.” I launch my knee into what feels like the gut of my assailant. There’s a loud “humph” and a groan, but they don’t release my wrists. “No, no, no,” I murmur.

My attacker pins my arms above my head. “Maeva… it’s… me,” a familiar voice gasps out.

Still, my legs flail like an angry sea creature.

“This is a trick,” I say.

“Rosey, open your eyes,” the voice commands. “It’s me. Please, stop fighting me.”

I shake my head, violently. “Yo-You’re going to kill me,” I reply.

“No, I’d never harm you,” he says quietly. “Look at me, Rosey.”

Reluctantly, I peel open my eyes, expecting to meet the one that chased me through the woods, but instead, I find Emyr hovering above me. I exhale a sigh of relief. His amber eyes are softly glowing in stark contrast to his pained features, lit only by the dying fire. His muscles flex underneath his tunic as he restrains me. The view of him becomes blurry as tears slip frommy eyes. “Emyr,” I sob.

“You’re safe,” he whispers, his voice breaking on the last word. A small tear trails down his cheek as concern laces his features. My body shudders from the terror that I just experienced in my nightmare. It was more vivid this time. I feel as if I should know everyone within the dream, but then their voices are warped or their features blurred.

“All the answers you seek are within you,”Darach’s words echo once more.

The idea that the horrid nightmare is real causes my fear to rip through me with more fervor. As if understanding my restless spirit, Emyr gathers me in his arms, settling me in his lap. His arms wrap tightly around me, as he strokes my hair and tenderly whispers, “You’re safe.”

But for how long?I wonder.

I burrow my face into his chest, feeling every rise and fall in its own beautiful rhythm. He gently rocks us back and forth as if I were a child. I know that I should push him away, jogging his memory of the distance he put between us, but I don’t want to.

I desire him.

I loathe him.

Yet, it’s his embrace alone that brings me solace. How my heart flutters when his gazes are full of affection, but aches when he’s impassive. Everyone dulls in comparison to him. He’s the one man that causes my heart to soar, but also has the capacity to crumble it into dust with just one withering glance. Yet, when I falter, his strength somehow becomes my own.

He’s both my antithesis and my equal.

How can such complexities be wrapped into one person?

Emyr places a gentle kiss atop my head, rubbing soothing circles along my spine. Though I shouldn’t wish for such things, I desire to linger in his embrace for all the days of my life. We could make a beautiful life for ourselves. I imagine a house near the sea. Perhaps with a few horses that run freely with Danté through the pasture, and children…

It’s an alluring idea, but that’s just it… an idea.

I neverexpected to care so much for the High General and Prince of Zulgalros, but I do. However, my life will always be met with devastation: cursed to care for a man I can never have, to lose the only family I’ve ever known, to be told of a prophecy that I have no inkling how to fulfill, and a voice in my head that only speaks in riddles.

If this is what it is to be favored, I’d rather be forgotten.

It’s nice to dream of a simpler life, but it will never happen—not for us.However, I want to enjoy this moment while I still have it, so I nuzzle against his chest. “Emyr,” I murmur.

“Hmmm?” he responds.

“I didn’t wake the others, did I?” I whisper.

“No,” he chuckles. “It’s my watch, and they’re currently sleeping like the dead.”

As if on cue, the sound of someone snoring loudly echoes off the walls. I raise my head up, looking at Emyr, only for us to softly laugh. He’s so handsome when he’s like this. So much sadness and pain disappears from him in these moments. When the laughter ceases, we’re still admiring one another, but something in the atmosphere shifts.

My eyes travel to his perfect mouth. How I’ve desired to kiss him and to allow him the honor of being the only man that ever kisses me. I swallow thickly, my gaze moving back to Emyr. He’s watching me with rapt attention. His gaze darkens, and the desire that he usually hides is written plainly along his face. He brings one of his hands up to delicately touch my cheek, and I do the same. He relaxes into my touch, as my thumb traces the small scar along his chin. My heart aches just looking at him.

Emyr slowly dips his head toward mine, and I lean into his touch. He stops a hair’s breadth from me, rubbing his thumb along my bottom lip. “You’ll be my ruination, Rosey,” he says, his voice low and gravelly.

“And you’ll be my destruction,” I laugh.