Page 11

Our cages moved at an angle as Fletcher stalked in with the air of death cloaking him. He ripped Mirin from me by the throat and used my magic to throw him back to his cage.

I heaved air as my body collapsed to the ground like a rag doll. With the little amount of energy I had left, I curled my weak limbs into a ball and stared into the distance, tears streaming down my cheeks.

In the corner of my eye, I watched Fletcher and his powerful aura of darkness expand the confines of my cage, suffocating me. He stuck out a glowing hand in Mirin’s direction, holding him back with magic while he slowly crouched beside me .

For a moment, he was silent, his eyes assessing my face.

That obscurity spiraled around me, enveloping me in a warm, protective cocoon.

And when I didn’t resist it, I learned something very important.

His energy wasn’t all dark. Through the thick fog were dim lights of love that he was attempting to hide—to spare me.

I wanted to fall into his arms and disperse the darkness in his mind. And if I could accomplish that, perhaps his love could heal me.

In the softest voice I’d ever heard him use, he said, “Are you okay?”

I looked up into his venomous eyes and pleaded, “Get me out of here.”

He nodded once, put his hand on my cheek, and said, “Yes, princess.”

His touch was tender and gentle. It was the light in his dreary fog. I unwillingly leaned into his palm—into my only hope for safety.

In a flash, we scattered. I clung to his touch as the wind swept us away and put me back together in Aldris’s bed. But Fletcher was nowhere to be found.

I reached out for him, but he wasn’t there. Chills crept up my neck and onto my scalp. My breathing hitched as my heart raced. I needed him to ground me. I cried, “Fletcher?”

A few moments later, he appeared beside me and more tears fell down my cheeks.

“Sorry, I brought the man to Elizy.” Swirls of my magic bent and twisted down his arms, releasing from his fingertips. The golden shackles around my wrists snapped in two and fell to the mattress.

“May I?” he asked, hand nearing my arm.

I nodded.

Slowly, he rested his hand on my forearm, taking all the damage on my body and making it his own.

I watched him flinch once as the holes ripped open over his skin. Then, the punctures moved until all were hidden under his shirt.

He must have been in a lot of discomfort. Echoes of the pain I had endured from the Cidris and my mother’s farming rippled through my mind. To have both, I couldn’t imagine.

He picked up the cleaved shackles and placed them on the nightstand before wrapping a blanket around my bare back. He clasped the two ends in front of me. “Here, hold this,” he said.

My fingers slowly curled around his, grasping at the fabric to keep my naked body concealed .

I looked at him—at the distance between us—and didn’t know what to make of it.

“I was too late,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have listened to Aldris.”

“Fletcher,” I breathed, falling into his chest and breaking that space of tension between us. My cheek landed over his chest. His heart was pounding as his arms barred around me, bringing me closer against him.

“You’re safe now,” he repeated.

And I believed him. At least I wanted so badly to believe I wasn’t being held by an enemy. I just needed a moment to breathe. To gather my thoughts. To think this through.

“I am not your enemy,” he whispered.

My head popped up as I watched the recoil of magic move along my arms. I was so surprised that I had anything left in me, I didn’t care that I had sent him my thoughts.

I looked into his teary eyes and I knew he was in as much pain as I was.

I leaned into his chest. One of his hands wrapped around my head, stroking my hair back gently, the other bringing me onto his lap.

And I curled up there like it was my home, unable to stop my crying.

“My mother… ”

“I know,” he said softly.

My tears fell onto his short-sleeved, black tunic as he squeezed me tighter.

I cried in his arms until my tears dried, but the trauma never lightened. I couldn’t come to terms with what my mother had subjected me to. Would I ever truly feel safe again?

“Oh, Ripley… I’m so sorry. I wish I came sooner.”

I rubbed my eyes with my fists then sent them threading through my hair, pulling at the roots in the anguish of reliving it.

His hands pressed down on mine to force me to release the pressure. “Do not hurt yourself.”

“You said we had a bond. If you said you knew how I was feeling at all times, where the hell were you?” My tone was more accusatory than I intended. This would have been his chance to prove to me he had been faking his persona with the Cidris, that he did care about me. But he was too fucking late.

“I thought you were upset about our conversation, not that your mother was trying to breed you. I cannot see through your eyes or read your thoughts or hear what you are hearing.”

“Does our stupid bond not penetrate through those cages?” A pain seized my chest. He had rescued me from that horror… again. And I was accusing him of not coming soon enough after I had made it clear that I did not want to be around him.

“Ripley, my connection to you is not by magic. It’s engrained in me as a male Elizian—an instinct that has bound me to you ever since the ritual when you were four. It’s a part of who I am, as constant as breathing.”

I stared hard at him, groaning. Cautiously, I leaned my head against his chest again, listening to the beat of his heart as if it would give me some solace.

I felt his rhythmic movements with each rise and fall of his chest. There was a beat of silence before I said, “I wish I could feel what you are feeling. It would bring a lot of clarity.”

He stroked my hair a few more times before saying, “I wouldn’t think to let you feel what I’m feeling right now. It’s gaping misery.”

I didn’t know how to feel after hearing his words, but it didn’t make me feel better or worse. There was one thing I knew I wanted to say to him. “I’m glad you found me.”

“I will always find you,” he promised.

Bile surged in me suddenly, sloshing around my stomach, making my head feel hazy.

The headache from being depleted overwhelmed me, and I turned off the bed to let out the vomit just as my headache roared across my scalp.

Its abruptness knocked me to the side, and Fletcher’s hands came down my shoulders to keep me steady.

“Easy,” he whispered with a gentleness weaved into his tone.

I wiped my mouth, watching him drag something across the edge of the bed. It was a tray full of berries, bread, bananas, and tea. “Here.”

He lifted the tea toward me, but I put my hand up and looked away. “I don’t want the tea.” I didn’t want to be messed up. I wanted to remain sober to keep my wits about me.

He set the tea down and brought up four berries. “Then have these. It’ll take the edge off.”

I sighed and took them gingerly in my hand before popping one in my mouth and repositioning myself on the bed. My magic swelled as the sweetness exploded in my mouth and coated my tongue. Fletcher’s magic zipped up and down once before nestling somewhere quietly in my gut.

He dismounted the bed, made his way downstairs, and came back up with towels to clean up the mess.

“Oh—uh. I can do that.” I turned to get out of bed .

Keeping his eyes down on my vomit, he put his hand up to halt me. “Allow me.” He laid the towels on the ground over it then peered up at me. “Please, keep eating.” He looked back down and began wiping. “You didn’t eat much in the cages. You need this to regain your strength.”

I swallowed and ate another. “How do you know?”

“I kept a close eye on you whenever I could.” He tossed the soiled cloth in a basket beside the nightstand and took a cleaning bottle of soapy water and sprayed the ground. “I gave you extra food. But you didn’t eat. Why?”

The extra berries and bread all those times had been from him. It soothed the crinkled memory of being in the cages. I wanted proof that he still cared about me, and maybe this could be enough. “I wanted to die not eat, Fletcher.”

A sadness slackened his rigidity. “I would never have allowed that to happen,” he mumbled as he made circles over the floor to wipe it clean.

I heard a quiet growl rumble through his chest. “I’m sorry about this, Ripley, but I have to go.

I have to pretend I’m looking for the Elizian who was stolen from the breeding cage.

I’ve been gone long enough. They might suspect it was me.

” He set down the bottle and sat on the edge of the bed beside me.

I looked up at him, tears streaming down my cheeks, not ready to be alone.

“Are you going to be okay with Aldris here?”

I shook my head, not because I was answering the question, but because I did not want him to go.

“Aldris, leave,” he ordered loudly.

Aldris’s voice sailed from the first floor. “Aye, aye, captain. I’ll give you guys the place for the week. I’ll be at my mother’s if you need me.”

A minute later, the front door opened and shut.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed my forehead and brought the tray of tea, berries, and food closer. “Please keep eating. You’re safe now. You’re not in the cages anymore.”

Then, he was gone, and it felt like someone had blown a hole in my gut. My body fell to the mattress, unable to hold itself a moment longer. I rolled to my side and stared at the wet spot on the floor where Fletcher had cleaned, whispering, “Don’t leave me.”

I couldn’t fathom being alone—being without Fletcher right now. Could he feel that through this bond he had been talking about? What would happen if I was alone and my mother teleported here ?

She doesn’t know where you are. You are safe, Ripley.

Fletcher’s voice filled my head and I sat up in alarm, seeing the wave of stars crawl up my arms. I had sent him that thought, and since he had my magic, he could speak back to me.

My skin glowed again. I don’t want to be alone.