Page 21 of Broken Shadows (Corrupt Shadows Duet #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Evie

A sharp slice of ice digs into my shoulder and I shrink away. It’s then that a detached certainty crawls over me as I crouch near the closest statue’s stone feet.

These statues want me to fail.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to reach Lorcan through our bond again. Lorcan? Can you hear me? My stomach hollows as only silence deigns to reply.

I don’t want to be alone here. I need to find the others before it’s too late.

The air shivers against my skin as five statues circle me, bending at the waist and reaching for me. Pain lances through my chest, sobs tearing from my throat. Something tickles the back of my mind, like an awareness that isn’t mine. This is reality and yet, it’s not.

My heart shrivels as whispers so low I can only just make out the words rise around me as I stare into three cold stone faces.

Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

You are alone forevermore.

The whispered voices hook into my mind and send pulse after pulse of anguished sorrow filtering into my thoughts and mutating them until I no longer know the difference.

Memory after memory pelts unwantedly into my mind’s eye like spattered paint. In the first, I’m watching myself playing dolls by myself after my only three friends vanished without saying goodbye.

The scene unfolds into the next. Flames engulf my visions, my family. Burning. Dead. Because of me.

If it wasn’t for my brothers dying in that fire, their souls at least savable still then, I’d be glad for the fire that got rid of my family. The rest of them were nothing but a stain on this earth.

The scene swiftly shifts into a spiral of smoke as the fire dissipates, and I stare at myself. The sole survivor among blackened corpses.

The last memory comes with a migraine. The scene, our bedroom, white pillows, and my brother, Caden, my adopted sibling, and the only family that loved me, exploding into thousands of gory pieces.

All alone. As it should be.

I dry my damned tears with my sleeve, tired of crying, then lift my head and stare into every one of the statue’s twisted faces.

The reel of memories assaults me once more, but something is different, like a dimmer switch in my mind crawls toward an understanding I can’t quite grasp.

But I know this—I can’t let the statues touch me.

With the revelation, time seems to stop. No, the statues still come for me, but their movements are so slow it seems like they aren’t.

Icy pain sears through my toes and creeps up my legs. I claw at my pant leg, but my jeans are reluctant to glide against my skin. An expanse of rough gray appears as I finally tear the stitches off the hem.

My eyes widen and vomit burns the back of my throat. I reach out with shaking fingers, but instead of skin greeting my fingertips, it’s solid stone.

“No! I will not become like you!” My chest inflates as I gasp. The realization in my mind sparks, and awareness floods my stagnant thoughts with light.

This is a fucking trial! I need to get out of here.

My stomach swoops when I think the words.

My hair flings around me as I dart my head around. There must be a way out of this cage of stone bodies.

I’m okay with being alone. I have people who love me and they’re waiting for me. The pain quickly disappears from my foot, and I’m free.

I risk a glance over my shoulder and immediately regret it. The five statues turn, stone dust peppering the air as their joints grind against themselves, then step forward as one.

Nope.

My tongue throbs as I bite it, swallow my scream, and sprint away. Gods, I really don’t want to move deeper into the thick fog, but there are no other options.

How am I ever going to find my way out?

Whirls of fog whip toward me as wing beats join the melody of my panicked flight.

“Oh, thank Gods. Gomez!”

My night puppy flies into view, then glares over my head and hisses.

I catch a glimpse of something gray moving quickly toward me in my peripheral, then shriek as a stone hand reaches toward my hair as it ripples behind me like a sail.

Shit, shit, shit!

I veer sharply to the left, Gomez keeping pace at my side. “Can you show me the way out?”

He chirps, then takes off, his wings slicing through the thinning fog.

My feet pound against the ground as I pick up speed and follow Gomey’s encouraging cries, dashing down stone paths and dodging more stone hands. The oppressing fog clears just as my face connects with something solid and warm.

“Evie! You fucking did it.” Lorcan’s nutmeg and ash scent rushes into my nose, where it’s pressed against his chest.

All the tension in my body melts away. “Oh, thank gods.” I peel open my eyes as a hand rubs my back, then smile at my best friend.

“You’re okay,” Rosa whispers, tears welling along her lashes.

Ezra clears his throat. “I vote we get the fuck out of here before those statues change their minds about leaving us alone.”

Lorcan’s chest rumbles against my ear. “Absofuckinglutely.” Rosa’s hand falls away, then Lorcan’s warm knuckle nudges under my chin.

I blink and the last of my tears drip down my cheeks as I take in his soft expression. “That was…”

“I know,” he reassures me, then feathers a kiss across my lips and smiles against them. “I need to speak to my brothers for a minute, but I’ll be right back.”

I watch him go, each step of his determined stride taking him farther away from me. My attention swings to Aiden as he meanders over to me.

“Is it just me, Bromina, or was that harder on us than them?” Aiden asks me as he curls his thumbs around his belt loops and strolls beside me.

I offer Aiden a slight smile as he blows out a breath, his cheeks puffing with air. “Bromina?” I ask him and hope he hears the sincere sympathy in my voice.

“Oh, you know like bro but for a chick. It’s your nickname,” he laughs but it decidedly lacks mirth. “I’m not very creative.”

I’ve been called worse things. I shrug. “I like it.”

Silence descends as I monitor the backs of Lorcan, Rosa, Ezra, and Gideon as they walk far enough ahead of us for the illusion of privacy. “Do you want to talk about,” I jut my chin over my shoulder toward Magnolia Medows, “all of that?”

Aiden hesitates, then his shoulders lift and fall heavily. “Do you think it would help?”

My lips purse as I think. Could it really cause any more harm? “Yes. No. Maybe?”

He laughs, and this time a smile accompanies the action. “Maybe it would help, but can you go first?”

“Um, I guess.” My mind spins incoherently, like the aftereffects of a spinning ride at an amusement park. Where to even start? “I’ve been on my own for over a decade, ever since I ran from my past.” I paused, hesitation curdling my will to divulge, but I pushed past it.

“Right. The Order and that dick Edward,” Aiden clarifies.

I nodded. “Yes. They’ve been hunting me since I was a teen and ran out on Edward.” My lips pursed and Aiden shivered. “Long story short, that trial… I honestly thought I’d never make it out. It would have been so easy to give in to the misery as those statues loomed over me, to let loneliness envelop me like a cold, bitter embrace.” I cleared my throat. “Um, what was it like for you?”

“It was like I was reliving the worst years of my life.”

“Even worse than bargaining your soul to a demon?” I ask with forced levity.

Aiden fiddles with the brim of his peach ballcap, repositing it as if it’s a nervous tick. “Unfortunately. From Kindergarten through high school, I had no friends, and I mean none .” He scratches the side of his neck, then lowers his voice to a hair above a whisper. “It’s not something I’ve really said aloud, but I like men.”

I nod and offer an assuring smile. He continues.

“I knew I was gay for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t ever a question, just a vital part of me. You know? But the town where I grew up was, uhh… Well, they didn’t believe it was possible for anyone to be born queer.” He sighs and his gaze drops to his sneakers, his voice quiets as he continues to speak. “My parents were freaking amazing, still are to be honest, but their love couldn’t make all the other bullshit disappear. Although, I really wish it could’ve. Anyway, I was so fucking lonely it hurt. It sucked, dude. That’s why I stopped telling people I’m gay. I can’t deal with that shit anymore.

“I’m sorry people can be so fucking narrow minded,” I say, “but you’re safe with us. It’s no ones godsdamned business who someone is attracted to. It’s ridiculous people even try to manage other’s feelings on that. Since when did we decide that being straight was the norm anyway?”

His dimples deepen when he smiles and my stomach sinks. Fuck, I hate that anyone made him feel that way.

“Yeah, anyway, whatever the fuck that cemetery on steroids was, it drug all that loneliness to the surface and amplified it. Those zombie statues reminded me of all the shitty times I spent alone. Like that I ate lunch in the corner of the dark music room so no one would harass me or how I had no one to play with a recess…” Aiden trailed off.

“Did it help?” I ask, offering him a sad smile.

He inhales, then raises his head, a small smile curving his lips upward.

“Evie? I need to speak with you.” I glance over as Lorcan weaves through his brothers and stalks toward us.

I fight to control the anxiety ricocheting jarringly around in my guts, like a bouncy ball with sharp spikes. If this was my reaction to the first trial, how would I survive the rest? I rub over my heart as it flutters nervously. Lorcan cups my face, his tattooed hands so large his index fingers sit where my jaw hinges and his pinkies press lightly under the sides of my jaw. My lungs expand as his ashy nutmeg and sage scent lights me up from the inside out. It’s as if his very essence demands my body to relax, like I’m a marionet and he controls my strings. A blush steals across my cheeks as the intensity of his full, unwavering focus wraps around my mind and body like a soft silky cloak. I raise my chin and open my mouth to speak, but Lorcan shakes his head gently. He steps closer until our bodies touch from chest to thighs, then lowers his forehead to mine.

Why does his mere presence soothe me? The dominant yet gentle press of his hands demand I submit to his overbearing control without speaking a word. I don’t need him to put me back together. I’ve been doing that myself over and over again since I ran after I killed my brother. I inhale a stuttering breath. But part of me begs to admit, if only to myself, that maybe I truly do want him to take care of me.

Slight trembles course down Lorcan’s fingers and through his forearms where they brush against the sides of my breasts.

“Are you okay, Baby Girl?” he asks quietly, his voice rough and gravelly.

I honestly don’t know how to answer that question. A million emotions knot behind my breastbone; it’s impossible to pull apart the threads and inspect each individual feeling. “I’m fine. I passed and now we can all move on, that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t give a shit about them,” Lorcan growls softly, lifting his face away and narrows his cold green eyes on mine but never relinquishes the hold he has on my face. “Surely, you’re aware of that by now. You are and will always be my first and only priority, Evie.” The knot in his throat bobs as he swallows, then he closes his eyes as if the words he wants to express pain him in some way.

My brows furrow, then my lips flatten into a straight line. “But I really am fine. I’ve been through worse than this. I can’t fall apart now, after one damn trial, and expect to magically complete the rest.” I tug on our bond seeking entrance to his mind, but he has it walled off on his end. Frustrating but not entirely unusual. “Let me in,” I whisper.

“No. I need to say this aloud. I know you're not fine, but I’ll let it go for now. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you nearly gave up back there. I almost lost you forever to a fate far worse than death. So, please, let me speak.”

“Did you just say please?” I blurt.

Lorcan chuckles deeply and the corner of his lips twitch as if he’s suppressing a smile. “Yes, but don’t get used to it. As you know, it’s not a word I use loosely.”

I roll my lips together, then nod seriously. “Okay, go on.”

“I've been meaning to give you something.” He pauses and gestures to the cemetery, gritting his teeth. “I almost missed the chance and I’ll be fucking damned if I continue to put it off any further.”

I narrow my gaze on a folded piece of paper as he slips it from his front pocket and tucks it into mine. The hand still cupping my cheek glides down the side of my neck, collaring my throat. I gasp as he lightly squeezes and my heart backflips.

Damn I love this demon’s touch. I wish I didn’t but there is no denying it any longer, he saw to that in the Shadow Realm. “Don’t open it until after we complete the trials.”

I quirk a brow curiosity roaming through my veins. “You insist I must have, whatever this is,” I say, smoothing a hand over my pocket. “And now you want me to wait?”

“I can’t explain it now, that’s why it’s written down.” Lorcan blows out a frustrated breath and the blue-black tasseled hair tickling his forehead lifts briefly. “Swear it, Evie.”

My gaze narrows on him as I peer up through my lashes. “Why?” I inquire further.

Lorcan growls, long and deep, then closes his eyes briefly. They flash open and inky darkness replaces their normally gorgeous pastel green. “For once in your life, just fucking do as I say.” It comes out as a plea, but his continuous growl underscores the sentiment with a command. I skate my fingers along the edge of his mask. Shit, he really means it. I rise to my tiptoes, brush my nose against his, then plant a kiss on his lips before dropping back to my heels.

“I won't read it until after the trials.”

A dark eyebrow arches as if silently asking, And?

I roll my eyes and sigh. “I swear it.”

“Good girl,” he rumbles, pressing his palm to my lower back and guiding me forward, punctuating our conversation.