Page 15 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)

Elena

N umb. That was the only way to describe the way I felt right now.

Yesterday, I was already drowning beneath my own failures. Now, I was the owner of a rare and powerful dynamis that I couldn’t control. All my fears of going through Ascension had been realized.

Dragging my palms over my face, I tried to wipe away the tension underneath.

After Declan put the shackles back on, we rode in silence.

My mind was overwhelmed not only with what had happened in the town, but also from the way he had acted towards me after.

He’d been tender and caring, a jarring transformation from when we’d first met, and in contrast to all the comments about him from the town members.

It left me bewildered as I struggled to process it all.

The sound of clomping hooves around both sides of us averted my attention away from my thoughts.

Killian gave me a nod, then Liam’s lips curved into a grin.

Parting my lips to speak to them, I was rudely interrupted by the ravenous beast that was my stomach.

It growled so loudly, I was sure everyone in all Ehora felt its quake.

I wished I could glamour myself entirely.

Buried within my hands, I mumbled, sheepishly, “Sorry.”

I felt a nudge against my arm, and I lowered my hands to find it was Killian. With a grin, he leaned back, grabbed a satchel from the side of his horse and tossed it into my lap. I made quick work of unwrapping it to reach the contents inside.

Before I knew it, I had not only eaten all of what was inside of Killian’s satchel but was devouring my way through Liam’s as well.

Chuckles shook me out of my stupor. With slitted eyes and a piece of jerky hanging from the side of my mouth, I dared them to make fun of me.

Both men put their hands up in the air, surrendering to my glare.

I tossed the satchel back to Liam, who tossed it right back to me.

“You hold onto it, my lady. We both know better than to get between a woman and her food.”

“Yes, I quite prefer to keep both of my hands intact.” Killian wiggled his fingers. With a roll of my eyes, I reopened the satchel and continued to munch away.

“Thank you,” I mumbled through a mouthful of jerky, “and you can call me Elena. I think we can all agree that I don’t really suit the whole title of Lady .”

A snort peeled out of the brooding Lord of Shadows behind me. I allowed myself to enjoy this moment of levity and joined in the laughter. Given the unknown fate that awaited me in the capital, this might be the last time I got to do so.

S omewhere along the way my eyes had grown heavy and sleep pulled me under. I awoke to two hands lifting me back up from where I had fallen forward onto the horse’s nape to rest. I rubbed my drowsy eyes, allowing me to get a better look at my surroundings.

An endless array of stars sparkled in the inky darkness. Mammoth pine trees towered above us as far as the eye could see.

A warm fire cracked in the center of the makeshift camp. A few tents already flapped in the breeze, but some still needed to be erected.

With a sleepy sigh, I began to make my way towards the others to help.

“No.”

Pinching my lips together, I turned to the owner of the familiar voice. “You know,” I tapped the side of my cheek with my pointer finger. “I’m starting to feel like that’s your favorite word.”

His tone lowered to a deep rumble as he leaned in close. “Only around you.” He folded his arms across his chest.

Pinning him with my own glare, I copied his posture. “They need help setting up, and I won’t sit on my ass like a pampered princess watching everyone around me be useful.”

His eyes shifted to my shackles. “You can, and you will.” Pulling the key from his pocket, he grabbed my forearm, but I wiggled out of it and took a step back.

“I…no…I don’t trust myself.” I lowered my head, heavy with shame, as he stepped closer.

“Elena, you used a lot of your dynamis earlier, and you’re exhausted. You’ll be fine for the rest of the night.”

When he grabbed my wrist this time, I allowed him. With a turn of the key, my wrists were free once more. As I rubbed my wrists, I glanced up to see a devious smirk plastered across the prince’s face.

“You owe me for breaking our deal.”

“I do not?—”

“Go now.” His body crowded my space and he pointed in the direction of the fire. “You will go, and you will sit on that log until I tell you to move. Are we clear?”

Fuming, I turned and stormed off towards the direction of the fire. The whiplash of this man’s moods was infuriating.

Once I made it halfway to the fire, I looked over my shoulder in search of the Lord of Grumpiness. Finding him nowhere in sight, I made my way over to the closest tent that needed to be built and got to work.

P ressing my hands into the ache of my lower back, I admired my handiwork. With the help of Killian, who smirked when he saw me going against Declan’s orders, we were able to construct two tents. When he had to leave to organize a perimeter watch, I managed to construct one fully on my own.

However, I was regretting the last one as my body cried out in pain. My thighs burned from the long ride—a ride that I wasn’t accustomed to, since this was the farthest I’d ever traveled out of Lostburrow in my twenty-three years.

Pine needles crunched behind me causing me to jump. With a wince, I glanced over to see Liam walking towards me.

“Don’t worry. The pain will get easier the longer we ride. By the end of this trip, you’ll be a true horsewoman.”

“Well, I sure hope so,” I said with a huff as a tendril of hair flew off my face.

“The last thing we need is for the infamous Light Phoenix to fall off her horse to her untimely death. The king would be enraged he missed out on the opportunity to do it himself, and pure chaos would reign over the realm.” I deadpanned.

Liam’s eyes widened, then he burst out in a deep, bellowing laugh. “Where does all that sass hide within such a small thing? You keep on surprising me, little lady.”

“First of all, there is nothing ‘small’ or ‘little’ about me.” I motioned my hand over all of me. “I’m almost as tall as you.”

He grunted, though I caught a slight upturn of his lips.

“Second, with all this power, I feel I have a great responsibility to keep everyone on their toes. Or, at the very least, entertained.” With a devious smile, I bowed my head and spread my arms out wide for emphasis.

He started rummaging through a satchel that hung over his shoulder. Holding a flask up to my mouth he said, “Drink, it’ll help with the pain.”

Normally, I proceeded with more caution in my life, but I was tired, sore, and cranky. At this point, I’d take anything to help tackle any one of those situations.

Lifting the bottle to my frozen lips, I tilted my head back, letting the warm liquid fall down my throat. Searing pain flooded my throat, causing me to cough uncontrollably. My nose burned and my eyes watered as I tried to regain my composure.

“Already trying to torture our prisoner, Liam?” a deep voice purred from the side of me. On the opposite side of the fire stood the prince, with hands on his hips and smirking at my misfortune.

“Not on purpose, Your Highness. Just introducing Elena to the medicinal properties of whiskey.” Liam grinned and sealed the cap back on tossing it back into a satchel, then turned around to head back to whatever he was doing before.

Before he got too far away, I shouted after him, “Next time you plan on torturing me, at least give me a little warning.”

“We’ll see, little lady, we’ll see.” He strode away, his shoulders shaking with mirth.

Clearing my throat, I inhaled a deep pull of cool air to try to chill the burn.

I could already feel the warmth of the whiskey flowing over my body.

Everything felt a little bit lighter and a fuzzy feeling began to thrum inside my head.

Maybe when Liam returned, I could persuade him to allow me another swig of it. Just for medicinal purposes, of course.

As I smiled, a chill rippled throughout my body, the awareness of a heavy presence looming. My gaze shifted beneath my lashes, only to find the prince sitting across from me on the other side of the fire.

The flames whipped wildly between us as he glared through them at me with almost the same intensity. Heat rippled across my skin, not from the fire, but from within my traitorous body.

Something about this dark, destructively handsome man made me unable to peel my eyes away from him. No one, not even Will, had ever looked at me in the way the prince was looking at me right now, like I was some puzzle that he was struggling to solve.

As the intensity of his stare deepened, it became difficult for me to tell whether he might rip me to shreds or leap over the fire and rip off my clothes. Surprisingly, option two felt rather intriguing to my body.

What am I thinking?

The man in front of me was the son of the most vicious, deplorable king.

He was the Lord of Shadows, his dynamis commanded darkness, and gods only knew what else lurked inside him.

This man was dangerous, period. Nothing about him should be intriguing.

Clenching my thighs together, I broke our gaze lowering my head to the ground to try to knock some sense into it. “So, are you always this grumpy?”

“Are you always this insolent?”

“Hmm,” I paused, the next words burning on my tongue. “I save it for contemptuous, arrogant bastards like yourself.” Catching the darkened eyes of the prince across the fire, I tossed him a sarcastic smile.

Faster than I could blink, Declan was behind me holding my chin with one hand while his shadows wrapped around my exposed neck. I froze with fear. My breaths became shallow and my heart thrummed erratically.

Muscles knotted tightly inside of me as he leaned close to my ear. The scruff of his chin bristled against my temple, eliciting an emotion I should not have during this moment. As he spoke, heat from his breath floated down the side of my neck. My dynamis flared from its slumber.

“Don’t ever speak to me that way again, my lady. Or I promise you will regret it.” Even enraged, his voice poured out like smooth honey. “Be careful, Elena. That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

“You can’t talk to me like that.” This time, my boldness only came out as a timid whisper. Even the wild beast within me was terrified of him.

“I am the prince, Elena. I can do whatever the Hells I want.”

Before I could react, his hold against me retracted. The wisp of his shadows evaporated from my neck. My head swiveled, only for me to see him storming off into the distance. Still reeling from the events that just occurred, my mind tumbled over itself in confusion.

For reasons I couldn’t begin to explain, I felt a pull towards this unstable prince, tugging at the center of me. Whatever this feeling was, I needed to shove it down and keep it at bay.

Especially if I had any hopes of surviving this whole ordeal.

Declan

H ells.

This was going to be one long journey.

Stomping over the forest floor, I stewed over the day. From the first moment we’d met, Elena had questioned, disobeyed, challenged me at every turn. This was only day one. How in the Hells were we going to make it through four more days of this?

Shadow nickered at my approach. I ran my hand over the mane of the black stallion and fed him a carrot.

“Enjoy that.” I rubbed his nose as he chewed happily. “I think you’re the only one around here who follows orders from me anymore.”

A familiar laugh arose from behind me. “Having a hard time with our little Light Phoenix?” Liam made his way around a tree towards me. “Perimeter’s all set, by the way. I’ll take my next shift after dinner.” I nodded, as he patted me on the shoulder. “What’s going on now?”

Anger began to rise again as I stepped aside, giving Liam my back as I ran my hands through my hair. “She—she…” A frustrated growl ripped out of me. “She just?—”

“She doesn’t bend over backwards to do everything you ask of her?” Liam raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!” The words slipped out in rage. I glared at the thick, black mop of hair on his head as it tousled about as he shook it.

“Elena is a lot like someone else I know,” he scoffed. I rolled my eyes as I wiped my palm over my face to erase the irritation of his comparison. “Also, have you forgotten who raised her?”

Warren could be one Hells of a broody man.

Another one who always challenged me, pushing me to make the right decisions.

Yet he loved deeply and every decision was based around making sure that everyone would be safe and secure.

The man had endured just as much as I had and continued fighting.

My respect for Warren ran deep, and aspects of who I was today were a direct result of him.

“No, I haven’t forgotten.” I groaned.

“Good. Then hold on to those reins, because this isn’t going to be an easy ride. You’re going to have to give her a reason to trust you.”

“Did you just compare breaking through to Elena to taming a horse?”

“Well, seeing as you’re horrible with women and better with horses, I had to adjust my sage advice in a way you would understand.”

Patting my back, he made his way back towards the fire for dinner.

Thoughts still intruded in my mind, swirling in a way they hadn’t for some time.

Instead of heading towards the fire, I drifted off in the opposite direction.

Before I faced Elena again, I needed to get back into the right state of mind.