Page 30 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)

Declan

E verything about Elena fascinated me and terrified me at the same time. My body seemed to be pulled toward her by some invisible force every time she was near. Closing the door to my room with a flick of my shadows, I stormed over to my closet to get dressed for tonight’s dinner.

What a complete fool I had been on the journey back to the castle.

I’d tried so hard to bury myself within my frigid heart, pushing her away with the only things I knew how to do, fear and gruffness.

Unfortunately, that only unleashed her fiery spirit, making me burn for her tenaciousness even more.

I’d even let my ward slip on more than one occasion.

The black fabric of my pants slid against my legs as I sighed deeply, thinking about the mess I’d created.

I needed to do better, needed to be smarter.

There was too much to risk and too many important factors at stake for me to lose all my senses by falling for a woman I knew that I couldn’t have.

She deserved someone far better than me, someone not filled with so much darkness.

In just a short time, being around me had led to her almost death, all because she was trying to save me.

A shiver trickled down my spine at the memory of the blue tint of her lips and the feeling of her lifeless body hanging over my arms. Elena deserved a lifetime of happiness, especially after everything that she had been through.

Sadly, happiness was not something that I had within me to offer.

Impatiently fumbling with the buttons on my black dress tunic, I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

“Good evening, Your Highness.” Eloise gave me a polite bow and a smile as she walked into the room. Once my mother’s lady-in-waiting, now she served me.

“Eloise, you know by now that a bow is not necessary,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Of course, just as you know that I find manners to be everything in life,” she hummed, then strode over to hand me my dress jacket for the evening—a deep navy blue, trimmed with a fine golden embroidery around the collar and down the opening.

Formal dinners were the only time I wore the kingdom’s royal colors of navy and gold.

Normally, my wardrobe consisted only of the color of my heart, black.

“Manners are everything, huh? I’ll remember that the next time I hear you swearing foul words that would make even Liam and Killian shudder,” I said, a small smirk tipping up the corner of my lip.

She slapped my arm while letting out a huff of air. “One time! Gods, I impaled my finger with a sewing pin! What would you do if that was you?”

“You’re right, if that happened to me, far fouler words would be spewed. The sewing pin would have also been launched into the depths of the Hells,” I said, launching out a slip of shadow like a whip.

She threw her head back in laughter, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

Laughing wasn’t something I did very often, in fact I could probably count the number of times I laughed within a week on my hands.

Just the thought of that brought me back down to reality, and once again my lips pressed together in a thin line.

“You’re worried about tonight, aren’t you?” Eloise said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Elena is not prepared for the wrath my father and Alastor can unleash.” I should have stayed in her room longer, walked her through what to expect. However, I’d run like a coward. The longer I lingered around her, the more my control slipped.

“I’ll look after her, Your Highness. As I get her ready for this evening, we’ll have a little chat, woman to woman. You can trust me to make sure she’s well prepared.”

I gave her a nod, slipping the jacket over my shoulders. Even though I trusted Eloise, my stomach twisted in a knot. I was about to send Elena into a den of vipers.

“You know you need to tell her, no matter what Warren says.” She tugged a loose gold thread on my jacket. “Secrets fester like wounds when we keep them from the people we care about.”

“If only I could, Eloise, but I fear he may be right. It should come from him, and only him. I’m not sure how I would handle hearing I’d been lied to for years, and I can only imagine that with everything Elena has just been thrown into, it would completely overwhelm her.”

Eloise folded her arms across her chest. The scowl that formed on her lips told me that I was in for a reprimanding.

“Sometimes you men can be so…exasperating. The way she leapt in front of that beast last night tells me she’s capable of a lot more than you both are giving her credit for.”

One look into her knowing glare and my shoulders sagged. My stomach churned as I weighed the truth within her words.

“If you won’t tell her about that, then you should probably tell her about the other thing.”

“What other thing?”

The fabric of her dress slid against her fidgeting fingers. Her eyes shifted around the room, avoiding contact with mine at all costs.

“Eloise.” My voice deepened as I tried to coax the words out of her.

“Last night, I felt something between you two when you brought her in. It was faint, but it was unmistakable.” Her throat bobbed, and her eyes clouded with tears. “I felt the bond, Declan.”

Hearing the words said out loud sent my mind reeling. During our travels, I’d had my suspicions, but fated mates had dwindled after the original Light Phoenix had passed. Since then, it was a rare occurrence.

“How could you feel it?”

“Because there is something that I have been keeping from you for a very long time.” She lifted her trembling hand and waved it over the one that had her Flame dynamis marked into it. “Something that allows me to feel the presence of those who bear a similar mark.”

As it passed over the back of her hand, what was revealed below caused my knees to weaken. Wrapped around her wrist shone a golden vine. “Eloise,” I breathed. “Is that?—”

“Yes.” Her voice was meek, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s the mark of a fated bond between me and my mate.”

“Who?” I whispered.

A tear slid down her cheek, as her eyes rolled up to meet mine. She didn’t have to tell me anymore because I already knew. “It was Keir, wasn’t it?”

I tucked her into my arms. The month before his death, I had noticed something different about my brother.

In a way, he had seemed lighter, happier, pushing us even harder towards getting things settled in Oria.

Like there was a deeper purpose fueling his devotion to getting us out of the castle.

Now I knew exactly what that purpose had been, and it was wrapped inside my arms sobbing into my chest.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone? Or tell me afterwards, Eloise?”

She pulled herself away from me and grabbed a handkerchief from inside my wardrobe to dry her eyes.

“You know as well as I do that our relationship would have been forbidden because of our social status. Your father would have never allowed his son to be bound to a lowly lady-in-waiting. Even if we were fated mates.”

The truth in her words hit me like a blow to the gut, only further fueling the anger that I harbored against my father and Alastor.

“I have a feeling your mother knew.” She sniffled again, wiping the cloth across her reddened nose.

“We were going to tell you both, and then…I—I should have told you, but you were already burdened with so many other things. I didn’t want to add one more thing to your shoulders.

Keir told me to leave if anything happened.

” Eloise lifted her head, and her brown curls fell across her tear-stricken face.

“But I couldn’t leave. Declan, you are the only family I have left. ”

“Eloise”—my voice thickened with emotion— “please don’t ever feel like you must keep things from me any longer. I’ve always thought of you as being a part of this family, even before you told me about Keir. I’m so sorry you had to shoulder this secret for so long by yourself.”

With a deep sigh, she smoothed her hand over her face. “It’s okay, Declan, just make me a promise.”

“Anything.”

“Just tell her before it’s too late.”

A rock formed in my throat, and I struggled to swallow it down. Eloise patted my shoulder and started to walk towards the door.

I wanted to answer her, tell her I would honor that promise. However, I couldn’t make a promise I knew that I would eventually break.

“You be careful tonight,” she whispered as she looked over her shoulder, hand curled around the open door. “I’ll see to it that Elena is prepared for whatever your father and Alastor launch at her.”

With a nod, she stepped out the door.

I walked over and slumped into my armchair and threw my head into my hands. Alone in my room, I allowed myself a moment to release all the sadness, anger and frustration. Just one moment. Then, I’ll begin to sort through where to go from here.