Page 92 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)

Elena

C hills ran through my groggy body as I tried to burrow further underneath the sheets. Disoriented, I reached around, finding no sheets at all.

Panic splashed over me like water, and I was suddenly wide awake. The door was cracked open, letting in the night air from outside. All I had on was a thin nightgown, so the cold cut through me like a knife. Something wasn’t right.

“Declan?” I whispered into the dark room.

Silence.

I rose from the bed, grabbed my clothes from the ground and shoved them on. Where had he gone, and why had the door been left open? He would never do that. As I made my way over to the door, I heard a creak from behind me. Swiftly I turned, reaching down for the dagger that wasn’t there.

Fuck.

My body slammed against the stone wall of our room and the door was slammed shut.

Every part of my body trembled with fear as I remained pinned against the wall.

Two hands gripped tightly around my throat, as I tried to claw them off with my own.

I couldn’t even move my legs, because the intruder had those pinned with his own as well.

Light. I needed to be able to see.

Diving deep into my dynamis, I summoned my it to my hands. Warmth fled from my fingertips until my palms became illuminated in light. All the air left my body when I realized the intruder glaring into my eyes was the Lord of Shadows himself.

“Hello, Elena.” A cold, otherworldly voice brushed against my face. The hands around my neck squeezed tighter, eliminating any chance of me screaming for help.

His skin was sickly pale and freezing to the touch. Emerald eyes were replaced with obsidian, empty of life or warmth. Only a void glared back at me.

Fucking Alastor Grimshaw.

He’d summoned the blood curse.

Terror pierced me as my dynamis screamed fully awake. Maybe—maybe I could break him free of this, just like I had almost done in the courtyard that day. I summoned my Flame dynamis and felt my hands begin to blaze against him.

The imposter in front of me grinned.

What the Hells?

Closing my eyes, I pushed my dynamis further. The smell of burning flesh seared my nostrils. He remained unfazed, and his grin spread even wider. I yelled in frustration.

Realization hit me that I was burning the real Declan, even if he was currently trapped inside his own body right now. I called back my dynamis as tears streamed down my face.

With a smirk, Declan leaned forward and licked the tears from my cheeks. I whimpered and squirmed underneath his grip. Nothing about this imposter felt like my love, nothing at all.

“ Please …”

For a mere moment, it almost seemed like his face flinched, like he was trying to break free from the hold the curse held over him. A blink, and it was gone.

“Time to go, Lady Elena,” he growled.

He rammed my head into the stone wall behind me, and I fell into darkness.

T he splash of waves and a gentle rocking motion woke me from my forced slumber. The only light came from the stars that glistened in the sky and the dim lantern at the front of the boat. My entire body ached as I peeled open my eyes. How long had I been out?

I went to rub my cloudy eyes then realized my hand was not coming when I summoned it. Metal clanked from behind me. How ironic. This whole mess had started with me in iron chains and now it appeared I might meet my end in them as well.

The small rowboat I was in rocked from side to side as it rowed along towards a cove in the distance.

Where was Declan? As if summoned by my words, something thumped against my right side. He lay slumped over the seat, his hands bound with iron as well.

“Declan!” I shouted desperately, using my thighs to try to rouse him.

“That will be no use, child,” a low, ominous rattle whispered from behind me. “Master has summoned him into a deep sleep.”

With trembling hands, I prayed to the gods that this was all just a dream. There was no way this moment could be real. The voice behind me… it can’t be .

Piercing pain, cold as ice, seared through my shoulder. A scream ripped from my lips as a black, clawed hand continued to grip me.

No…no…no…gods, no!

The sound of its voice made me convulse with terror. “This is real, child. It’s always been real. We have been waiting for you, Elena.”

Every part of my skin prickled from its words, but I forced myself to turn around. The urge to know the truth of what lurked behind me was undeniable, no matter how terrifying it was.

Tears streamed down my body, now paralyzed in fear. There was nothing I could do to stop the warm liquid from cascading down my leg.

The image before me had haunted my dreams for as long as I could remember. Behind me sat two large figures in black cloaks that covered their bodies entirely. Just like in my dreams, they had no faces beneath their hoods, only endless voids of darkness.

In unison, they purred in eerie satisfaction over my terror, tilting towards me as if they were trying to absorb every drop of it.

The foul aroma of decay filled the air, making my head swirl with nausea. Still paralyzed by my own anxiety, I fought with my burning lungs to let air in.

It took effort, but I managed to look at the damage the creature behind me had done. My tunic lay in shreds over my shoulder and an angry red scar was seared into my flesh.

My vision began to cloud. My lungs desperately needed air, but fear had compressed them too tightly to absorb any.

Leaning closer towards my shoulder, I noticed something else seared deep into my flesh.

I blinked my eyelids to try to adjust my vision.

Seared into my flesh was a symbol I’d only seen once while sneaking a glance at the back of Declan’s neck.

It was small enough to be mistaken for a tattoo, but if eyes lingered for too long, it could be easily recognized.

Now, we both had matching scars…and curses.

Well, fuck.

The small boat jolted back and forth as we hit the edge of the shore.

Losing my balance, I fell against Declan.

Every part of my body felt like it was shutting down as my breaths became ragged.

One creature tied up the boat as the other scooped me up into its arms. I felt myself fading.

If I didn’t breathe soon, I was sure to black out.

It carried me up the jagged steps, then dropped me to the rocky ground.

The force of the blow was enough to shock the panic inside of me, allowing me to take a gasp. Only for another familiar voice to make it catch in my throat again.

“Welcome, Lady Elena, so good to have you back.”

Double fuck.

The last face that I saw before I passed out was none other than Alastor Grimshaw’s.