Chapter 15 Reyes #2
I make a quick decision and place him on top of his mattress before dashing over to my house to collect dry clothes for us both.
My eyes snag on a few things, and by the time I run back to his cottage, my arms are loaded with sheets, a pillow, a towel, and a thick crocheted blanket.
The distance is small enough that nothing gets wet, and as I step inside, Nyx hasn’t moved.
“I’m sorry… I have to get you dry, sweetheart,” I tell him as I work the shirt over his head, exposing his narrow chest underneath.
I replace it with my own clean t-shirt before I slide his shorts down, careful to keep him covered.
His hair is a mess, soaked and dirty with thick tangles knotting the strands, but for now, I settle for drying it.
He’s still shivering as I balance him in one arm and strip the sheets with the other. Mine are too big for this small bed, but I tuck the corners as best I can and place my pillow on top. Once he’s wrapped in my warm, dry blanket, I lay him down and kneel at his bedside.
He shivers from inside his cloth cocoon, but after a few minutes, color replaces the grayness of his cheeks.
His shaking fades to occasional tremors, and eventually the scrunched lines on his forehead smooth.
I don’t look away, don’t even think I’ve blinked, when a soft knock taps on the door.
Nyx doesn’t stir, so I pry myself from his side.
Xeni stands outside with a bag slung over his shoulder.
His apprehension is palpable, his solid white eye darting over my face before dropping to my wet clothes. “You need to dry off,” he finally says.
“And you need to fuck off. I’m not worried about myself,” I snap. Any other time, I’d feel guilty for being so rude, but I don’t have room for anything else in my emotional bank at the moment. Xeni doesn’t react to my temper, only nods his head at the door.
“He’s inside?”
“Yeah,” I say, stepping back to let him in. The rain has calmed to a drizzle. Instead of being sopping wet like me, Xeni’s clothes are coated in a fine mist and his hair is damp, the white strands frizzier than usual. He freezes as he steps inside, his eyes moving across the room.
“What?” I demand, guilt forming a ball in my gut at the invasion of Nyx’s privacy. Maybe I should’ve taken him to my house instead.
“Nothing,” Xeni says, too quickly, and tries to offer me a reassuring smile.
“Cut the bullshit. Why did you react like that?”
“You should ask him.”
“I’m asking you.”
Xeni hesitates as he glances at where Nyx is curled up on the bed in my blanket. He chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment before he sighs. “There’s nothing in here.”
“He doesn’t need much,” I say, my voice sharp and the protective nature of my words clear. “There isn’t anything wrong with that.”
“No, there isn’t, except…” He trails off again, and the fiery anger from earlier flares hot in my belly.
“Except what?”
Xeni’s gaze finds mine, and the sadness there is crushing. “The bed. The table. It’s… it’s how his cell was arranged.”
Utter, all-encompassing devastation.
It splits my chest wide open, exposing my heart and stabbing through the pounding organ.
A quiet sound that’s full of heartbreak leaves my throat, and I turn to look at Nyx asleep on the wooden-framed bed.
It’s suddenly replaced by a hard cot, and the open, airy room turns into a cell with no windows and a barred door.
He’s recreated his prison.
Lives in it daily.
He never left.
“Fuck,” I curse in a broken, watery whisper, and Xeni grunts his agreement.
“What can you tell me about his condition?” He slides his bag off his shoulder as he approaches Nyx, and I close the door behind us as I force myself to snap out of it. In time, we’ll deal with the past’s demons, but right now, we need to focus on the present.
“Um, he, uh…” I start, then angrily swipe the tears from my eyes with a deep inhale. “He was in the same place we were at… before. An overlook at the top of the hill. I’m, uh… I’m pretty sure he’d been there since I left with Taryn and Lillith.”
Xeni frowns as he crouches beside the bed, pressing his ear against Nyx’s chest and listening for a long stretch.
He digs in his bag and pulls out a tiny flashlight, lifting Nyx’s lid and shining it over his eye before swapping to the other side to do the same thing.
“He was unresponsive when you found him?”
“Covered in vines,” I admit, and Xeni’s frown deepens. “It’s like they were trying to protect him. He was curled up on the ground, almost as if he were asleep. He woke up… sort of… as I was carrying him back and said something, but it was in the old language and I didn’t understand.”
Xeni hums low in his throat. “Could you try to repeat it?”
“No, the rain was too loud, and I was too…” I trail off, but he nods his understanding.
Xeni continues examining Nyx in silence. He inspects the glowing mark across his knuckles, then gives the scars on the back of his biceps the same attention. His thumb is dragging over the inside of Nyx’s elbow when he asks, “How much has he told you about his past?”
My face heats, feeling wholly inadequate. “He doesn’t talk about it much, and I don’t push him.”
Xeni nods absently, then glances over his shoulder at me. “Go put on some dry clothes.”
“I’m not leaving,” I argue.
“Reyes, you can’t take care of him if you don’t take care of yourself. I’ll sit with him until you get back.” The command in his tone tells me he won’t stand down on this, and a frustrated growl leaves me as I snatch my fresh t-shirt and shorts from the ground where I dropped them.
I refuse to go further than around the corner to the kitchen as I shed my wet clothes and step into the new ones.
As I change, my gaze snags on the collection of dishes piled on the counter.
They’re clean, and stacked neatly, but they’ve been accumulating for a while. Another punch of regret hits my gut.
How fucking little have I noticed?
How much has Nyx been holding in?
A lump builds in my throat, and I force a swallow to clear it. I place my wet clothes in the sink to keep them from dripping on the floor, then return to the bed.
“What’s wrong with him?” The words come out as a quiet plea, and Xeni finally rises from his squatting position.
He’s tall, nearly as tall as Ronan if you count the twisted horns that push from his head, but far thinner.
Xeni carries himself with a softness and grace that make him far less imposing.
Everyone keeps their distance from him, and part of me wants to shun him, too.
It wants to loathe him for his hand in Nyx’s torture at Ljómur.
But while others see him as standoffish and uncaring, he shoulders a heaviness that never goes away.
His impassive mask is just a way to hide how much he hurts.
He’s a man marked by his decisions and haunted by the wrong ones.
On that level, I understand him.
“Physically, he seems fine. Dehydrated. If he hasn’t eaten, he’s going to be weak. But he’s stronger than you think, Reyes. It shouldn’t hurt him to be outside in the weather.”
“Why is he asleep, then?”
Xeni’s face is still relaxed, but a hint of regret flashes across his face before he clears his throat. “If I had to guess? Everything he’s dealing with right now is psychological.” He nods at my fidgeting hand. “You were marked before you left?”
“We… touched. Mine didn’t come up until later in the night. I was sleeping in the van and saw it when I woke up.”
He hums absentmindedly as he stares down at Nyx. “He would’ve known as soon as you touched.”
My brows furrow as I think back to that moment. So many emotions were competing for attention. Could I have isolated some sensation that told me he was my mate? Did I miss something vital? Did it snap into place between us and tell me he was mine?
He was already mine.
“This has happened to him before, right?” I ask, and Xeni shifts uncomfortably as he glances at Nyx, but then nods. Jealousy like nothing I’ve ever felt flares in my stomach as I imagine someone else with their hands on what’s mine. “Tell me what you know.”
Xeni sighs as he shoulders his bag. “This isn’t my story to share, Reyes. When he wakes up—”
“Will he wake up?”
Xeni’s flaring annoyance fades as he tracks the desperation in my eyes.
“I don’t see any reason he won’t. Just… be here.
And be patient. He’ll need you.” He hesitates in the doorway, gripping the frame like he wants to say something else, but in the end only gives me another sad smile before disappearing outside.
The house is silent, with only the drip of the rain off the leaves to distract me from my thoughts. I sink onto the floor beside the bed, more exhausted than I’ve ever been while desperate to stay awake.