Chapter 10 Elodie
ELODIE
There’s a sensation I’ve experienced once, maybe twice, and it’s my sole desire to feel it every day for the rest of my life.
Trauma refuses to let that happen, though.
Well, except those fleeting moments. I’ve only experienced it at the institute.
It’s that flicker of a moment where you’re asleep for the most part, but the warmth bleeds into reality as you balance on the brink of waking up.
The calmness, the contentment, the solace; I crave it.
It warms my soul, as if it were made to give me the energy to exist, and I can feel it now.
No nightmares haunt me, there’s no sense of disarray or loss, and definitely no impending doom looming over me. It’s just peaceful, like I imagine it would feel like to lie in a meadow filled with wild flowers as the sun beams down on you.
As I reluctantly pry my eyes open, it’s not pretty petals and sunlight that greet me, but layers and layers of blankets in every shape and size draped over me.
I’m in a bedroom, one I’m not familiar with, but more than that, it’s not where I recall falling asleep.
I don’t think it counts as falling asleep if I passed out from exhaustion.
Jude.
Jude fucking Forrester.
My heart rate quickens with panic, but I quickly acknowledge it’s not the healing tank I had awakened in either.
Confused, I shuffle under the sheets until my back reaches the headboard.
I’m still in the same soft pajamas Walker gave me the first time I entered the healing tank, only now they’re stained with blood, just like my own clothes.
My hand lifts to my eye instinctively; the tingling sensation is like a phantom pain, but I quickly blink it away.
Looking around the room, I watch as the thin curtains dance in the wind where it flutters through the window to my right. The door is on the far wall, while the rest of the room is draped in soft pinks, cute, cuddly toys, and girly stickers.
It’s the kind of bedroom I would have dreamed of as a child.
Tightening the blankets around my middle, I purse my lips as I settle my attention on the door.
I don’t know where I am or who I’m with, but one thing is for sure: I’ll never find out if I just sit here guessing.
I need to find the strength to get up and see for myself, make sure I’m not trapped in another form of prison.
As I take a deep breath, my eyelids flutter closed, only for a flash of Jude’s face to come to mind, a reminder of the magic he burned through me again and again, insisting I perform on demand. Dread settles in my stomach, forcing me to my feet, and I scurry as quietly as I can across the room.
Twisting the door handle, I step out into the narrow hallway with high ceilings, following the sound of a coffee grinder echoing in the distance.
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I peer around the door frame in an effort to see where the hell I am, only to gape in surprise when I find a dark-haired, tall shadow fae moving around the small space as the rich scent of coffee fills the air.
Thorne.
Freaking Thorne.
The shadow fae I vowed I wouldn’t rely on.
No. Way.
“You’re awake,” he murmurs without even glancing toward the door, making me clear my throat as I nervously shuffle from one foot to another.
“You’re here,” I blurt, unable to figure out what else to say.
His eyes finally find mine, dark and mysterious as always. “I promised you I would find you,” he states, like it really is as simple as that.
Disbelief leaves my jaw slack as I fold my arms over my chest. “Where are we, exactly?”
“Paris.”
“What?” My throat is raspy as I blurt louder than intended, and his eyebrows furrow.
“France,” he reiterates, and I scoff.
“I know where Paris is, but how the hell did we get here?” My breaths grow faster, panic on the verge of hysteria as he turns to face me head on, leaning back against the cabinets with an ease I don’t think I’ve ever seen this guy have before.
His fingers curl around the worktop beside him, turning his knuckles white. “I thought it would be best for you to heal somewhere safe since I imagine Jude is looking for you right about now,” he admits, the truth threatening to sour the moment, but I refuse to let it.
“How did I get here?” I repeat, ignoring the mention of Kael’s asshole of a brother.
“I carried you,” he admits, leaving me to gape at him in disbelief.
Finally, my head dips as a scoff parts my lips. “This is insane.”
“Is it?”
I tilt my face enough to look at him through my lashes. “My entire life is insane, so don’t think you’re cool or anything,” I mutter defensively, and he rolls his eyes.
“Of course not.”
Clearing my throat, I force myself to stand taller as I level him with a pointed stare. “So, did you know Kael was working with his brother?”
“No,” he answers calmly, and I nod, my gut telling me he’s speaking the truth. I felt it in the dream, and I feel it even stronger now with him standing before me.
“Well, just an FYI, I might kill him.”
“I might help you,” he grunts, blindly reaching for the mug behind him.
“Your friend?” I clarify, and he grunts again, taking a sip from the steaming mug before he replies.
“He wasn’t acting like a friend when he was keeping secrets,” he retorts, and I gulp, becoming acutely aware that I, at least, wasn’t the only one Kael lied to.
“What now?”
He shrugs. “It’s up to you.”
My eyes widen in surprise. “You’re not taking me straight back to The Vale?”
“I will if that’s what you want,” he offers, making my eyebrows rise even higher.
“And if it’s not?” I test, my pulse quickening in my ears.
“I’ll take you wherever you like.”
Running my tongue over my bottom lip, I push further. “And if I want to go without you?”
My words hang in the air for what feels like an eternity before he answers, cocking a brow at me as he takes another sip of his coffee. “I have a feeling our lives aren’t done intertwining.”
I gulp, feeling the weight of his words. My instincts agree with him.
Great.
“Are we going to talk about Jude?” His words are like ice down my spine and I stiffen.
“I’d rather we didn’t,” I mutter, my hands clenching as I wrap my arms tighter around my middle. It’s clear I’m distressed, and I should hate the fact that he’s seeing me so vulnerable, but the truth is, he’s seen me more exposed than anyone else if he carried me from the depths of Jude’s Hell.
Clearing my throat, I lean against the door frame. “What are my options? Spell it out for me.”
He nods, placing his mug back on the counter as he lets his hands hang at his sides, but I don’t miss the way his fingers flex.
“You can stay here, in the human world, on the run from everyone, or you can return to The Vale, where The Sanctum has control, but there’s an extra layer of defense between you and Jude.
Although, they haven’t done the best at protecting you from the rebellion attacks so far,” he offers, not giving me the third option, which would be to return to Jude now and delay the inevitable.
“The feeble protection The Vale offers is slightly off-putting,” I admit, watching his eyebrows knit together for a moment.
“I could increase the magic defending The Vale,” he offers, and it’s me who is confused this time.
“Why haven’t you done that already?” I murmur, surprised he would even be able to do that, and he shrugs.
“I didn’t have a reason to.”
My throat dries at his admission. “And now you do,” I breathe huskily, and he hums in agreement.
“Don’t think you’re cooler than you are,” he retorts, using my own words back at me, and I can’t stop the grin from spreading across my face.
I shake my head when my cheeks start to heat, but before I can speak, he goes first.
“I guess we should go back then.” My smile drops instantly. He presses off the counter in a heartbeat, taking a step toward me. “What’s wrong?”
Embarrassment threatens to creep up my spine, but I suck it up, refusing to let it get the better of me. “Nothing, it’s just, I’m in freaking Paris and I have to leave before I’ve even had the chance to see the Eiffel Tower,” I admit, watching his lips form the most perfect O that ever existed.
“We could make time for that,” he offers after a moment, making my heart stutter in my chest.
“We could?” I breathe as he steps closer to me, a grin forming on his lips as he nods.
I don’t know what comes over me, but the second we’re toe to toe, I reach my arms out, unraveling them from around my waist to tighten them around his.
I think I startle the both of us as my breath hitches and his body stiffens.
Slowly, he pats my back gently, somewhat returning the embrace, and before I can bottle it, I lift onto my tiptoes to bring my lips to his ear. “Thank you.”
My heartbeat rings in my ear as I finally allow myself the luxury of acknowledging the fact that he actually freaking rescued me just like he promised.
His hands smooth from a pat to a gentle embrace before he takes a step back, wrapping his fingers around my upper arms as he stares down at me.
Emotion swirls in his eyes, but I can’t decipher it with him standing this close.
“Let’s go show you the Eiffel Tower,” he murmurs, that same wide grin spreading across his cheeks again as he nods at me. “But you’d better shower first, you’re gross.”
“Wow.” My mouth parts, the soft word leaving my lips as a breath while my heart pounds in my chest. I can’t comprehend what I’m seeing, never mind how it makes me feel inside.
I’m not even actually there yet. Thorne insisted on capturing my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from Rue de l’Université. I had no idea what that meant, but the other tourists are all gathered down the cobbled street too, taking snaps of the iconic masterpiece before us.