Chapter 17 Elena
I drifted behind Dario like I was another one of his shades, my heart in turmoil.
I watched with unseeing eyes as he left the unconscious mage at the paladin outpost in the village, trailing him as he led the way to his forest again. As I walked behind him, my feet stopped in an empty field, the weight of my emotions proving too much to bear.
The drought-stricken fields stretched empty before me, vast and brittle under the waning moon, the barren earth a reminder of the life that had been drained from these lands, and how the Elders had forsaken them.
My hands clenched and unclenched as I paced across the dry, cracked ground, the weight of what I’d just learned crashing over me in waves.
The Temple—the Elders—the very people I had pledged my life to, the men and women I had served for years—were at the heart of this. They had betrayed Solaris, betrayed the people they claimed to protect. Betrayed… me.
I stopped in the center of the field, swallowing against the tightness in my throat, the raw, jagged ache in my chest.
It felt as though my entire life had been a lie, a beautiful lie wrapped in the golden sheen of duty, loyalty, and love.
But beneath that veneer was something dark, something twisted, and I couldn’t shake the nauseating feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach.
I had always trusted them, had believed in the Elders and their wisdom. They were the pillars of Solaris, unbreakable and pure—or so I had thought.
I shook my head, trying to keep back the thoughts that assailed me, all the memories that flooded my mind, all the doubts that I’d been struggling with of late—everytime I’d questioned the Elders, the times I’d disagreed with them…
my instincts had been screaming at me, but I had ignored them, too blind to see.
Their betrayal cut deeper than any blade, and I struggled to reconcile the figures I had revered for so long with the cold, calculating manipulators they truly were.
“They used me, Dario,” I said, my voice laced with bitterness. “All those years, all that trust… it was a lie.”
Dario watched me, his dark eyes filled with a quiet intensity. “But now you know the truth.”
“They were willing to sacrifice everything, everyone, to achieve their goals. And I, in my blind faith, almost played right into their hands,” I said bitterly. My breath was coming faster now as I realized just how close I had come to leading Solaris and my people into disaster.
My breath hitched, my pulse pounding in my ears. I sank to the ground, my legs too weak to hold me any longer.
I pressed my hands to my face, trying to block out the world, but all I could feel was the sharp sting of betrayal, cutting deeper with every passing moment.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold onto the pieces of myself that felt like they were shattering, slipping through my fingers.
A sharp, angry sob escaped me, and I buried my hands in the dry dirt.
Before I could stop myself, my hands lit with a soft, white glow. Flames danced around my fingertips, responding to the turmoil inside me, casting shadows on the parched ground around me.
I could feel my power slipping from my control, the energy crackling just beneath the surface, eager to break free, and for a moment, I let it.
I let it surge through me, filling the emptiness within me with crackles and sparkles of light, feeding my anger and letting it burn itself out.
And all the while, Dario said nothing, simply watching as my powers lashed out of control.
“Enjoying the show?” I couldn’t hide the bitterness in my voice, and I didn’t try.
“Hmm.”
Dario’s voice drifted over from the edge of the field, soft and calm.
I turned sharply, the glow around my hands fading as I fought to steady myself. He was leaning against a tree as he watched me, shadows curling around him like a shroud, his dark gaze fixed on me.
Meryn perched on his shoulder, her watchful eyes a mirror of his intensity.
“Why did you stay?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Wanted to gloat?”
He pushed away from the tree, stepping into the faint moonlight, his movements graceful and unhurried. “Just making sure you were alright.”
A surge of irritation flared in my chest, but beneath it was a familiar ache, a quiet, dangerous thrill at his presence. I gritted my teeth, fighting to push it away, to bury it beneath the anger and the hurt.
“Well, I hope you’re satisfied now,” I snapped. “You were right all along. The Elders aren’t what they seem, and I was a fool to believe otherwise.”
Dario stepped closer, his movements slow and deliberate, and though he was still several feet away, it felt like he was much closer.
His gaze never left mine, dark and unreadable, and I could feel the intensity of his presence like a physical thing, wrapping around me like the shadows that always clung to him.
For a moment, I thought he might smirk, might revel in the fact that I had finally come to see things his way.
But instead, he simply inclined his head, his voice quiet. “It’s not satisfaction I feel, Elena. I’d rather you never had to face this truth at all.”
His words cut through the bitterness that had curled tight in my chest, leaving a hollow ache in its place.
I looked away, swallowing hard against the rawness in my throat. “Don’t lie,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “I know you hate the Temple for the way they’ve chased you.”
He stepped closer, his dark gaze fixed on mine, and I could feel the weight of his presence, heavy and all-encompassing, wrapping around me like his shadows.
“Perhaps I wanted you to see the truth,” he admitted, his voice low, almost a murmur. “But not like this. Not when it would break your heart.”
A laugh, bitter and sharp, escaped me.
“Do you think I’m broken now?” I shook my head, my fingers curling into fists as I tried to hold on to the pieces of myself that felt as if they were slipping away. “Maybe I am. Maybe this is what happens when the very foundation of your life is torn out from under you.”
I felt his gaze on me, dark and intense, but there was no trace of satisfaction in his eyes.
Only a quiet, steady presence that felt like a lifeline in the storm raging inside me.
“You’re not broken,” he said softly. “Shaken, maybe. Hurt, betrayed—but not broken.”
The sincerity in his voice, the quiet strength in his words, sent a tremor through me, and I felt my anger waver, my frustration fading beneath the weight of his words.
“Why are you saying this?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Why do you care?”
His gaze held mine, unwavering, and I could feel the intensity of his presence, the unspoken words that lingered between us, heavy and all-consuming.
“Maybe because I know what it feels like to have everything you believed in stripped away,” he murmured, his voice rough, edged with something raw. “And maybe… maybe I don’t want you to face it alone.”
His words cut through the ache in my chest, and for a moment, the weight of it all seemed to lift, replaced by something that was both terrifying and exhilarating, a spark of something that felt like hope.
But then the reality of it crashed over me, the knowledge of who he was, what he was—a creature of darkness, the Shadow King, the very opposite of everything I had ever believed in.
Whatever had happened between us was nothing more than an impulsive moment of recklessness.
I couldn’t turn to him and just throw away my old life. It wasn’t in me to discard my people, no matter what the Elders or the Temple had done.
“You’re the last person I should be turning to,” I whispered, shaking my head as if to dispel the strange, unrelenting pull that drew me toward him.
“Maybe so,” he said, his voice quiet but unwavering. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m here. And that I don’t intend to leave.”
I looked up at him, feeling the weight of his words settle over me. His gaze held mine, steady and unyielding.
He took another step closer, and I felt my breath catch, my pulse quickening as he reached out.
“Elena,” he murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper. “You don’t have to face this alone.” I placed my hand in his, and let him draw me to my feet.
I hesitated, my gaze flickering between his eyes, the unyielding strength in his gaze and the gentleness that softened it.
I felt the pull again, that maddening pull that drew me toward him like a moth to a flame. His darkness called to something inside me—something deep and hidden, something I didn’t fully understand.
For a moment, the world around us seemed to disappear. The forest, the night, the shadows—they all melted away until there was nothing but him, and the way his dark eyes burned into mine.
Before I could think, before I could let the doubts and fears consume me, I reached up, pressing my lips to his in a kiss that was both fierce and desperate, a silent plea for solace, for understanding, for the strength I couldn’t find within myself.
His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close, and I felt the warmth of his embrace, his heart racing against mine in tandem.
There was a dark hunger, an elemental urgency, in the way his mouth opened under my onslaught. I may have started this, but it was Dario who pulled me closer, his shadows swirling around us and meshing us together as if they, too, had been craving me and wanted to swallow me whole.
A tiny moan escaped me, and my hands clutched at his shoulders, hard enough to bruise, but I didn’t care, and neither did Dario.
“Elena,” he murmured in my ear, and then my feet left the ground as his shadows surged, and we were both quite suddenly at the edge of the forest, the bark of a tree rough against my back, a welcome contrast to the feverish hands that roamed my front, cupping my heavy breasts and teasing their points.
His tongue swept into my mouth, stroking and teasing.
I moaned as I squirmed, and Dario’s dark chuckle sounded in my ear, making me shudder.
“Hold still, priestess,” he said teasingly, and the next moment, his shadows caged my wrists and bound my hands up against the tree trunk behind me.
I narrowed my eyes at him, but the next moment, I gasped when he pressed closer, molding our bodies together and making my hips jerk.
He groaned, mouthing my collarbone, and I thrilled at the desperation in his tone.
It was obvious I was not the only one unraveling here.
His fingers trailed down my front, my waist, until they hitched up my robes and drew down my undergarments. I drew him closer with a leg around his waist.
He pressed into me, just as I wanted. I gasped, my hips seeking more of the delicious friction, and then his fingers were on my thigh. His shadows kept me supported so I could wind both my legs around his waist, letting my knees fall open for his questing fingers.
He slid his fingers higher, even as his shadows brushed against my breasts, teasing my nipples and making me moan against him as he drew closer and closer to where we both ached to feel him—
The wind lifted, and the moon came out from behind the clouds. Dario cursed as bits of him went incorporeal, his fingers fading away from my thighs, even as his mouth stayed latched onto my collarbone.
I let out a groan of frustration, and Dario laughed. “Don’t worry, priestess,” he said lightly. “It only means that we have to get…creative.”
I looked up at him. His figure was dappled in the moonlight so that only his face was visible to me, while his right arm, hips, and legs had gone insubstantial.
He leaned closer to me, his hot breath in my ear as he loosened the shadows at my wrists. He brought my hand down, his shadows intertwining with my fingers, guiding my hand lower and lower until my fingers and his shadows sank into my wet heat.
He groaned at the first touch, as did I.
“Do you—do you feel that through your shadows?” I panted.
His answer thrilled me. “ Yes ,” he hissed, nipping at the flesh of my neck.
More shadows burst from his left side to pull my robes apart, and his hungry mouth latched onto a nipple, while a tendril of shadow teased the other, making me buck and cry out, pressing my fingers—and his shadows—deeper inside me.
He shuddered against me, and a smirk curved my lips. It felt good to know that he was as affected by our embrace as I was.
His shadows began to gently guide my fingers, dipping in and out of my body, while he used his left hand to tease the little nub at my entrance that had me gasping and trying to force my hand deeper inside me as I jerked my hips on my fingers, trying desperately to increase the friction.
“And now I’m jealous of your fingers,” he murmured with a laugh.
He pulled my hand out and lifted it to his mouth, smirking as I groaned when he licked my fingers clean, his hot tongue caressing my hand.
His left hand crept down to my entrance, teasing me as he swirled his fingertips in little circles, winding me higher and higher with each stroke.
“I wonder, can you take all of me?” he mused, just before he slid two fingers inside me, even as his shadows teased me further apart to slip inside as well, hard and firm.
When one pulled out, the other thrust in, setting up a rhythm that kept me gasping and off-kilter, before surprising me when both shadow and hand thrust inside at once, stuffing me full and making me let out a gasping moan.
My hands clenched on air and my head fell back against the tree. I saw stars, both from the bruise and the depth of his fingers stroking inside me.
I panted, getting wound tighter and tighter, my breath sparking in my lungs as his shadows surrounded me—flicking my nipples, pinching my breasts, thrusting into my body in time with his thick fingers as he made pleasure spark in my veins, glowing brighter and brighter—
I came with a cry, feeling like someone had let off fireworks under my skin. Dario mashed his mouth to mine messily, drinking in my moans of pleasure and my gasps of release.
When we finally drew apart, breathless and unsteady, he looked down at me, his gaze soft and tender, filled with a quiet, unbreakable promise.
“No matter what, I’m on your side, Elena,” he said softly. “I swear it.”
I believed him.
And for the first time, I felt a glimmer of hope amidst the shadows.