Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Keeran watched as Aelia vanished into the darkness, staring long after she’d disappeared.
When it was clear she wasn’t coming back, he spun with a carnal roar, sending his fist flying into the nearby stone wall.
It went right through it, sending fragments of stone crashing into the grass.
He shook the dust from his fist and closed his eyes, trying desperately to control the seething rage that threatened to take over him.
With an almighty battle, he wrestled the beast within him back into its cage, where it threw itself against its constraints. It wanted to take off after her, both protective and wrathful in equal amounts. She’d left him. She’d worked out what he was, and she’d bolted.
He dropped his head into his hands, wishing he could erase the way her face had paled the moment she’d realised what he was. A beast from times gone by, the tyrants her people had struggled under.
And what had he done? Had he explained why he was doing what he was doing calmly and concisely? No, he’d fucked up royally, choosing instead to make it seem as though he was some revenge-obsessed vigilante.
Which he was. But not in the way he’d made himself out to be.
He dropped his hands in exasperation, wishing he could rewind time and start again, explaining everything to her properly.
The Dragons had fucked up, causing a war that spanned decades, decimating whole families as the twin princes fought for the throne. It was a ludicrous situation. Even as a child, Keeran was aware of the madness of it.
But the night that their people had turned on them had been the night his guardian had been about to seize the throne.
How different Demuto would have been with Khaled and his unit in power.
They were one of the few who still maintained control over the darkness all Dragons battled with, and they could have brought the rest of their people back.
Instead, Khaled’s mate had been murdered, shattering the man he’d been permanently, leaving a shadow of what he had been.
If only the artemians had conspired with those who were still good, still honourable, the world would be a much better place. And that’s what really pissed Keeran off. That they’d chosen to poison and murder all of them, irrespective of who they were. That was what he couldn’t forgive.
But he hadn’t said any of that to Aelia. He hadn’t emphasised how he wasn’t like the Dragons of the war. Khaled had taught him discipline, taught him how to rise above their baser instincts.
His eyes landed on the pile of stone he’d just punched his fist through. Well, he tried to rise above them, anyway. Admittedly, it had got a whole lot harder since he’d met her.
Keeran scooped up a small rock and threw it in the air, watching it tumble over on itself before catching it again. He kept throwing it, needing something to focus on to stop him from tearing after her.
The creature in him bared its teeth at the thought, urging him to do just that.
“As if you haven’t done enough,” he said aloud, shoving back at the beast with enough anger to send it slamming into the walls of his consciousness. It picked itself up, obsidian eyes gleaming, but it stayed silent.
His throat bobbed as he looked over at the wall he’d lifted Aelia onto, his eyelids sliding shut as he remembered what he’d done to her. What they’d done to her.
He’d lost control again, losing himself to that coercive, overbearing, domineering bullshit. What must she be thinking? No wonder she’d run from him. From them.
Keeran let the rock roll from his fingers, his heart so heavy it dragged his shoulders down into a slouch.
His actions had sent her careening through the night, in lands full of thieves and the Astraea, and here he was sitting pretty, waiting for her to return.
Fuck that.
Keeran squared his shoulders and stalked out of the ruined farmstead to the open grassland beyond. When he was clear, he Shifted, taking the form of nightmares, of winged death. He didn’t hesitate, launching himself into the sky and climbing high.
She said she’d wanted space, so she could have it, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to watch her from the skies to make sure she was safe. Besides, what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.