Chapter 19 #2
Glimpses of the nightmares that had plagued me whenever Vega touched me lifted from the recesses of my mind, but I pushed them back down.
His eyes fell on me before he continued.
“Although, it was said that most, if not all, that went through the torture of having their minds waded through didn’t live to speak on it long.
It left them dead, or worse, insane, a walking corpse some would later write.
” Raiden’s brow rose as his onyx eyes sank into me.
“Which leads me to the question of, how exactly did Cora save you from that type of magic, Cedar?”
Both of their eyes were now on me—one filled with concern and one filled with caution.
“She… she used some sort of blood magic to link us. She was able to project herself in the room and tap into Vega’s magic somehow…
I do not understand, Raiden, don’t ask me to fully explain.
Chunks of time are missing, some things are blurry, more dreamlike than reality.
I just know that she almost killed Vega with whatever she did, in turn leaving the female unable to interrogate anyone else for the remainder of my time there.
It’s because of her that I believe we’ll be able to go back and rescue Oren. ”
“Are you sure he’s still alive?” Raiden asked.
Nodding, I added, “Yes. I spoke with him just before you arrived.”
“I’ll reach out to my contacts. See if we can obtain a confirmation and go from there. I want everyone else here before we go any further into this conversation. I also need to send word to Paine. Let him know you’re home.”
“Of course. I’d like to go get cleaned up, and get some food before we continue anyway.”
“That’s fine. We’ll update the others on what we’ve learned so far and reconvene after the sun rises,” Silvana replied, slipping into her leadership role perfectly. I nodded once more and rose to my feet, walking from the room before anyone else could stop me or question me about anything more.
My mind was exhausted. It’d been a great many years since I’d done this much emotional work—hiding my feelings, burying them before they could overpower me. I’d forgotten just how much work it used to take. That was before I’d met Silvana, before I had someone I could trust and confide in.
As I walked up the stairs towards my room, my emotions swirled in my gut, my thoughts deeper than I wished them to be, I’d almost forgotten about the fact that the curvy brunette had been led up to my room.
But as I pushed open the door, there she was.
Standing in the window as her gaze took in the landscape around the manor.
I’d no idea how long she’d been there, but as I approached her, my hand finding its way around her throat as I pushed her back against the wall, I found I didn’t care for any of that knowledge at this moment.
I just wanted her. Her touch. Her scent. Her blood.
“Tell me when this blood magic will end and I’ll have my mind back to myself,” I growled as I ran my fangs over the porcelain skin of her neck. I could feel her heart racing beneath my fingertips and the sound was something I heard even in my dreams now.
Fuck, I hated it.
She took up more space in my brain than I was willing to give up any longer.
When she said nothing in reply, just stared at me with those wide, deep never-ending blue eyes of hers, I felt my hand squeeze tighter around her neck. “Do I have to kill you for it to stop, Cora? End your life once and for all to ensure the need for you dissipates?”
I could feel her attempting to shake her head no, but I just squeezed harder the more she tried.
“I’m not this person, Cora. This violent, havoc-wreaking male.
I save women like you. I rescue them and help them get their lives back.
Yet with you? All I can think about is how much easier everything would be if it would all just stop. Do you understand?”
Her hand came up, wrapping around my wrist, and a shock of magic ran up my arm, and across my chest, until I was forced to release her, staggering backwards across the room. I watched as both of us stood, gazes locked, chests heaving.
“Fuck you, Cedar!” she yelled, her delicate hand coming up to rub along her throat.
“You didn’t have to save me. You could have left me there to rot and came back to your family.
I would’ve been just fine. I didn’t ask for this.
You did.” I watched as her cheeks turned a light pink and her fingers grazed across her now discolored neck.
“And maybe this bond would cease to exist if you stayed the fuck away from me! Stop biting me! Stop touching me! Just… stop!”
The chuckle that escaped me wasn’t lost on either of us—the isolation insanity peeking through the edges. My inability to communicate through these feelings festering beneath my skin was becoming clear to everyone around us.
Especially her.
“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, this time her voice lowered, almost at a whisper. Intimate and confused.
I shook my head, the high of the insanity coming to a crash.
“I couldn’t leave you there, Cora. I owed you.
Maybe it was whatever blood magic I know you did to tie us together.
Maybe you were just a warm hole I couldn’t let go of.
Either way, I couldn’t leave you in that place, only to come home and look into your sister's eyes.” Shoulders shrugging, I walked out of the room. The door slamming behind me.
Looking at the disappointment in her eyes wasn’t on my list of desires this evening. I’d find somewhere else to bathe and eat.