Dark Promise by Annika West

33

Light poured into my eyeballs like acid.

“Owww,” I moaned. My throat was scratchy too. And my nose was filled with snot and soot. My arms ached too.

“Oh gods, she’s awake.”

Warm hands brushed my damp forehead.

“Aster,” Hux said. It was a soft word, but my eyes flew open.

He sounded… scared.

He looked furious.

His teeth were bared. He was breathing hard. Blood soaked his hands and flushed beneath his skin, as if he’d just worked out.

“Why are you channeling a feral dog right now? And did someone roll me down a mountain of glass or something?” I asked.

Groggy and throbbing with pain, I tried to sit up.

Hux held me down. “Let the healing rune and potions do their work.”

“Healing rune? Hux, what happened to me?”

The memories poured in.

Waking up.

Elona.

Her plan.

The snake.

I gasped. “That bitch tried to eat me!”

Ignoring Hux and sitting up, I stared down at my body.

I was… covered in blood.

There were four people in my room.

Adair, Oz, Willow, and Hux.

Everyone looked freaked out.

Oz was trying to cover it by yawning and flashing me a cocky smile, but he was fidgeting too much for it to be real. Willow attempted to look bored, but she was covered in sweat and had really red cheeks.

Adair just looked pissed. Stoic and quiet and pissed in a lacy sleep shirt with those puffy sleeves.

“You weren’t waking up,” Hux stated, like that was everything I needed to know.

I winced and lifted my forearm. A long, wicked gash followed up the soft flesh, connecting wrist to elbow.

Now that I was waking up, I noticed that my face hurt. There were little burn marks on my legs.

Did he do this?

Hux made some frustrated noise and scooped me up gently. “Move,” he barked and carried me into the bathroom.

The door slammed hard behind us.

He set me down gently on the sink and turned on the faucet for the tub.

I was too dumbstruck and shaken to talk, so I babbled and told him about the experience with Elona. Everything she said about my father. All of the things she insinuated and claimed.

And then the snake part. I even told him how scared I felt, and you know what?

I don’t often admit to being that scared. Especially when that fear is paired with complete powerlessness.

No one likes being backed into the corner with literally no way out. That’s what being with Elona was like.

After I was done with my word-vomit, I asked, “Why am I bleeding? Was I sleeping that whole time?”

“Adair explained that Elona is the Lady of the Autumn Court. She deals in dreams. That’s one of her powers, at least. She can pull you into her awareness, and if you willingly touch her, your body will instantly follow and appear beside hers. In reality.”

I shivered. “Creepy.”

That’s why she kept trying to hold my hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his back to me.

“For what?”

“Adair felt the magic emanating from the ballroom. After he and the Spring Court guards and killed the wraith, we carried you back here when he recognized Elona’s power working on you. He said that you either had to pull out of it yourself, or we had to stimulate you out of your dream. It takes incredible training to be able to combat Elona’s powers, so he suggested the burning. The knife. Willow smacked your face a few times in the beginning, but since that didn’t work, I took over.”

He whirled, the rune on his chest shining so bright. “I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you. The burns. The blood. The mating bond fought me at every moment…”

The bleeding had mostly stopped. My healing rune had kicked in, and even my tired eyes were normalizing again. “What are mates for? If you ever needed a nice candle to the skin, I’d definitely insist on being the one to do it.”

The words flew out of my mouth. My nervous system was still in such complete shock that my already nearly nonexistent filter was now in another dimension.

He lifted me up and carried me into the bath.

With him.

“Wait,” I said, squirming.

“If you know what’s good for you, allow me this.”

I shouldn’t give in like he wanted me to. I had to push him away. Be angry with him, because he still hadn’t shown any intention of fixing things or letting me out of being an I.E.

None of it was okay.

But then Hux rested his huge hand on my head and guided me against him.

The hot bath stung my healing burns. I sucked in a breath through my teeth while Hux stroked my hair.

Still, I didn’t have the strength to deny him.

Not with the wounded, guilty look in his eyes.

Damn immortal needed to be comforted after hurting me. If that wasn’t ironic, I didn’t know what was.

A teensy, tiny part of me informed myself that I, too, needed some comfort. But I promptly locked that part up in a nice little wooden treasure box and told it the shut the fuck up while I enjoyed how Hux felt against me.

Relying on him was costing me. A strange kind of fear worked its way up my throat.

I literally… needed him.

How scary was that?

I didn’t need anyone beyond my parents. Solitary living wasn’t for nothing.

It was protection. Insulation.

If I was alone, no one could really touch me.

“You’re upset,” Hux said.

“Of course I am, you idiot.”

“About?”

I groaned into his solid chest.

He pulled me closer against him and brushed a finger down my spine. “Is that water warm enough?”

“Yup.”

“Your wounds are healing.”

“Mhmmm.”

“Elona can’t get you here.”

Worry clawed up my chest. I didn’t want to think of what would have happened if I’d been devoured. “She doesn’t exactly knock before coming in, Overlord. We don’t know if she’ll try it again. Or if you can torture me awake again.”

“I’ll make sure of your safety, Aster.”

“You really expect me to believe that.”

He shifted me up, pulling my legs open and settling them over his hips. Not an ounce of hesitation or shame was in that open expression. “Why in the fuck wouldn’t you? What indication have I given to make you believe I’d ever risk your life?”

“We hunt for artifacts.”

“Are you a helpless kitten who can’t protect herself, even with a team at her back?”

Okay, he got me there.

“You trapped me with you.”

“Yes, I did. I also already told you how I considered giving you up to Gavin Hawk at the police station. However, that never happened. I took the actions that would keep you the safest, despite what I’d done to get you there.”

It was the closest admission I’d ever gotten. “That’s all?” I asked.

“That’s all.”

“Nothing else to add?” Like an I’m sorry, Aster, I was wrong to do that shit to you. Please, accept my begging as I’m on my knees.

I yelped as Hux’s arms lifted and he shifted me to lay against him again. “Rest, Aster. Rest now and kick my ass in the morning. Neither of us have the strength for this conversation.”

Hating myself for needing this, I tucked myself closer and held him, too. “I hope your ass is ready in the morning. But what are the protections in place?”

Do not notice his hand on your lower back, Aster King II. You are stronger than that. Mind over matter. Act like you’ll be rewarded an entire cheesecake if you go the next fifteen minutes without imagining ridiculously mouth-watering sex with the man beneath you.

Thank the gods of bathtubs that I still had pajamas on, and he kept on his pants.

He said, “They don’t have witches here for runes or spells, but they do have their own form of protective magic. He employs staff with innate abilities. They can cast the necessary spells and mix certain potions. Herbs and plants with special properties will be placed around your room for an extra layer, and you’ll wear a talisman around your neck to ward off her gift. She’s far away, and that distance will continue to help us.”

“What if she gets closer?”

“Adair will take it as an official declaration of war, and he claims she wouldn’t want that, though there’s no way to tell why.”

Considering this for a few minutes, I finally said, “One of her goals, if she was telling the truth, was to keep Faery how it is. She kinda seemed to like the fact that there’s been peace in the land. But then again, this is coming from the woman who tried to eat me.”

Hux’s grip tightened slightly. His exhale was shaky. “You do know that I pride myself on my level head and self-control, do you not?”

“Yes. Except when you’re sexually frustrated,” I said. “You do tend to corner me when your cute little predatory instincts get triggered.”

“Besides that,” he dismissed. “If you were taken again, I think I would have burned all of Faery down to get to you. I’m not sure I would have been able to think straight. I likely would have gotten killed in the process.”

I scoffed. “No, you wouldn’t have.”

He didn’t reply.

Stunned, I pushed myself up again. “No, you wouldn’t!”

He looked… miserable. “The unfettered, panicked rage I’d felt when you’d gone to Faery was terrifying for me, Aster. I was completely out of my own control. The only thing keeping me sane was knowing that you’d gone willingly. I’d known that. And still… I’d acted in such a way…”

He glanced to the side, guilty.

“It was that bad?” I asked thickly. My voice wasn’t really coming out right.

“It was,” he affirmed. “Though I don’t say this to inspire guilt. I simply wanted…” He shook his head, frustrated. “My instincts urged me to capture your parents and threaten their lives to force you to return.”

“Holy fuck, Huxley Cayne —”

“But, I understood that was an improper and barbaric route that would ultimately cause infinite harm, and absolutely no good.”

We held each other’s gazes for a hot minute.

Unimpressed, I drawled, “If you think I’m going to congratulate you for the bare minimum of not killing my parents and blackmailing me, I’m fucking thrilled to disappoint you.”

He was shaking his head. “I am not asking that, either. Aster… I want to be someone you trust. Fully. Not just in matters of life or death. But in your heart, and your…”

The struggle for words was clear in his expression. His mouth kept parting, and then closing again. He shifted once, and his jaw ticked.

Wow. He was at a loss for words?

“You can tell me anything, you know,” I commented, trying to keep it really casual. But I was deadly curious about what he wanted to say.

But Hux was already gone. The vulnerable, uncertain Hux was cleanly tucked away behind the smooth CEO expression.

Damn. He lost it.

“You’re tired,” he stated. “I should leave you to your bath.”

Then, for the second time in history, he abandoned me in a tub, giving me all the space and time to twist myself into knots of confusion.

I suck at being vulnerable. No denying it.

But Hux had full-on concrete walls around his more sensitive sides. The parts that were afraid.

He didn’t struggle with showing me affection or praise. He didn’t mind sharing how much he cared about me.

But he was afraid of something bigger. And whatever it was had the strength to break us for good.