Chapter Fourteen

C HAPTER F OURTEEN

Darius turns around as the keys unlock the door to his cell and I enter. I slam the door closed behind me and charge up to him, raising an accusatory finger. ‘You’re lying.’

He raises an eyebrow in bemused curiosity like he had not expected me to come back, let alone be in the same cell as him. ‘Beg your pardon?’

‘You tell me that you don’t remember me, and fine, I suppose you do not. Whatever Aurum did to you, he succeeded in removing me from your mind completely, but you lie when you say I am nothing to you.’ I dare to take another step; my eyes alight with confidence. ‘Deep down, you know there is something that you can’t seem to understand when it comes to us. You feel it, but you can’t put your finger on it, and do you want to know why I believe that is the case?’

His eyes narrow, begging me to enlighten him.

‘Because I know you,’ I whisper almost tauntingly, but he doesn’t react – doesn’t even move away from me. ‘You used to tell me I kept myself guarded from everything. That I did not want to show people another side of me because, secretly, I was afraid of the consequences. Yet you are doing that right now. You’re refusing to let yourself remember because you know that if you do, all the bad and all the worst moments in your life will come back.’ I have hardly done anything, but somehow I am breathless as I stare him down.

Now is when I imagine it can go either way. He attacks me again, or he lets me be.

Instead, a slow smile spreads across his face. A smile that can melt away ice and damn anyone who witnesses how beautiful it is. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you have wonderful golden hair?’

I take a step back, feeling like I am now suffocating. ‘Yes.’ I frown, much to his amusement. My throat burns with all sorts of sensations, not expecting him to say that of all things. ‘ You have. Many times.’

He purses his lips and hums. ‘Have I now?’ His smile grows deeper and flirtier. His old self. ‘What else have I supposedly said or done?’

‘That you love the night.’

He nods. ‘I do.’

Suddenly, it feels like before – like the games we always played. ‘You also learned how to bake.’ I don’t realise I am taking a few steps closer to him until my chest brushes against his shirt. ‘Pies mostly, since they are my favourite.’

I feel his murmur against the top of my head.

‘Interesting,’ he says.

I glance up at him. ‘You have also always struggled to sleep on beds, due to the childhood you had with your stepfather. In fact, the first time you laid on one was while I was with you. You treated it like a delicate animal, unsure of how to position yourself.’ I forgot how much I craved being with him, being so close to him now that the scent of rosewood fills up my lungs. My hands ache to touch him as they flex at my sides. ‘You’re annoyingly playful and far too vain, but you are also thoughtful . . . compassionate. You care for everyone but yourself, and when I wanted to hate you, I couldn’t.’

The tiniest bit of recognition rips through the gold threads of his eyes and hope kindles like a fire inside my chest, only for it to die out as he looks over my shoulder at someone else.

‘Lorcan,’ he says, surprised. ‘Now, I don’t recall you being alive.’

I glance back as Lorcan and Gus stand outside the cell, waiting for me.

‘In fact,’ Darius tilts his head, ‘I thought I killed you?’

What?

My head spins as I look at Darius. His eyes are on Lorcan, narrowed and full of wicked amusement.

‘That night at the cottage, you died along with your father,’ he says. ‘I left you to burn in that fire.’

Whatever Aurum has said to Darius, he now believes in another story.

The idea that Aurum might have utilised Merati powers to make Darius forget how much the night Rayth died affected him makes me sick to my stomach.

And when Gus says, ‘Nara, come on, let’s go,’ I hesitate to follow him.

Darius’s fingers wrap around my arm, and I instinctively turn to him. ‘Nara,’ he says thoughtfully. ‘Your name is Nara?’

I struggle to get my words out as I nod, but all I want to say is Yes, remember me, please, please, please remember me .

The sound of an unsheathed sword makes Darius’s gaze break away from me, and I beg for it to return.

‘No need to draw any weapons, Lorcan.’ Darius cocks an eyebrow; his hand is still holding my arm too tightly, as if he does not want to let go just yet. ‘I’m not going to kill her.’

Something finally snaps inside of me, and I yank my arm free from his touch as I glower. ‘You already tried once.’ To prove it, I tilt my chin slightly to show him my neck. There are no bruises, thanks to Gus giving me his blood, but the memory is still there. The hatred and unfamiliarity in his eyes as he strangled me.

‘Yes, well.’ Darius’s eyes land on my neck, sweeping over the length of it. ‘Apologies for that. Although you did try to harm the king of Emberwell.’ His tone is clipped, and I stare at him, so shocked to hear him say something like that. The king of Emberwell. Aurum is no king.

You are supposed to be, Darius.

‘You’re not yourself,’ Lorcan says behind me.

Darius’s eyes flicker his way. ‘Neither are you.’ He seems to be watching Lorcan closer this time. ‘What are you?’

‘Your brother,’ I snap. ‘He is your brother, and you never killed him. You could never, even when he might have wanted to kill you .’

Darius’s eyes slowly make their way back to me, but by then, I’ve already turned around to leave. And as soon as Gus lets me out of the cell, I look towards Darius again. My breath halts and my eyes become heavy with hurt as he doesn’t once turn away from my gaze.

I barely notice Lorcan grabbing the keys from my hand until he slams the cell door shut and twists the key to lock it.

‘What are you doing?’ I hiss out a whisper and catch his wrist.

‘He tried to attack the Aerians, Nara,’ Gus answers instead. ‘Do you really think we can let him roam freely?’

I begin to protest. ‘But keeping him locked away—’

‘Don’t worry about me, Goldie.’ The name has my head turning at an alarming rate.

Goldie.

Darius doesn’t realise the effect the nickname has on me. It’s as if it came naturally to him. He scans the cell with a shrug before fixing his gaze on me. ‘Like you said, not the first time I’ve been locked up.’ His grin tells me he’s teasing and messing around, but I hate knowing the truth to it all.

I struggle to leave him here. Gus is touching my shoulder, trying to get me to leave, and at last I shrug him away as I storm off, hearing the dragging of Lorcan and Gus’s boots behind me.

‘Tell everyone to gather in the common room tomorrow mid-morning.’ I say the order without looking back. ‘We have much to discuss.’