Tasting Darkness
Tempting Darkness Chapter 17

Lycus hesitates, then snatched the vial from Darius. He sniffs it before passing it to Tobias, who does the same. He purses his l!ps but nods to Darius, who then stabs the needle in my thigh. I felt nothing. It made me wonder why this time I was paralyzed or if it was a side effect of him hurting my bond because he had stolen my magic plenty of times before and it never affected me like this.

“Did you give her back her magic?” Tobias asked, leaning over me. All I could do was stare at him. I wished I could speak their anger toward Darius though warranted was upsetting Kalen, and I could feel the darkness swirling in him. The depressiveness of it tainting him, and it scared me. I knew how low he could get, and their anger was not helping him. “She wouldn’t take it back,” Darius murmured, and the guilt on his face was clear as he looked at Kalen, who smiled sadly, sweeping my hair back over my shoulder before laying his head beside mine on the pillow. Yet as the day turned to night, Darius moved toward the couch and slept on it.

Yet as the bond awoke more I felt Darius’s guilt, felt Kalen’s anguish, and Tobias and Lycus’s anger. All of them. And it made me realize how broken they all were, just like my bond was. I hated the feelings they invoked, hated how they all felt.

I suddenly hated being their keeper because the yearning I had inside to fix it was almost unbearable, and part of me knew some things weren’t forgivable. However despite that, I knew forgiveness was what Darius needed, what Kalen wanted and what the other two refused to give.

My bond hated that Darius hurt it, yet couldn’t hang onto the anger because it needed Darius just as much as the others. And Tobias and Lycus’ hate towards Darius only seemed to bother Kalen. All of them, as they kept stirring all night.

But as time slipped by the more my movement returned, until eventually I rolled myself over as I felt Kalen climb out of bed. Sitting up, I heard him muttering to himself, pacing the room, when I realized Darius was no longer asleep on the couch. Kalen was pacing the room and muttering in his sleep, almost as if he was searching for something.

Recognition hits me moments later, and this was the darkest part of Kalen returning and the darkness that trapped him.

Climbing out of bed, I move toward him and wave my hands in front of his face, but it was as if he couldn’t see me despite looking directly at me. It took my bond only moments to recognize he was seeking out Darius as he usually did and I glanced at the door, wondering if I should search for him.

It was still late at night, so I assumed he went to sleep in the other room. Moving toward the door Ryze, who I hadn’t noticed was perched on the windowsill, flew over to me, he pecked at the door by my feet and I opened the bathroom door and walked through to my old room. The moment I pushed the door open, Ryze waddled over to Darius’s bed and jumped on it.

He rubbed his beak on his cheek and earning a swat from Darius, who was snoring softly. Ryze bit his finger, making Darius lurch upright just as I reached the side of the small bed. “F*ck off, birdbrain!” Darius growls, reaching for the lamp. He turns it on and rubs his eyes, and Ryze squawked at him climbing up his chest and Darius g****s.

He huffs before realizing I was standing on his other side. Darius jumps and Ryze rubs his beak over his stubble, his snake-like split tongue licking him. It was odd seeing Ryze get along with Darius. Or maybe stranger yet, was that Ryze seemed to like him. “Aleera?” Darius whispered, he looked toward the door I came in before looking at me.

“Kalen is sleepwalking,” I tell him, chewing the inside of my cheek. Darius sighs but tosses the blankets back. Ryze jumps off him and jumps along the floor toward the other room ahead of us. I watch as Darius reaches for a shirt that hangs over the back of the armchair in boo here, he tugs it on before staring at me.

“Are the others awake?” he asked, and I shook my head. “No, I could tell he is looking for you,” I tell Darius, and he nods, walking ahead of me. He moved into the room and I noticed Ryze perched on the windowsill again. I pet his feathers and he coos softly as I watch Darius. His hands glow as he runs them up Kalen’s arms, letting Kalen feel his magic. His muttering instantly stops. Darius gets him to climb back in bed next to Lycus, who instantly rolls, tugging Kalen closer and Darius turns to head back to his room.

“You need to stay, Darius. Kalen isn’t alright. He will only wake again when you leave,” I tell him. It was odd speaking to him. My bond craved him, yet my voice was oddly calm. Darius pauses and watches Kalen for a second. “You know I didn’t mean to hurt him or you?” Darius asks and I nodded, looking at Kalen before looking back at him.

“You leaving will hurt him,” I tell him, motioning toward the bed. “But does me staying hurt you?” “You already did that Darius. You can’t hurt me more than you already have.” I tell him. And I don’t think anything would feel as pained as my bond did unless one of them died. “Aleera, I…

” I shake my head. “I know it wasn’t you. I could see that. But whatever you’re hiding won’t remain hidden, Darius. We all have secrets, and me not marking you won’t stop me from figuring them out. But for now, get in the 5 figuring them out. But for now, get in the bed. Your mate needs you,” I tell him.

“Some secrets are best kept a secret,” Darius says. “Like you being a dark harmony fae?” I asked. “You heard us?” I nodded. “I wish it was only that,” he murmurs. “What did my father do to you?” I asked, remembering the cast. “Your father did nothing. I did it,” he answers while watching me. I could tell he hoped I would drop it but I pushed wanting to know, needing to know something to set my mind at ease. “You did what?” I asked. “You don’t want to know,” “I do want to know. You think you can scare me away? But you can’t. You think you can break me? You can’t

. Is it because you think I won’t forgive you for what you have done? Because you’re wrong. If Kalen sees the good in you and they do, what makes you think I won’t forgive whatever it is you did? The bond won’t allow me to hate you, so what are you so afraid of?” “You don’t hate me for what I did to Kalen?” he asks. I swallowed and I looked away. “I hate what you did. But I know it wasn’t you. And Kalen doesn’t hate you for it either. So no, I don’t hate you,” “That will change,” Darius says, pressing his l!ps in a line. “Why? Because you helped create the plague?” I asked. It was the only thing that made sense.

The people in lab coats, the b***d tests, the torture he endured. He shakes his head. “I didn’t just help make the plague. I killed the white fae, Aleera. I was the one who unleashed it.” Darius tells me. My brows furrow because he was only a child. There was no way he could have unleashed the plague.

“Is that what you wanted to hear? Can you forgive that? Knowing I killed the Fae?” “You didn’t kill the Fae,” I tell him. “You say that now. Your father was a monster for what he did to me. But even still, it doesn’t compare to what I have done.”

“And you let your recruits think my 0x0 PROKLY father started the plague?” Darius looks away guiltily. “Do they know you helped?” I asked, and he shook his head. “And if I told them?” “They would try to kill me for it. Probably try to kill our mates,” he answers, watching me. Yet I knew Darius wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt them. But it made me wonder if I did tell, if he would kill me for risking them, not that I would because I didn’t believe he had unleashed the plague seeing as he was a boy when the first wave hit.

.”Then it’s a good thing I know how to keep a secret,” I tell him, motioning toward the bed. He looks at it and confusion crosses his features. “You would still have me, knowing that?” I chuckle at his words. “You four are all I have. Nothing you’re hiding will change that. I will keep your secret, Darius,” he seemed confused as to why I would after everything. “What do you want?” he asked cautiously.

“I want you to get in the bed,” I tell him. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “That’s it?” he asks. “That’s it Darius,” I tell him and he chews his l!p nervously while looking at Kalen before he nods, walking past me and climbing in behind Kalen and I sigh. I would replace out what he was hiding, but as much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t.

Not after what I saw in the lab. Not after seeing the darkness that resided in him. The torment so similar to the darkness that swirled in Kalen. I climbed in beside him, tugging the blankets up. I drape my arm across his waist and Kalen’s melting into his back and he sighed. “I don’t hate you, Darius. I just don’t understand you,” I tell him. He says nothing, yet my bond relaxes, feeling all our mates close and feeling Kalen’s bond relax. The darkness inside him easing off.