Kissed by a Dark Prince(48)

“Olivia?” Loren whispered and she dashed away the tears lining her lashes. “Are you feeling unwell?”

She nodded. She hadn’t felt right since the night she had fallen into a parallel world full of monsters and mayhem.

She didn’t want to think about it so she focused on Loren and his brother, locking away the memories of her one.

Loren moved closer to her, his proximity comforting her, stealing away some of her pain.

“Tell me... what happened to make you go to war with your own brother?” She stared down at his hands on the bed, pale against the purple sheets, afraid to look at him because she feared she would give in to her need to feel his arms around her if she did. She wanted to lose herself in him and forget everything, even if it could only be for a handful of hours.

Her gaze betrayed her and drifted up his arms, and she pulled it back to his hands. It was strange to see him in a shirt and jeans, and the long coat. They didn’t suit him at all.

He shifted again and heaved a sigh.

“Vail had been away with his legion of our army, scouting the borders of our lands that join it to the area we know as the free realm. Many different species live there, with no one king or queen to rule them. He sent back word stating that he had found something and he couldn’t wait to show me.” Loren’s deep voice held a sombre note and Olivia felt his pain. She reached out and placed her hand over his, hoping to give him some comfort, knowing what it was like to think back to happier times that were now tainted by one terrible moment of darkness. Loren shifted his hand beneath hers, moving it so their palms pressed together and his fingertips grazed her wrist. “Months later, the remains of the legion returned, a young Bleu amongst them. Many of them were savagely injured and I feared my brother dead until Bleu and other men had the courage to speak out, revealing that it was Vail who had turned on them. They said he had become crazed by the presence of a magic bearer.”

“Kordula,” Olivia said. “His ki’ara.”

Loren nodded. “I believe their completed bond triggered this change within him.”

She lifted her eyes to his and saw in them that he also believed that if he completed his bond with her, that he would follow his brother into madness.

Loren looked away, turning his noble profile to her and staring at one of the arched windows lining the dark stone wall behind her. “I dispatched my finest soldiers to track and capture Vail, but he fought and slew them all before disappearing. Over the centuries after that, he attacked other kingdoms, mainly the demon ones, bringing their wrath down upon my kingdom and my people. The number of my kind dwindled, our might diminished, and I was kept busy trying to carve out peace with the kingdoms who wanted to see me dead and my people destroyed.”

“That’s terrible.” Olivia brushed her fingers against his palm and felt his shiver race through her. “You never stopped trying to save him though.”

He shook his head. “No. I searched for him whenever I could, and fought him close to every other century, always failing to capture him. The council grew weary of my desire to imprison Vail rather than kill him, and I reluctantly agreed to seek my brother’s head in our next battle. I have to put the safety and wellbeing of my people before my own desires.”

Loren’s purple gaze filled with weariness that she could feel in him. The constant war against his brother had drained him and now all he had were tainted memories and a heart filled with regrets.

He didn’t even have his fated female.

He was giving her up too. She could see it now. He was placing his people before his own desires, and that meant sacrificing his one ki’ara and his brother.

Her heart ached for him and she curled her fingers around his hand, squeezing it gently, trying to show him that she was here even if she couldn’t understand what he was going through. He was giving it all up for his people. It made her feel cold, and sorry for him.

He had been alone for millennia and now this council of his and his own sense of duty to his people had him cementing that loneliness, seeking to shatter the bond with her and destroy his brother.

“Loren,” she started but he slipped his hand from under hers and stood.

“Rest, Olivia. I will take you home by nightfall.” He turned his back on her, blue and purple light flashed over his body and he disappeared.

She was beginning to tire of his tendency to do that but she couldn’t blame him for running away from her whenever things got too intense for him. He was trying to save himself from suffering more than he already was.

Olivia pulled her leg closer and stared at the spot where he had sat beside her, holding her hand and taking her comfort, until she had dared to voice the feeling in her heart.