The Dark Prince (The Dark Light Series)(151)
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Air fills my lungs in a rush, so much so that I almost feel high with oxygen. My wide open eyes dart around frantically, looking for any sign of familiarity as my rigid hands grip the slick fabric underneath me. I know this place. The satin comforter, the black and gold motif, the smell of rainwater and fresh linen. I’ve been here before.
Dorian’s suite.
As if he could hear my realization, he’s at my side, cradling my head. “How do you feel?” he asks, concern etched on his troubled face. His blue eyes twinkle in the dim light flooding from the en suite bathroom.
Immediately, my concern goes to my debilitating injuries. I stretch my hand in front of me, expecting to see mangled flesh and bone. It’s perfectly fine, and I wiggle each digit, ensuring full mobility. My hand touches the back of my head. I can feel knots of dried, caked blood yet there is no gash. Not even a touch of soreness where the wound would have been. My lungs and neck feel fine, no trace of labored, shallow breathing. And the pain…it’s gone. I look to Dorian with a puzzled, borderline panicked, look.
“What happened? I was…he had me…I thought,” I stammer, clutching my chest. I realize it’s draped in feather-light silk, not tattered, bloodied rags. “Was it a dream?”
Dorian shakes his head solemnly, grasping my hands in his. His thumb traces small circles around my anchor mark. “No. It wasn’t.”
Fear and confusion grip me, causing Dorian to pull me closer. “What happened to me?” I whisper.
Tension rolls off him in waves and his jaw begins to tick wildly. Though his body has stiffened, his hands are still gentle and calming as they stroke mine. “The Enchanter captured and tortured you. You lost a lot of blood. You suffered several broken bones, including a punctured lung and crushed cervical vertebrae.”
I frown. So it wasn’t a dream. I remember all of those things happening. I felt every broken bone and gaping wound. I could taste and smell the iron of mass amounts of blood loss in the air. I remember my fear and desperation. “But…I’m fine. What happened? How could all of that have happened, yet I’m here with you, unharmed?” I think back to just minutes before, to my vision on the beach of Skiathos. The wind whipping through my white dress. The smell of seawater. The feel of the sun’s golden warmth…
“Oh my God, Dorian,” I say in a horrified whisper. “Am I dead?”
He looks away, avoiding my tear-filled gaze as he battles his own emotions. “You were.”
“And…now?” It suddenly dawns on me that it’s completely dark outside. I try to pull away to stand but Dorian has a firm hold on my hands. “Oh no, what time is it?”
“10pm. The fourteenth.”
So I haven’t ascended. I sigh with relief, but only for a split second. I still don’t know what I am. I don’t even know if I’m still dreaming. Or if I’m… “So I’m not dead?” I choke out, my throat suddenly as dry as chalk. “Is this an illusion?”
Dorian looks back to me, a slight frown puckering his forehead. “No, little girl.”
I open my mouth to speak, the questions bombarding me all at once. I decide to go with the most obvious question. “How?”
He swallows slowly, the movement of his throat captivating my gaze. Then he cups my cheeks with his warm, soft hands. Hands I haven’t felt on my body in way too long. “I felt you. I felt your pain, your fear. It crippled me. That feeling of pure dread filled me, stole my breath, and brought me to my knees. I had to come to you. I had to save you.”
His thumbs brush tiny circles on the apples of my cheeks as he takes a calming breath. His beautiful endless blue eyes freeze over, becoming distant and cold. “I found you just as that bastard crushed your neck in his hands. I heard it, and it was the most terrifying sound I have ever heard. I felt the life slip away from your body. I saw you lying there ghostly white and limp.”
His bottom lip trembles ever so lightly before he sucks it into his mouth, digging his teeth in it and taking a deep breath. “And I did to him what he wanted to do to you. I slaughtered him until he was nothing more than a pathetic speck of dust. I wanted to do more. I wanted everyone he has ever known to suffer. He took away the only thing I cared about. The only person I have ever loved. He took my reason to live.”
A hand brushes away a few tangles that have fallen in my face. “I kneeled over your lifeless body and I sobbed. I felt myself break into a million pieces. Losing you completely shattered me and I wanted to die, Gabriella. I wanted to die with you because living without you isn’t an option for me.”