Chapter 69: Tasting Darkness By Jessicahall Chapter 69

Darius POV My mind was spinning as I held the hellhounds off. One stupid mistake nearly cost her life; I never should have taken her out of the castle grounds without the others. I was most shocked that she could have drained me of my power and portaled out and ran, leaving me, but she stayed to protect me. I knew something was off about her, but never in my wildest dreams did I think she was harmony Fae and elemental on top of that; not for one second did I ever entertain that idea, she shouldn’t exist.

Aleera would be a lethal weapon if appropriately trained.

Why would she keep it from us? We would have protected her. However, it made so much sense now why her parents tried to kill her.

“Aleera, stay with me, love,” I called to her when my magic faltered when I was hit with a blast of air. My eyes scanned my surroundings as my flame wall suddenly encased us, and I barely covered her body with mine in time to stop the flames from burning her before reinforcing them stronger.

Come on Tobias, where are you? I thought just before I felt the shudder of him close; Lycus’s presence also felt near as my mark stopped burning, Kalen not here, and I wondered what they did to subdue him to force him to remain home. I knew that man would walk through fire for her. We all would.

Whimpers and shouting could be heard all around, yet the shudder against m y shield as they bounced off it told me if I dropped it, they would get to her.

“Tobias behind you,” Lycus called out before I heard him grunt. Panic made me drop the shield to find him fighting with the man from town, the same man that walked out in front of my car. The vicious snarl as the hellhound lunged at us, ripping me back to my surroundings and the fact I dropped the shield.

My body covers Aleera’s head to shield her, expecting its teeth claws any second before hearing the fierce sounds of flesh being ripped from bone and mighty furious roar.

Lycus’ giant wolf gripped its neck in his powerful jaws, ripping the hellhound back at the last second and slamming it on the ground before he shook his head, ripping out the beast’s throat and spraying himself and me in blood. Looking around, I noticed he and Tobias had taken out the others, and the only person left was the man Tobias was fighting. Fool to try to sneak up o n him would have been smarter if he ran. Tobias plunged his hand in through the man’s chest, his entire body became engulfed in flames. His screams drilled my ears.

“Idiot,” I mutter, thinking his puny air magic was any match for a fire user. Tobias rips his hand out, leaving his burning corpse to fall at his feet. The hellhounds put up more of a fight.

Tobias runs over to us. Lycus’ big black wolf comes over, sniffing and licking my face. I push his head away, lifting my body from Aleera’s unconscious one. He sniffs her, licks her cheek, and nudges her before whimpering when she doesn’t wake. Tobias comes over and runs his hand down Lycus’s back.

“She will be okay. Let us get her home,” Tobias tells him, and Lycus whines while I bundle her up in my arms. Blood trickled from her nose, ears, and eyes from using my magic. The amount she used told me she had never harnessed that much at once. Being an elemental, magic should come easy to her unless she hadn’t used it. Tobias walks over to the car on its roof, and Lycus shifts back, going to give him a hand as he pushes it back on its wheels. The car banged and bounced as it was turned back upright.

“She has definitely seen better days,” Tobias mutters at my ruined car before he pushes it off t o the side of the road. Lycus retrieves the stuff from the boot and our belongings from the vehicle.

“Yep, need another one now,” Lycus hums.

“The car is replaceable. Lives aren’t,” I tell them, and they nod before Lycus flicks his fingers a tit, setting it alight. Tobias opens a portal, and I groan as I stagger toward it with Aleera in my arms. Tobias comes to take her from me, but I pull away, not willing to let her go, and he looks at me questionably.

“She saved my life. She could have run, but she didn’t,”

“Goes to show how wrong you were about our girl then,” Tobias chuckles.

“We were all wrong; she is an elemental harmony fae,” I tell him, and the shock on his face is apparent;

Lycus chuckles. “Yeah, right, there is no harmony left, and what would be the chances of finding a harmony that was also an elemental, impossible?” I stare at him, and he looks between Tobias, who nods to him that I was telling the truth.

“What?” Lycus stutters.

“Aleera is an elemental harmony Fae. She took my magic and protected me while I was out. I woke up to her above me holding them off,” I tell him.

“Fuck!” Lycus curses, and so does Tobias. This means the war we were fighting to protect had more meaning; now, the stakes were higher. Anyone finds out about her. She would have an entire world of Fae after her. It was bad enough that I was stuck for years going through tests t o recreate the elemental status until I said no more. Not like they could force me when I could melt their insides with a click of my fingers. However, Aleera, no amount of fear for what she could do would stop the council from coming for her.

Stepping through the portal, I find Kalen shackled by Lycus’s magic. If looks could kill, we would all be dead for forcing him to remain behind. Tobias flicks his fingers in his direction as we step into our room, releasing him from the hold of his magic. The moment he is released, h e stands up and punches Tobias.

“How fucking dare you,” Kalen snarled at him while Tobias rubbed his jaw before grabbing his throat.

Lycus flops on the bed, and I turn my attention back to Tobias, who presses his lips against Kalen’s. “I will let that slide, but don’t push me, Kalen; it’s unsafe for you,” Tobias growls at him before tugging him closer and embracing him. Kalen’s eyes went to Aleera in m y arms as he tried to escape Tobias, who sighed, releasing him so he could rush over to take her from my arms.

He hugs her close, burying his face in her neck and laying her beside Lycus. “You gave her magic?” he asks, and I knew he was assessing her aura when a thought occurred to me.

“You knew she was a harmony-Fae, didn’t you?” Kalen growls but nods. “I noticed earlier when one of the phoenix’s power shared to her,” he says it so matter-of-factly like he hadn’t kept it from us.

“You didn’t think to say something?”

“Not my place to say; I figured she would tell you when she trusted you,” Kalen said, leaning down and kissing her before adjusting her on the bed, so her head was resting on Lycus’s shoulder “She needs magic, Darius. She won’t run,” Kalen says, looking over at me.

“I know, she could have, but she didn’t,” I tell him, lifting my shirt to find a piece of the door trim stabbed into my side. Tobias hisses as I groan, ripping the piece of metal out before his hand was covering it as he tried to heal me.

“Save it, I will heal on my own, save it for Aleera,” I groaned, sitting down holding my hand to the side to stem the bleeding as I waited for it to heal. We all kind of sat around in silence, everyone shocked at what we learned when Ryze flew in the window and shrieked as he landed on the windowsill.