CHAPTER 26
Aiko tugged at the fluffy black jumper, the softness of the material comforting her as she fought to breathe normally. Beside her, Esher glanced down at her and squeezed her other hand, a silent reassurance that everything was going to be fine as they walked through Yoyogi Park.
She smiled up at him, battling another bout of nerves as the sky grew darker, night rolling in.
“You look pretty,” he said, outwardly calm when she could feel he was nervous too, didn’t like exposing her like this and placing her in danger.
Aiko looked down at herself, at the clothes he had bought for her today. The over-knee black socks, faded denim skirt, and fuzzy jumper were definitely more her style than the clothes she had borrowed from Megan, and when she had put them on, she had felt more like her old self.
But she had the feeling that she wasn’t.
She felt stronger.
Reading Esher and his brothers was easier than ever now. She only had to think about tapping into their thoughts to be able to read them.
It was how she knew Esher believed his mother had done something to her soul.
Something he wanted to hide from her.
It had been born of a desire to protect her when she had been feeling unsteady, overcoming what had happened to her, so she could forgive him for keeping it from her.
But she could feel that she was different now. It was as if power flowed through her veins, filling her up, making her stronger than a normal human. Power she knew stemmed from Esher’s world.
In her dreams, she saw flickers of a dark world, and then green and golden light that felt warm, like life itself, chasing back the coldness. There was a gentle touch, and soft words in a language she didn’t know, but one she somehow understood.
After that, the cold came, sweeping in, and then she felt Esher’s pain, his fury, and his darkness, but that darkness receded as a light slowly filled him.
And then she woke in his room, with him watching over her, fatigue and relief written in every line of his handsome face.
They were memories, and they grew clearer each time the dream came.
Aiko turned her head and studied his noble profile, tracing every line of it, memorising it and the way he made her feel—safe, secure, warmed from head to toe.
Happy.
He looked down at her, his steps slowed as their eyes met and he came to face her. She welcomed his kiss when he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers, melted into him when he wrapped his arms around her and held her, tucked her close to him so she could feel his heart pounding.
It betrayed his nerves, spoke of them to her and had her circling his neck with her arms, holding him in return to soothe him, to reassure him that she was fine and she wasn’t afraid, because she knew he would keep his promise and he would protect her.
If it helped him defeat his enemy, and protect the world, she was happy to play bait for the daemon. Their public walk would show the daemon she was alive and would make her believe she had a second chance to use her as a collar for Esher. The daemon would make a move to secure her.
And she would fall right into their trap.
When he drew back, his hands falling to her waist, she smiled for him, showing him that she was going to be just fine. This was a hurdle they needed to overcome, something they had to do, so they could be together, and she wanted it over with now, so it no longer hung over their heads.
She wanted the daemon to pay for what she had done to her, and to Esher.
He pressed his forehead to hers, rubbed noses with her, and then started walking again, leading her along the broad path that flowed beneath the tall trees, heading towards the shrine. He had wanted their walk to be somewhere more public, somewhere he would have the water in the city pipes on hand, but she had convinced him to choose the park instead, not wanting innocents to be caught in the firing line, reminding him that the park had lakes he could draw on with his power.
She scanned the trees and the fields beyond them, just as she knew he was doing. Waiting. His hand was tense in hers now, clutching it tightly, and she could feel his nerves, the anxiousness eating away at him. It ate at her too.
She needed to speak to fill the dreadful silence and calm herself.
“Thank you for the clothes, and for getting my phone.”
He glanced down at her, his eyes darkening as he raked them over her, the flare of desire in them pushing her fears to the back of her mind. “They suit you… but I didn’t get your phone. You have to thank Daimon for that.”
She hadn’t realised that he had been the one to retrieve it for her. “I’ll thank him later.”
When this was over.
Esher tensed up again, and she smoothed her thumb along his, trying to calm him and using the connection between them to soothe herself too.
“I should thank him too.” Esher looked down at her again out of the corner of his eye before he went back to scanning the park. “He tried calling you when they realised you were in danger.”
She had suspected the first attempt to reach her had been his brother, but now she knew for certain she would be thanking him for it. “You tried to call too… I was afraid the daemon might be able to answer it, but the phone repelled her when she tried to take it from me.”
He slowed again, grinding to a halt beside her, and she turned and looked back at him. His eyes were dark in the low light, but they glowed blue around his irises, giving away the feelings she could detect in him—the anger, the fury, the pain.
“She’ll pay for what she did to you, Aiko. I swear it,” he growled.
His power surged and she closed the gap between them and cupped his cheeks in her palms, hoping to help him control it as his face twisted, a scowl knitting his obsidian eyebrows as he stared down into her eyes, darkness shining in his, black needs that were easy to feel in him.
Someone had hurt her, had taken her from him, and provoked the side of himself that he feared, the one the enemy wanted to harness.
“Esher,” she whispered, keeping her voice low and soft, coaxing him back to her. “I’m fine now. Remember that. I’m safe. Don’t let her get to you. Remember that I’m safe.”
She lowered her right hand to his chest, flattening it over the spot above his heart. It beat hard against her palm. Strong. The feel of it reassured her. He was powerful. He could handle the daemon. She was sure of it. He would come back to her.
His eyes dropped to her lips.
She tiptoed and seized his, couldn’t stop herself as a need rushed through her, commanded her to kiss him and not let him go, to stay by his side where he needed her even when she knew he needed her away from him more, needed to know she was safe and protected, and the daemons couldn’t reach her.
Couldn’t hurt her again.
He tensed, going rigid beneath her hands.
A chill swept down her spine.
Familiar contempt laced with darkness and a hunger that shook her blasted through her, directed right at her, and every instinct she possessed screamed she was in danger.
She opened her mouth to scream at Esher to run, fear of him being hurt or worse forcing the word up her throat, making her desperate to tell him to forget fighting the daemon, to plead him not to go through with it because she was terrified of what might happen to him.
Before she could squeeze the word past her tight throat, masculine heat wrapped around her, his scent of earth evoking images of the green and the gold she had seen, the gentle voice and the soothing warmth, and darkness swallowed her.
It evaporated, revealing the main living room of the mansion, and Ares and Valen as they shot to their feet, concern washing across both of their faces.
Marek released her and she turned on him.
“Take me back. He needs me.” She fisted his charcoal linen shirt, and for a moment, his rich brown eyes, flecked with gold and green, softened and she felt sure he might listen.
But then Keras appeared beside him, ribbons of shadows still clinging to him, fluttering around the arms of his black formal shirt and trousers, and over the soft spikes of his black hair.
His green eyes hardened. “We can’t do that. Esher needs to know you’re safe.”
She knew that, but she still needed to go to him, even when she was sure she would only be a hindrance, and not a help. Her presence would push at him, provoking his darker side, and his need to protect her would split his focus between her and his enemy, placing him in danger.
Ares moved around the couch, a wall of muscle dressed in tight black clothing that matched Valen’s, although his build was twice that of his purple-haired brother.
His dark brown eyes lit with sparks of gold as he looked at her. “Listen to Keras, Aiko. Esher needs to know you’re here, and you’re protected.”
She forced herself to nod, and drew down a deep breath, holding it to calm herself so she kept her head. Losing it wouldn’t help Esher. They were right about that. He needed to know that she was at the mansion, safe within the wards, with his brothers watching over her.
“How about we make some tea?” Megan said as she left Eva’s side, her pretty face and brown eyes warmed by her sympathetic smile, and her rich orange t-shirt and blue jeans a contrast to Ares’s black clothing as she passed him.
His eyes tracked her, a flare of fire heating them as he watched her walking towards Aiko.
Esher looked at her like that, as if she was his whole world, and that was the reason she was going to remain where she was, where he needed her to be, because she didn’t want to see pain in his beautiful blue eyes again. She wanted them to always be warm and bright, filled with sunshine.
She glanced at the rain-swept courtyard and the garden beyond it as she turned with Megan, and damn, she needed to be out there, needed to run to Esher and help him. The thought that he was fighting now, in danger, pulled at her, had her aching to go to him even when she knew that she wasn’t strong enough to do such a thing, that his brothers were right and it was best she remained here, waiting with them.
She wanted to tell them to go to him, to help him, because she couldn’t. They could though. They were powerful. Strong. They could help him.
Keras stepped into her path and took hold of her shoulders, darkness reigning in his eyes, turning them almost black, leaving only a sliver of green around his pupils.
His voice was a low growl, one that said he knew her thoughts, offered comfort and reassurance, and buoyed her heart.
“I swear to you, I will not let anything happen to Esher.”
She nodded and managed a smile to thank him, even as her heart began to grow heavy again, her thoughts weighing it down.
Fear that she would never see Esher again.