House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)

“When did you first arrive in Astoria?” The words burst from me before I could stop them. Damn it. So much for waiting until I was calmer.

If Lexen was surprised by my sudden change of topic, he didn’t show it. “We started at the beginning of junior year.”

“So you started August last year,” I said slowly. “And my parents were killed in December.” My voice broke as I tried to figure out how to phrase my next question. I needed to know, though, which is why I couldn’t stop from asking.

His chest rumbled. “I didn’t have anything directly to do with their deaths, Emma. I swear this to you.”

Clearly my thoughts had been written all over my face.

“The timing was suspicious, I’ll give you that,” he continued. “But I believe everything which hurt you, the loss of your parents and missing guardians, it’s to do with House of Imperial. With Laous.”

“Daniel?” I asked tentatively. I wasn’t sure of his position.

Lexen was already shaking his head. “No, it’s not Daniel. I trust him with my life.”

For some reason I believed him. Daniel seemed like someone who was reliable and fair, if not a little scary in a bad boy way.

“Emma…” That husky murmur of my name caught my attention. “You can trust me. I might have acted like an asshole when we first met – I will own that – but I had my reasons.”

I didn’t think he was going to tell me those reason, because he was usually reticent with information. So when he did, I ended up gaping like a freak at him.

“From the first moment you stumbled into my world, all fiery and beautiful and innocent, soaking wet but still defiant … facing things which should have made you question your sanity, you never crumbled. You were so determined to save your family.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Shit, I had to do something to try and deter you. To make sure you weren’t dragged into the mess of my world. A human cannot fight a Daelighter, and there are too many politics at play, especially when you get involved with the overlord’s family.”

Beautiful? He’d called me beautiful, which was probably the least important thing he’d said. Still, it had my heart and stomach turning twirls.

“Turns out I’m already involved in your world,” I managed to get out. “So there was no chance of protecting me from it.”

His smile almost killed me. The rapid beating of my heart seemed to be increasing the pain in my ribs, but I didn’t even care. Lexen leaned in closer. I wanted him to kiss me so badly I could barely stand it. I had no idea what had brought on this emotional side of him, but I had no defense against it. Against him. The kindness Jero, Marsil, and Star had shown me … Lexen held equal amounts within himself. Tempered by dragon flame, of course.

A warm hand pressed into my side, and then a blast of cool air shot straight into my ribs. Relief from the pain was instant, like the area was numb now. “That will speed up the healing,” he murmured, lowering his head so that his face was close to mine.

“How did you know I was in pain?” I asked, tilting my head back to stare directly into his eyes.

Lexen tensed, the masculine lines of his face deepening. “The heat from your injury,” he finally said, dragging his fingers across my side. “It’s inflamed. And you’re also moving gingerly. I noticed it as you tried to escape back here.”

Well, no doubt he could now sense the heat in my cheeks.

“Didn’t realize anyone was watching me so closely,” I choked out, half lying, because I had felt his eyes on me and I had been trying to escape him. “Sorry for suspecting you again,” I added in a rush. “The timing of my parents’ deaths and your arrival on Earth, it all just hit me. I knew it would not have been anything you did deliberately. I just wondered if it wasn’t some sort of combination of all four overlord minors being in Astoria. Being on Earth.”

Lexen stilled, his eyes locked on mine, his teeth partly bared as a fury stronger than I’d ever seen descended across his face. “Fuck,” he bit out. “There’s a way he might have used us. It’s difficult but possible.” He spun, his expression fierce. “Wait here. I have an overlord to kill.”

He prowled away with a scary amount of speed. Okay, then, he was pissed. That made two of us.

“Lex—” I got partway through shouting out for him when a hand wrapped around my face and I was roughly yanked backwards. His name turned into a scream as agony crashed into my side, the numbness gone in a flash of twisting bodies and wrenched ribs.

Raging flames filled me, an intense heat that was impossible to fight against. No matter how much I struggled against the hands, the burning continued to grow. Right when I felt like my head was going to explode, the pressure and pain became too much, and everything went dark.





16





The dryness in my mouth woke me. I choked and it felt like I almost swallowed my tongue – an impossible feat – as I tried to find moisture.

What was going on?

My head pounded as I attempted to piece together my last memories. Why was my mouth as dry as a freaking desert right now? Had I gotten wasted with the Darkens? That didn’t feel quite right.

I squinted as best I could, allowing small slivers of light to enter; while still struggling on the smooth, stone-like ground.

After a few minutes of flopping around like a fish, I managed to pry my lids all the way up, swaying as I pulled myself into a sitting position … only to fall forward again. My brain was fried; this was definitely no hang-over. Or none like I’d ever experienced the entire two times I’d been drunk before.

Eventually I got my shaky hands down, using them as leverage. My eyes still didn’t seem to be focusing, because there was no color around me at all. Everything was white, the floor, the walls, even the ceiling, so starkly white it was like being in a world without any pigment.

Memories of an intense heat slammed into me and I lurched to my feet. I waited for the burst of pain in my ribs, but only a dull tightness lingered there now. Had someone healed me? Or had I been here for a long time? That would explain the dying-of-thirst thing I seemed to be doing.

On wobbly legs I crossed to the closest wall. Shit. Everything was literally glowing white, but at least my eyes were fine. I pressed my hand up to touch the semi-transparent thin and flexible plastic that made up the wall. Almost like someone had used white wrap to cover this place.

Before my hand could make contact with the wall, it flexed out, swelling away from my touch. I took another step closer to it, and the same thing happened. What in the actual fu—?

“Hello!” I screamed. Or attempted to. My voice was a rasp, and no amount of throat clearing was going to help.

Again I attempted to slam my hands into the side – the wall swelled outwards. I tried a few more times; it continued to move, avoiding me, even when I pressed closer. The view I saw through the murky plastic never changed. My prison was not moving. Outside was a ton more egg-shaped structures, and within them were shadows. Other prisoners?

Was this some sort of egg prison?

Great. Unless they had the word Easter in front of them, I wasn’t a fan of eggs. I started to pace back and forth, trying to work through my thoughts. My brain was coming back online slowly; clearly it had been fried by that burst of heat. I could remember talking with Lexen, discussing the possibilities that the overlord minors going to Earth might have had something to do with my parents’ deaths. That was the last thing I remembered before the darkness.

I panicked at the thought that something might have happened to the Darkens, to a family I had grown quite fond of. All of them were kind, caring, never once making me feel like I didn’t belong or was a burden to them.