His dark voice trails down her spine, lighting a path of desire that renders her breathless. "If only I were in a position of no consequence."
Alia's breath wavers when the pad of his thumb slowly glides across her bottom lip.
"Then I could give in...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"After all, when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom." - Arthur Golden
•
"You wish to blindfold yourself?" Alia questions, worry tightening the space between her brows. She looks up at his hardened features, hand raising behind him to run her fingers through his hair. "Even after what happened in Dytikos?"
Christian walks over to the fifty finalists, tablet placed on the bench. He begins to speak to the competing wolves, voice quiet as the conversation is kept private.
Valen rests his forearms on his knees, white knuckles grasping the black fabric in his hands. He remembers the morning he awakened after fighting Sephtis, panicked eyes witnessing the visuals of his past whilst Alia comforted him. They both do. "I don't want to be a slave to this anymore," he murmurs. "I've regained my memories, so why must I still be tormented by them?"
Alia frowns, hand moving down to caress the back of his neck. He lowers his head with closed eyes, tense muscles relaxing under her touch. "I don't think a few days is enough time to heal your mind, Valen." Her voice is gentle, as soft as her fingers on his skin. "This trauma — all of what they did to you — it will remain until you give yourself time to find peace."
"Peace?" His hands ball into fists, jaw ticking as tremulous thoughts whirl inside his mind. For a moment, Alia wonders if he'll brush off the idea entirely, adamant to feed the vengeance that brews inside his heart instead. But then he sighs, tension unwinding as his mind focuses on the soft movements of her hand against his neck. He opens his eyes and takes her other hand, opting to press a kiss to her palm. "Peace is when I have you by my side."
Alia's heart stills and a heaviness invades her chest. Why must he say such things? It makes her want to take him away from the troubles of this entire Kingdom. She wants to rid him of the responsibilities of being the First King, but she knows it will sate nothing but her own soul.
He lifts the black fabric and ties it around his head. "I have peace," he says, standing. He turns to her, hand moving underneath her chin as he tilts her head back to look up at him. "All that remains is blood."
Alia frowns, worry glistening in her gaze. Weakly, she whispers, "And if you falter from the darkness?"
Valen's fingers move into her hair. A corner of his mouth lifts, and he says, "Speak to me." His presence enters her mind. 'Use your voice to ground me.'
Alia nods, the ache in her chest building. She'll talk until he's sick of her. Raising a hand, she curls a finger around one of his belt loops and tugs him closer. He raises a brow, unabashedly picturing what she did to him in the shower. "But if you succumb, I'm running into that fucking maze."
Valen laughs, and it makes her smile through the heaviness in her chest. Gods, what she would do to make him laugh until the end of days.
The training hall is stunned to silence, the sound foreign to their ears. Seeing the General smile for the first time almost sends them into shock, but a laugh, however, is enough to make them question the stability of their minds. Hands find foreheads whilst bulging eyes fail to leave the touching pair. They wish to disbelieve the truth of the relationship between the two wolves, but the hand that caresses Alia's face is enough to send a troublesome fear into their hearts — a dreadful, haunting fear of what would come if harm befalls her.
