The Shadows

16| The Honest Truth

I replay his words in my head. I swear he said that was part of the gift that was given to them. "But, but I thought?"

"We are not immortal Aryah. He offered that gift to my father, not us. He offered us his abilities. It didn't take us long to find out we weren't. Healing didn't happen like it was supposed to. We were pretty aggressive in our training. Kai accidentally stabbed me once and let's just say it was painful as hell." He looks off in the distance as if he was reliving that memory. "Kai even went to ask him, why we weren't immortal and that's exactly what he said, that was not what he gave us." He shrugs. "He did say there was a way however..."

"How?" I ask reluctantley. "He said, for death to occur, life needs to be in place. We are children of death as well as there is children of life. We need the pure soul of a life essence. Devour the soul and you will get what you are looking for." He recites this in a monotone voice as if he's heard it many times before. "He told him to find him an essence and bring them to him. When my brother returned, he ordered everyone to look for this 'essence', which we all thought was a joke. Until a long time later, you came along. I was shocked, I knew right away that you were a life essence." He shrugs. "Your scent is so strong, I was surprised it was so easy to detect you."

My body tenses, "Did you ever think to gain immortality yourself..." I hold in a breath waiting for his response. "No Aryah, if I wanted to, I would have done it by now." He sighs. "When I brought you home to Cain, we decided it was our responsibility to hide your identity." He sighs again and rubs the back of his neck. "There is still so much you don't know Aryah, but I really don't want to overwhelm you..." He pauses, and shuffles around with his feet, kicking the dirt. I know he is unsure of how I think, hoping I will accept this, accept him.

I decide words are not going to mean as much as actions in this moment. It had been so long since we had been this close. I take a few quick steps and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him in tight. He pauses for a moment and then wraps his arms around my waist. We stand there for a few minutes. "I forgive you." I whisper in his ear. I instantly feel him relax and pull me in tighter, snuggling into me. We reluctantly separate and as I move back, my hood falls, I think nothing of it at the time. I lean back and smile at him but his face immediately moves to a mixture of shock and anger. I furrow my brows in confusion. As I lean back further he gently grabs onto the baggy hoodie and stops me from moving. He reaches up with his opposite hand and grabs onto my chin, turning my head from side to side.

"What the fuck happened to you?" I gulp as my eyes widen. I open my mouth, waiting for words to come out, but they don't. "Aryah, what happened to your face." He pulls me closer to him, inspecting my face. "Well, that's rude." I make a lame joke, trying to lighten the mood. He of course doesn't find it funny. "Don't fuck with me Aryah. Who did that?" Oh how I have such a love, hate relationship with Damien's dominant intimidating side. So sexy but so scary. "How do you know it was a who? Maybe it's a what?" He knows I'm trying to get around the answer. Getting more irritated with my responses but decides to humor me. "So then?" Waiting for my explanation. "Enlighten me."

"Well... I-I jumped from the window and... yeah." I shrug, super convincing. Right? He glides his thumb just underneath my cut lightly. "That is not from jumping out the window. How would that have happened? There's no rocks around. You would have landed on grass."

I open my mouth again waiting for my brain to come up with some brilliant bull shit. Damien still analyzing my face, thinks about his conversation with Amanda. His eyes flick to mine, his eyes filled with fire. "Have you spoken to Jace today?" I twitch slightly at his name and that was all the confirmation he needed. He lets go of me and runs towards the house, he was gone before I could turn around. I run after him, he left the door wide open. "HEY, WAIT!" I scream out.