Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,42
devouring every inch of my flesh as if committing it to memory.
I squirm beneath his unreadable stare. “What are you doing?”
He releases a violent exhale and rips his gaze away, fixing it on the wall. “I think we should stay away from each other for a while.”
“What?” Panic floods my veins. I want to grab his head and force him to look at me but I’m afraid once I see the conviction in his eyes, I’ll break apart. “Why?”
“You keep giving away pieces of yourself to save me.” He’s unnaturally still, the tendons in his neck taut, face still turned away. “The thought of not seeing you smile, not hearing you laugh, is torture, Summer. But I will suffer a million deaths if it means not hurting you.”
“How long?” My mind is reeling. I don’t know what this means for us, but the agony I feel radiating from his entire being terrifies me.
“Until I fix things.”
“Fix how?”
Silence.
I want to run my fingers through his silky midnight blue hair.
I want to make him look at me.
I want to pull him close and consummate our bond right here in this bed.
But those things will only prolong our torture. For some reason I remember getting caught in a storm on the farm. I was the last one into the cellar. Right before I took cover, the barn door swept over my head and collided with a rocking chair, shattering both into tiny unrecognizable slivers.
Right now Valerian and I are caught in a tornado, outside forces crashing us together over and over just to watch us break.
How long until one of us destroys the other?
“Promise me you won’t risk everything to fix this, Valerian.”
My heart pounds wildly against my sternum, and I have the strange sense of free-falling. As if I’m back on those stairs, my heel violently lifting, knowing the pain is about to hit but being unable to stop it.
The bed depresses as he stands. The bond between us jerks so hard I think it will snap. I sit up and draw my knees to my chest, helpless, powerless to say anything to bring him back.
He glides across the floor with that predatory stillness that always caught me off guard.
Only now, I feel . . . recognition.
That wildness that once screamed danger now purrs something else. Deep in my most hidden corners comes the whisper of familiarity. Of sameness. Belonging.
The promise of rare, undiluted power to match my own.
That same raging river of bestial energy urges me to rise up and join him, my mate, my friend, my equal. To give myself to the bond—and him.
But I can’t, not without starting a war, and I don’t know how to fix this.
I thought seeing him at the academy would make things easier, but I was wrong.
This is torture. Watching him leave me. Knowing he’s hurt. Broken. Ready to give up his kingdom, his place at school, his life to make this better.
Valerian. I will my voice into his head. Too cowardly to say his name aloud. To run to him and prevent him from leaving.
It will only make things worse between us.
He pauses near the door, one hand clenching the wood frame so hard I think it will splinter, as if gripping it to keep from turning around. “Princess, the only promise I’ve ever given you is to keep you safe. If I have to give up everything to make that happen, I will. Even if it means giving up the one thing I cannot live without—you.”
17
“What in Titania’s name do you think you’re doing?” Eclipsa snaps when she sees me rushing down the stairs, my backpack slung over my left shoulder. I’ve switched out my shoes from the heels to more practical white Nikes, and my hair is tucked into a cute aquamarine ball cap to hide the blood.
“Going to class,” I say, grabbing a bottle of water from the counter. I already missed fifth period and there’s no way I’m going to miss sixth too. Plus sitting at home means thinking about Valerian.
“Whoa.” Eclipsa positions herself in front of me, hands parked on her hips. Her silver fingernails drum over the shiny fabric of her gray-and-blue striped leggings. “You need to rest and let the healing take.”
I twirl. “Already done. See?”
One sharp silver eyebrow crawls up Eclipsa’s forehead. “Not going to happen.”
“You know,” I say as I surprise her with a quick hug, “that murderous assassin thing you do might have worked on me once, but now I know your secret.”