Ravage (Royal Fae Academy #1) - Lacey Carter Andersen Page 0,13
is that the demon is dead.
Lucian is suddenly standing over me. With his sword in one hand, and the blaze of fury in his blue eyes, he looks like a knight out of a movie. One of his big hands reaches down and catches mine, and then he hauls me to my feet and away from the remains of the iron demon.
Instantly, I’m gasping in air. He sheaths his sword at his back and sweeps me into his arms.
I hate that I wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him tightly. I’m a dark fae. A powerful dark fae, with the lines of two of the strongest fae houses running through my veins. In all my life, I haven’t faced a true enemy. Anyone who tried to harm me could be killed in an instant. But now, in front of a man I’d never want to see me weak, I was suddenly needing rescue. It pained my prideful soul.
“It’s okay,” he whispers, shushing me as he carries me far from the demon.
My teeth chatter as I say, “I’m fine,” trying to sound brave and failing.
He looks down at me, and there’s nothing of the grinning, golden boy that I’m used to. Instead, he looks overwhelmed with concern. His gaze sweeping over my face like there’s nothing more important in this world than me.
“No one faces an iron demon and doesn’t feel scared,” he tells me in that soft voice of his that seems to rumble through me. “But if you want, we can pretend you weren’t.”
Instead of answering him, I press my cheek against his chest, listening to the rapid beating of his heart. After all this time, how does he still know me so well? I remember when I had just turned thirteen. My parents had a big celebration, and I’d reluctantly joined the festivities. I’d even danced with some of the boys. And then, one of them surprised me by kissing me.
I’d felt panicked. I’d rushed from the room, running for my monsters, but Lucian had caught up to me. His arms had been around me in an instant, and I’d felt like such a fool. Who ran when a boy kissed them? I faced demons, monsters, ghosts, all without flinching, and yet my own kind always seemed to scare me.
He’d stroked my hair that night and whispered softly, “I wouldn’t want that jackass kissing me either.”
And I’d smiled. And I’d felt better. Because Lucian always seemed to know what I needed to hear.
I guess as many things had changed between us, that hadn’t. Maybe I’d done something years ago that pushed them away from me, but the connection between all of us was still there, even if they didn’t care about it anymore.
My eyes close, my energy drained from the contact with the damned iron demon. With anyone else I might have fought against the suffocating exhaustion, but something inside of me seemed to accept that I didn’t have to fight it, not with this man. Not with this man, who wore a locket with the picture of his grandmother. Not this man, who could sing like an angel, but rarely let anyone hear him. I didn’t even know where Lucian was taking me when I heard a door open and close, and then another door open and close.
“You’re covered in demon blood,” he says, his voice barely louder than a whisper.
I don’t open my eyes, but that rumbling voice of his makes me shiver. “Get it off me.”
His hands tighten around me, but we don’t move for a long minute. “I could put you…in the shower.”
“Yes,” I tell him, even the one word costing me.
A minute later, a light flashes on. He shifts me in his arms and turns on a shower. Then he sits, and my heavy lids open enough to see that we’re seated at the edge of a tub. He holds me there for a long time, before the shower begins to steam.
“It’s ready” he says, hesitation in his voice.
I force myself to sit up, then strip my tank top off, wincing at the black blood coating it. “Help me with my boots and pants,” I murmur.
He clumsily helps remove my boots, but then his hand pauses at the button to my jeans.
“Lucian, please,” I say, confused by his reluctance.
I feel him take a deep breath, and then he undoes my jeans and pulls them from my legs.
In my black bra and underwear, he lowers me into the shower.
I stare down