Witch Born - LJ Swallow Page 0,54
you’re here to—” I begin.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you.”
I blink at him. “Sorry? You did orchestrate the attack!” How stupid of me to believe otherwise.
“I told you, no,” he retorts. “But sometimes people do things because they think I’ll pay attention to them.”
“You mean King Dorian will grace them with favours?”
“You’re so fucking snarky. Do you know how rarely I apologise?”
“If you didn’t ask people to beat the crap out of me, why do you feel the need to apologise?”
“I may’ve ranted about how much you piss me off,” he says with a sigh. “That was the catalyst, I think.”
“Then you knew somebody would do this to me.”
He wrinkles his nose and drags a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think. I’m too caught up in this situation with you and lost my cool. You’re a threat I can’t deal with easily.”
I smile. “I know.”
“But.” He pauses. “Let me tell you something, Eloise. Girls don’t usually threaten me and not ones as strong as you. This is a unique situation and I need to figure this out myself. I didn’t ask anybody to intervene and teach you a lesson like I would a guy, because I’m dealing with this personally.” He steps forward and I freeze as his sudden move takes me off guard. “Because this is personal. Isn’t it?”
“I told you why.” I swallow. “And I’ve also told you to leave me alone.”
He tips his head. “Something’s different. You’re not as ready to retaliate against me. What happened?”
I run my tongue along my top teeth. “Does it bother you? That you’ll never be free?”
Dorian’s loud laugh attracts attention from the group nearby. “Who told you that? Not true. The Confederacy think I’ll remain imprisoned forever, but I won’t. And yes, Ravenhold is a prison. Bullshit to anybody who gives it fancy names like ‘reform academy’.”
“How will you escape?” I ask, genuinely curious.
He purses his lips. “What are you? A spy?”
“No. But Marcus told me my stay is permanent too.”
“Oh? That sucks.”
“I think they betrayed you,” I blurt. “Your family.”
He shakes his head. “Again, not news to me. There’s no other way the authorities could’ve found me. Sucks for them that framing me for murdering a human didn’t lead to my death.”
“Why not?”
He looks at me as if I’m insane again. “Because nobody can kill me permanently. That’s the problem.”
“That can’t be true. Has anybody tried?”
“Fuck, yes. Painful but ineffective—I have the scars. I half-expected more attempts once they brought me here, but so far nada.”
“But it’s possible other hybrids could hurt you.” Like me.
“Zeke didn’t cause any lasting damage. You won’t touch me.” He jerks his chin. “Or is this a subtle threat?”
“No, but something Ethan said. He thinks there’s more than a coincidence we’re all here at the same time. The four of us are from powerful families.”
He chuckles. “What? You reckon death matches?”
I swallow. “That’s what Zeke said too.”
“Huh. That would explain me and Zeke today.” He shrugs. “Suits me if they’re planning to allow my strength back.”
I bite my lip. “That’s how you intend to escape?”
“Yeah, well that’s a tricky one. I have witch blood in my veins, but not enough to break the island’s wards.”
“So, the famous Dorian Blackwood’s powers aren’t as strong as the rumours say?”
He rubs a palm across his mouth and his eyes glitter. “Do you think I’ll tell you my secrets, Eloise? You’ll need to get a lot closer to me than this if you want to know the deepest, darkest side to me.” He leans forward and holds his mouth close to my ear. “Which you’d probably enjoy because there’s darkness inside you that recognises mine, isn’t there?”
“No.” I step away, ready to retaliate if he touches me.
“Eloise. You’re a necromancer. A Thornbrook. You have dark magic coursing through you as strong as any Blackwood. That’s why you can’t keep away from me.”
I recoil further. “I’m nothing like you!”
“Oh, but you are, trinity witch. You’re exactly like me.” Dorian meets me face to face, charging the space between us with the darkness that tempts me. “That’s why I’m dealing with you personally. Nobody else could take you on and win.”
I’d deny his words again, but the truth in them passes between us. Dorian doesn’t want to hurt me; he’s waiting for me to share my blood and meet the darkness I secretly crave. His.
I can’t respond anymore to his semi-threat, because the way he says ‘dealing with’ doesn’t sound like he wants anybody to hurt me.
“If you’ve accepted