heals me. He loves me. He's my king."
Silence fell among everyone heavily then Geraldine started wailing loudly as she threw her hands over her eyes.
"Oh sweet heavens have mercy! My lady has been beguiled by a lying lizard and tricked in the most hateful way!"
"No, Tory, he's not," Darcy growled, sending a blast of magic at the shield I'd created and shattering it before using air magic to take the hoody from Darius so she could deposit it over my head. I pushed myself to my feet and it hung down to my mid thigh, a cedar and smoke scent coming from the fabric that made me feel a little safer even as I hurried to back away from Darius.
"You have your Phoenix back now. You need to use it to burn the Dark Coercion out of yourself,” Darcy said.
My gaze slid to her as I opened my mouth to tell her I wasn't under the influence of any Coercion but the moment I thought about it, the Phoenix within me flared to life again, rising up and shifting beneath my skin. It blazed a path of destruction through command after command that had been placed on my mind until I was crying again with the relief of the chains being lifted from my psyche.
"What the fuck has he been doing to her?" Caleb murmured as a whine escaped Seth's throat and my gaze darted between all of them as I found myself totally overwhelmed by everything.
"Roxy," Darius breathed, stepping closer again with a hand outstretched in offering. But the moment I looked at him, my heart leapt and pounded with fear again as the memories of so much agony burning through my flesh overwhelmed me. Him. It was all him.
"Stay back," I gasped, almost calling on the shadows again as I found myself without magic once more and at the mercy of this fierce creature before me.
Darius's face tightened and something in his gaze seemed to shatter as I looked at him with fear in my soul so deep that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to escape it.
"Everyone needs to go," Max commanded suddenly. "Cal, Seth and Gerry, fix the walls before you leave then make sure the forest doesn't show any signs of damage from the flames. "Darius, you just need to...go, I'm sorry but she can't be around you. She's fucking terrified of you. It's overwhelming her-"
"I'm not abandoning her again," Darius growled ferociously and a stab of pain lanced through my flesh at the darkness in his tone.
"I'm sorry, man," Max said, turning to him and grabbing his face, forcing him to look his way. "But you being here is...it's hurting her. I don't know what Lionel has done but every time she looks at you she feels physical pain as well as terror. If I'm gonna have any chance of fixing this, you can't be here. I hate to tell you this, but the more you're around her at the moment, the worse you're making things for her."
Darius gritted his jaw, looking like he could feel that pain in himself as he turned his dark eyes on me and I tried not to flinch this time, but I couldn't help it.
"Is that true, Roxy?" he asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to close the distance between us and making me want to scream and leap out of the giant hole I’d blasted in the wall just to escape him.
I didn't reply but I didn't deny it and that seemed to be enough to break his resolve as grief flashed through his gaze and he nodded stiffly.
He turned and strode for the exit and Seth howled as he chased after him, Caleb only hesitating a moment longer before he raced out behind them and I relaxed a little as their dominating presences left.
Geraldine was still sobbing while patching up the wall like Max had asked but my gaze moved to the Siren as he slowly closed in on me.
"I think I can help you, Tory," he said gently, a sense of calm and understanding washing through me as he approached, his gifts filling the air around him and drawing me in like a gentle embrace.
"I don't know if-" I began, but Darcy cut me off.
"You can trust him, Tory. He'll help you. Please just let him."
My gaze met my twin's eyes and I found so much hurt and pain in them that I found myself nodding, just needing to do something to