Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 281 - Chapitre 290

Kiara's POV Three days. It had been three days since I felt my heart being ripped apart in more ways than I thought was ever possible. Three days since whatever poison that was inside me had swallowed me whole and spat me back out trembling and delirious. Three days since that crawling, skittering nightmare of me almost dying and throwing up blood burrowed beneath my skin.Hazel told me I was lucky, Davis said “lucky” wasn’t the right word, and the healers, well, they were saying something entirely different. They were scared, scared for me, even if they didn't say it out loud. I heard the whispers whenever they came to check up on me. They were fascinated with how I was still surviving, and scared of what might be the next attack. Was I going to survive it like the other ones, or not? No one knew. I didn’t feel either.My body still ached faintly, like a phantom reminder of the venom threading through my veins. Every time a shadow moved too fast near my feet, my breath hitched.

Kiara’s POV Rowan’s footsteps moved slowly, and methodically, like a predator circling prey that had already exhausted its final escape attempt. I pressed my back against the cabinet, swallowing my breath, and praying the darkness would swallow me whole.For some strange reason, I always found myself in situations like these, even though that was the last thing I wanted to happen. Hell, if I had known that Rowan would walk in here when he had, then best believe I would have postponed my search to another time. Maybe it was my mind mocking me, but tell me why it chose that exact moment to start echoing Hazel and Davis' words in my mind. They'd told me to lay open for a while, they told me I needed to rest and gather more evidence, but what did I do? I ignored them, plain and straight up, and now I was about to face the consequences of my actions. I tried to school my mind into thinking that maybe, just maybe the noon goddess would have mercy on me and make a way out, but appar

Kiara’s POV Waking up felt like clawing my way out of wet sand, and I couldn't help but feel like I shouldn't have woken up. Any person who'd heard my thoughts would have easily come to the conclusion that I wasn't grateful for the life I had, but if that wasn't the exact opposite of what I was feeling, then I had no idea what else would suffice. I loved being alive, where I drew the line was when the said life came with pain that were hell bent on sending me back to the afterlife. My eyelids dragged open slowly, each blink scraping against the inside of my skull. Somewhere in between being stuck on gratitude or not, someone must have dropped a heave piece of iron next to my brain, that was the only logical reason I was willing to accept was the cause of the pain in my head. The room around me was dim, only a single lamp flickered from the far corner of the healer’s wing, casting long shadows across the walls.For a moment, I thought I was alone, and hell, maybe I was. T

Kiara’s POV Warmth. That was the first thing I felt when consciousness pulled me from sleep. It was a soft, steady warmth that pressed against my back, and curled around my waist like a protective band. I'd never wanted to remain in a moment more than I did right now. I blinked slowly, eyes adjusting to the dim morning light filtering through the curtains.If I'd thought that the sight was beautiful, then clearly I hadn't seen what the rest of the morning had for me. My gaze slid lower to my body, and what I saw wasn't one I would be forgetting anytime soon. Darius’ hand was wrapped securely around my middle.His palm lay flat against my stomach, fingers relaxed but firm, as if even in sleep he feared I might slip away. His breath fanned across the back of my neck, slow and even, the steady rise and fall of his chest a quiet promise that I wasn’t dreaming.For the first time in a very long time, I felt safe.I lay still, letting the moment settle over me, and letting mysel

Darius' POV One Month LaterThe silence of my office had become a living thing, a living thing I'd come to hate more than I hated my very own existence. I used to think it was normal, that I was going to learn to live with it, to be able to push away its effects like it wasn't threatening to eat me alive. But I was wrong, very, very wrong. The silence now was a breathing, suffocating monster that curled around my throat and tightened bit by bit every damn day she wasn’t here.Kiara had been gone for thirty one days. Thirty one nights, and even hundred and forty four hours.I’d counted every single one.My reflection in the dark window was barely recognizable now. I had hollow eyes, my hair was a mess, and my jaw clenched so tightly it ached. Sleep had become a luxury I couldn’t afford, not when every time I closed my eyes, I saw her walking away from me, cloak wrapped tight around her trembling shoulders, refusing to look back.She hadn’t looked back, not once, and it hurt me e