I dreamt about Darius and woke up aroused. I felt the clock next to my bed and it read three twenty in the morning. I still had several hours before I needed to be up.
Wanting to get more sleep, I lay back down in my bed and closed my eyes. No sooner had I closed my eyes did I feel my hair being pulled away from my face. I gasped and quickly climbed out of bed, backing into my dresser.
“Lord Darius? Is that you?” I called out, praying it was Darius.
“Not quite,” Jackson replied.
“Jackson?” I frowned, “What are you doing in my room?”
“I thought we might talk alone.”
“And it never occurred to you that normal hours would be the best time to have that talk?” I lit into him, “Let yourself out I’m going back to bed.”
“Do not dismiss me,” Jackson grabbed me by the neck.
“Ok…ok,” I gently placing my hand over his. Jackson is obviously wound up about something. I was afraid to do anything to push him. Swallowing my pride, I made it a point to be nicer to him, “I’m sorry, I’m just…I’m tired.”
Jackson released his hand from my neck. He grabbed a lock of my hair and smelled it. I gently removed my hair from his grasp and attempted to put some distance between us.
“When you do things like that it makes me want you to leave,” I told him.
“Your blood smells amazing to me.”
“Is that why you keep stalking me?”
“What happened to your eyes?” He asked, changing the subject.
“There was an accident when my mom gave birth to me and I was born blind.”
“Are you interested in my brother?”
“If you’re talking about Darius the answer is no. I’m not interested in anything night-dweller.”
“You humans think you’re so much better than we are,” he clenched his hand around my throat again.
“And you night-dwellers think you can just bully people into doing whatever you want.”
Jackson and I were both at a stand still. I wasn’t going to be intimidated by him any longer. Cowering to him was exactly what he wanted and I wasn’t going to give him that.
The door to my room opened and an angry Darius began shouting at Jackson to leave my room. Jackson quickly released his grip from my neck and left like Darius asked him too. Darius began checking me for bites.
“He didn’t bite me. He just…scared me,” I told him.
Darius sighed and began to pace the floor. I could actually hear his footsteps for a change. When he was calm, he brought me back over to my bed and sat down beside me.
“Effective immediately, my claim on your life will be terminated. Tomorrow I will release you back to your family.”
“What? You didn’t tell them anything about my inheritance, did you?”
“No Giselle…I found your father. He’s alive. And when I told him what was done to you, he promised to make good on what is owed to me by your stepmother. I imagine they will probably have words about you being placed in my possession.”
It’s a good thing I was sitting down because I couldn’t feel my legs. Found. My father has been found…alive?
“Please don’t let this be a joke.”
“I assure you it is not.”
“Oh thank God,” I sagged with relief as tears coated my eyes.
“Darius, but if you prefer God I won’t argue with your logic,” he teased.
“Oh please,” I scoffed, “Thank you.”
Darius pulled at my wrists, gesturing for a hug, and I obliged. For finding my father I could set aside my pride this once. Even through his clothes I could feel his powerful muscles. If he wanted to he could snap me in two before I even realized I was dead.
“I would never hurt you Giselle,” Darius whispered to me.
Damn it! I forgot he could read minds…
At that, Darius pressed his lips against my frontal lobe and vanished. I lay back down in bed and tried to force myself to go back to sleep. After tossing and turning restlessly for hours, I finally drifted off back to sleep.
The next morning I was awakened by warmth on my face and realized the sun must have been peaking through the curtains. I reached my hand up to block the ray of sunlight and moments later I heard the curtains to the window move. It startled me for a second before I realized that Darius was in the room.
“Thanks again Darius,” I yawned stretching myself like a cat, “What time is it?”
“A quarter to seven.”
“That’s it?” It felt like I had been sleep forever.
I thought about taking a nice hot bath and no sooner had I thought it did the faucet to the tub turn on. “You being able to hear my thoughts is going to take some getting used to,” I told him.
“For you humans, it always does,” he chuckled, “I placed some towels for you beside the tub. Go take your bath and I will summon Cara for you.”
I smiled and nodded. Feeling my way to the bathroom, I closed the door behind me. It didn’t take me long to undress and climb into the water, which felt so soothing going in. Cara came walking into the bathroom rambling about the tryst she had the night before. Had she also shared Darius’ bed? Dear God. What others must think of her. Still, I couldn’t help but be a little jealous. Compared to hers, my life was completely boring.
I found myself more focused on the details of the night she spent with another member of the Draven staff than on actually taking a bath. I wished I could be free like her. Free to do as I pleased, with whomever I pleased. But as Silas Mason’s daughter…blind or not, I had a reputation to uphold. A reputation I’m pretty sure Elizabeth sought to destroy when she bartered me to Darius to pay off her debts.
“Better hurry up and bathe before the water gets cold,” Cara urged.
I started to bathe myself while forked over every detail of her night with a man she purposely kept nameless. I was listening so intently to what she said, that when she did finally slip and say the name of her lover, I shot straight up, “You’re involved with a night-dweller?”
“You can’t say a word to anyone,” she swore me to secrecy.
“I won’t say a word. I promise.”
“William and I, we’ve been seeing each other for about a year now,” she whispered, “At first I was afraid of him but then he saved my life once by feeding me his blood and I began to have these dreams about him.”
“I have those same dreams about Darius.”
“Darius?” She gasped, “He’s the worst one out of the three. Whatever you do don’t give into your feelings for that lost cause of dreamy night-dweller cake. He’ll reel you in like a fresh meal to a starving animal and then toss you out with the morning trash. Unless he enjoys your particular…gifts. Then you might be beckoned to his bed on occasion, which if you ask me, is just pure torture. He’ll only allow you so much of himself, and by so much, I mean one particular appendage he wields like it’s a fucking sword impaling every vagina he can his hands on. Every other part of him is off limits.”
I blushed at her candor. “Ahem,” Darius cleared his throat from the doorway. Cara jumped so hard that she dropped the bar of soap under the water, “You’re supposed to cater to my guests, not spread malicious gossip about me behind my back.”
I felt around for the bar of soap she dropped when my hand gripped someone else’s. Cara? No…these hands were much more masculine, it was Darius’ hand.
“Darius!” I gasped, practically leaping from the tub before I quickly realized I was naked, “Must you always be so inappropriate? Need I point out how suggestive it might be if others knew you saw me naked?”
“Forgive me,” he apologized, “but I couldn’t stand by idly while my character was being assassinated.”
“Forgive me sir. I did not mean-”
“I know what you meant,” a lethal undertone laced his voice.
The tension in the air at the moment was so thick you could cut it with a knife. “Would you like for me to excuse myself from your presence?” Asked Cara.
“No. I’ll leave. You need to help her get dressed.”
Darius left the room and Cara finished helping me in silence. It was probably a good thing since Darius was only in the next room. I imagine with his hearing he could probably hear me breathing right now.
After bathing I got dressed and Cara did my hair. She was still quiet and I couldn’t take it anymore. She was my only friend here next to April. She had to talk to me. The silence was starting to make me go crazy.
“So, do you live here or do you just work here?” I asked.
“I live and work here.”
“How long have you been working for Lord Darius?”
“Going on six years now.”
I wanted to ask her a more personal question but I didn’t want to be too forward or overstep my boundaries.
Eh…what the hell…
“Can I ask you a more personal question?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“When you and William…you know…does he hurt you?”
“No, he’s very gentle.”
I could tell by her tone she was smiling. It made me smile. When she was done she helped gather my things while Darius and I said our goodbyes. He sighed heavily and took one of my hands into his.
There was a long awkward silence. I couldn’t figure out what to say to him, especially after what happened earlier. I was caught between keeping things casual and allowing myself to befriend him. In the end I shook his hand and he walked me out to the car he had waiting for me.
The long drive to my family was a quiet one. It was so quiet that I drifted off to sleep until a dream about Darius woke me from my slumber. The center between my legs throbbed. It actually throbbed for him. Dear God. What has he done to me?
After finally being released to my family I couldn’t have been happier. Except there was something bothering me and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
My father was indeed upset that my stepmother had bartered me over to the Draven’s to pay for her lavish spending. He apologized for not being able to get home quicker and told us all about how he and his team were ambushed. He narrowly escaped the ambush undetected and it wasn’t until Darius’ men went looking for any trace of him that he felt comfortable coming out of hiding.
In true Elizabeth fashion, she blamed me for it. She convinced my father that I had somehow become unruly in his absence and defiant. She claimed she didn’t know how to help me and had only asked Darius to take me in. She feigned naivety about what that barter actually meant or what he intended to do to me, which wasn’t true.
Deep down I’ve always felt like she was trying to come between my father and I. We were very close growing up and she hated it. Instead of talking to her he would talk to me. Whenever he would go out he would bring me back a gift and it bothered her. She wanted all of his attention for herself. She wanted all of his attention on her and hated the way he coddled me.
“I see you found a way to break out of prison,” Lucas teased.
“Did you know what she planned to do to me?” I asked.
“Sort of. I had my suspicions when she lied about certain details of your departure. I guess I just hoped they weren’t true.”
“Well they were. Because of her I was fed on like a bag of meat.”
“Is it true what people are saying? Are you and Lord Darius Draven…seeing each other?”
“Absolutely not. He’s made advances towards me, but none I’ve yet to respond to. He makes advances towards every girl he lays his eyes on and its not love he’s looking for.”
“And you did nothing to provoke his advances?”
“You insult me with your skepticism,” I tilted my head slightly at him. Where was this going? “She’s gotten to you too, hasn’t she?”
“Who?”
“Elizabeth. I swear she won’t be happy until I have no one left.”
“She’s not like that,” Lucas defended her.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she killed our mother to have our father to herself.”
Lucas was silent for a few moments, and then I heard him sigh. Talking about our stepmother in that way was probably not the best way to vent my frustrations.
“About that…father won’t tell you this because he knows you can’t see it, but you and I…we don’t come from the same woman. My mother is alive and well living in the next human town over. Not dead. She didn’t die in some accident. Your parents…no one knows who they are Giselle. Father claims he found you alone and hungry on the streets and he brought you home.”
I swallowed hard and then I laughed, “Very funny Lucas,” I shook my head. As I walked by him he grabbed me by the arm, “I’m not joking. I’ve wanted to tell you for such a long time.”
He’s lying. This had to be a lie. Why would my father take in a random child? Who’d abandoned me if that was the case? It didn’t add up.
I stormed downstairs to confront my father with what Lucas told me. To my surprise, he confirmed Lucas’ version of events.
I wanted to shout, cry, and lash out all at once. My entire existence was a lie. Its no wonder Elizabeth didn’t want me around. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. My brother and sister were not my brother and sister. My father wasn’t my father either. I wasn’t a Mason. If not a mason, then who am I? Abandoned and forgotten on the streets, that’s who.
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