House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)(55)
Ah, always such a sweetheart. I was totally keeping him.
I joined him in staring Jero down. Okay, from my current flat-on-my-back position, I was staring him up, but the glare was the same. Lexen let out a low rumble of annoyance, leaned over, and in a swift motion pulled me up to my feet. I expected him to drop me down as soon as I was vertical, but he kept me in a tight hold pressed to his body. My feet were almost on the ground but he was pretty much holding me up. Tingles raced along my skin and it was all of a sudden very hot.
His next words barely registered: “The oblong will not engage your feet again,” he said, his voice rumbly in my ear. “Not while we are in motion. I sense that you’ll not be safe standing alone.”
In an ironic twist, I actually felt safe. I hadn’t felt like this since my parents died. Despite his prickly nature, there was something solid about Lexen. About all of the Darkens. Like … I could rely on them. Which was weird considering they had kidnapped me and I had only known them for a couple of days. Even Lexen … he might hate me, but I sensed he wouldn’t let his dragons eat me.
I’d never had that sort of connection before, a bond that seemed to supersede the normal time required for trust and comfort to develop in a friendship. I mean, maybe this was a very complex form of Stockholm syndrome – I had been alone and hungry, no way to find my guardians, when the Darkens had snatched me up and deposited me in their lives, giving me the essentials I had lacked.
Don’t get attached, Emma! A last-ditch, desperate attempt to convince myself.
I had to try, because if everything went according to plan, I would find my guardians, return to Earth, and never see any of them again. It would truly be like the last page of a book. The End before I was ready for one.
Lexen continued chatting to his brother about the council and this meeting. My head was spinning a little, so in a bid to calm my mind I pressed my face into the firm chest I was being held against, breathing in the scent that clung to Lexen. It was not a smell I could give a name to, a mix of that first snow, a crisp, outdoor smell and smoky fire. I was immediately transported back to my last Christmas with my family. We always put up the tree, sang carols, had hot cocoa around the fire…
So much pain shot through my chest that I gasped, hopefully low enough that it was lost in the shirt beneath my face. I choked, holding in my next gasp, my head spinning even more than it had been. Before I could freak out, or cry, or faint – all three were possibilities – a warm hand pressed into my spine. The firmness of that touch grounded me for a second, brought me out of the horrific memories threatening to drown me. Lexen moved his hand up and down so minutely I doubted anyone else even noticed, but it was enough for my breathing to even out, syncing to the strokes.
My heartbeat slowed to a normal rate. I swallowed down the tears. No doubt we looked quite intimate, but Lexen’s bulk was hiding me from the rest of the Darkens. Only his family could see us, and they were still talking away like this was normal.
“Is she okay?” I heard Star whisper in a lull of conversation.
Okay, so they had noticed.
“She has flashbacks,” was Lexen’s short reply.
Sucking in a deep breath, I turned my head, that bittersweet scent clinging to me now. “She can talk for herself. I’m fine. Thanks, Star.”
She gave me an awkward hug, considering she couldn’t step any closer and Lexen was still holding me steady. I felt heat tinge my cheeks and ears. My blushes were usually more than a little obvious, despite my skin tone. Hopefully no one noticed, because it looked like we were about to land.
I had been expecting to land at the base of the mountain, but we actually stopped about twenty feet above the rolling green land. Then the dragons spun us three-sixty degrees so we were facing what looked like a reinforced, shimmery golden doorway carved into the side of the marbled mountain. Well, not so much a doorway as a huge barrier. Lexen, who could apparently move his feet again, handed me off to Jero and stepped to the edge of the oblong. I untangled myself since the carpet was no longer moving and I didn’t need to be carried like a child. Jero grinned down at me, ruffling my hair.
Ass.
Lexen murmured something that was not English and waved his hand. There was a grating sound and then the metallic door opened, dropping down onto the edge of the carpet. Lexen and his family stepped to the side – dragging me with them – letting everyone else leave first. The chatting Daelighters stepped into the mouth of the mountain and disappeared into the darkness.
“Do you need help?” Jero asked, donning his arrogant smile.
Unlike Lexen and me, who were stuck in our gym clothes, this particular Darken was wearing his suit and thousand dollar shoes.
“No thank you,” I said primly.
No jumping was required; the platform was at least six feet wide, so I should be safe to walk across. As long as I didn’t look down. There was a decent drop on either side. Sucking in deeply, filling my lungs with the sharp, slightly smoky air, I picked up my feet and moved. I was one of the last to cross, and my pulse rate only calmed when I was standing safely on solid mountain.
The entire student body of Darkens was moving into the cavern, which opened up into a large tunnel. I wasn’t a huge fan of tunnels, what with the chance that a billion, trillion tons of rock could fall on my head at any moment, but this one at least was wide and well ventilated. There were also plenty of lights scattered along the wall, just above my head height. I had no idea how there were lights attached to a mountain, but like everything else I didn’t understand, I was putting it in the alien technology category.