House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)(74)

His gaze continued burning a hole in the side of my head, so I took a few steps back, and then a few more, hopefully slow enough to not look suspicious. The council had just started to speak again, and I used the distraction to hurry to the back of the Darken platform, out of their line of sight.

I was done with all Daelighters. Part of me was desperate to get back to Earth, back to what was familiar. But that wasn’t going to happen until someone returned the Finnegans to me. No way was I going home without them.

“Are you okay?”

The soft words took me by surprise. I swung around to find Lexen standing at my side. His arms hung loosely and he looked relaxed – well, as relaxed as Lexen ever looked. The darkness of his eyes captured me as always, my fascination with those depthless pools growing every time I stared into them.

“I’m fine,” I choked out. “Just … this is a lot, you know.”

His face was a hard cut of lines; his jaw looked clenched. “The council is going to find your guardians. They have assured us that this is the number one priority for them.”

“When did you first arrive in Astoria?” The words burst from me before I could stop them. Damn it. So much for waiting until I was calmer.

If Lexen was surprised by my sudden change of topic, he didn’t show it. “We started at the beginning of junior year.”

“So you started August last year,” I said slowly. “And my parents were killed in December.” My voice broke as I tried to figure out how to phrase my next question. I needed to know, though, which is why I couldn’t stop from asking.

His chest rumbled. “I didn’t have anything directly to do with their deaths, Emma. I swear this to you.”

Clearly my thoughts had been written all over my face.

“The timing was suspicious, I’ll give you that,” he continued. “But I believe everything which hurt you, the loss of your parents and missing guardians, it’s to do with House of Imperial. With Laous.”

“Daniel?” I asked tentatively. I wasn’t sure of his position.

Lexen was already shaking his head. “No, it’s not Daniel. I trust him with my life.”

For some reason I believed him. Daniel seemed like someone who was reliable and fair, if not a little scary in a bad boy way.

“Emma…” That husky murmur of my name caught my attention. “You can trust me. I might have acted like an asshole when we first met – I will own that – but I had my reasons.”

I didn’t think he was going to tell me those reason, because he was usually reticent with information. So when he did, I ended up gaping like a freak at him.

“From the first moment you stumbled into my world, all fiery and beautiful and innocent, soaking wet but still defiant … facing things which should have made you question your sanity, you never crumbled. You were so determined to save your family.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Shit, I had to do something to try and deter you. To make sure you weren’t dragged into the mess of my world. A human cannot fight a Daelighter, and there are too many politics at play, especially when you get involved with the overlord’s family.”

Beautiful? He’d called me beautiful, which was probably the least important thing he’d said. Still, it had my heart and stomach turning twirls.

“Turns out I’m already involved in your world,” I managed to get out. “So there was no chance of protecting me from it.”

His smile almost killed me. The rapid beating of my heart seemed to be increasing the pain in my ribs, but I didn’t even care. Lexen leaned in closer. I wanted him to kiss me so badly I could barely stand it. I had no idea what had brought on this emotional side of him, but I had no defense against it. Against him. The kindness Jero, Marsil, and Star had shown me … Lexen held equal amounts within himself. Tempered by dragon flame, of course.

A warm hand pressed into my side, and then a blast of cool air shot straight into my ribs. Relief from the pain was instant, like the area was numb now. “That will speed up the healing,” he murmured, lowering his head so that his face was close to mine.

“How did you know I was in pain?” I asked, tilting my head back to stare directly into his eyes.

Lexen tensed, the masculine lines of his face deepening. “The heat from your injury,” he finally said, dragging his fingers across my side. “It’s inflamed. And you’re also moving gingerly. I noticed it as you tried to escape back here.”

Well, no doubt he could now sense the heat in my cheeks.

“Didn’t realize anyone was watching me so closely,” I choked out, half lying, because I had felt his eyes on me and I had been trying to escape him. “Sorry for suspecting you again,” I added in a rush. “The timing of my parents’ deaths and your arrival on Earth, it all just hit me. I knew it would not have been anything you did deliberately. I just wondered if it wasn’t some sort of combination of all four overlord minors being in Astoria. Being on Earth.”

Lexen stilled, his eyes locked on mine, his teeth partly bared as a fury stronger than I’d ever seen descended across his face. “Fuck,” he bit out. “There’s a way he might have used us. It’s difficult but possible.” He spun, his expression fierce. “Wait here. I have an overlord to kill.”

He prowled away with a scary amount of speed. Okay, then, he was pissed. That made two of us.