Origin (Lux #4)(43)

Shock rippled through me. Why would he want that?

Don’t know. Daemon’s hands moved back to my hips, and then he tugged me off the sink. Moving too fast for me to comprehend, he sat on the closed lid of the toilet and settled me in his lap. His hand came up my back, pressing down on the nape of my neck until my cheek rested against his shoulder. The heat from him in his true form wasn’t overwhelming like it had been the first time. And it doesn’t really matter, right?

I savored his embrace. Does it? That stuff is being given to humans who are sick. Why would Luc want that?

Honestly, it can’t be any worse than what Daedalus is doing with it, no matter how many good things they claim to be using it for.

Very true. I sighed. I didn’t dare be hopeful about this. If Luc really was on our side and he could help us, there were still a lot of obstacles in our way. Almost impossible ones. I’ve seen it before. Maybe we’ll be close to it again.

We need to be. A couple of moments passed, and then he said, We can’t stay in here forever. I have a feeling they are allowing this, and if we abuse it, then they’ll separate us.

I nodded. What I didn’t understand was why they would allow this unsupervised visit? Something that we could do whenever we wanted. Were they trying to show us that they weren’t going to keep us apart? After all, they’d claimed they weren’t the enemies here, but there was so much about Daedalus I didn’t understand, like with Blake…

Shuddering, I turned my head in to his shoulder and breathed deeply. I wanted to force the memory of Blake out of my head, make as if he never existed.

“Kat?”

Lifting my head, I opened my eyes and realized he was no longer in his true form. “Daemon?”

His eyes drifted over my face. “What have they been doing to you in here?”

I froze, our gazes locking for an instant, and then I pushed off him, retreating a couple of steps. “Nothing really. Just tests.”

He dropped his hands to his bent knees and softly said, “I know it’s more than that, Kat. How did you get those bruises on your face?”

I glanced at the mirror. My complexion was pale, but there wasn’t a trace left from the fights. “We shouldn’t talk about this.”

“I don’t think they care that we’re talking about this. The bruises are gone now, from when I healed you, but they were there before—faint but there.” He stood, though he didn’t come any closer. “You can talk to me. You should know that by now.”

My eyes swung back to him. God, I did know that. I’d learned the hard way over the past winter. If I had trusted him with my secrets, Adam would still be alive and neither of us would probably be in this situation.

Guilt soured my stomach, but this was different. Telling him about the exams and the stress tests would only upset him, and he’d act upon it. Plus, admitting that I had killed Blake—and not so much in self-defense—was horrifying to even consider. I didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it.

Daemon sighed. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I do.” My eyes went wide. “I trust you with my life, but I just… There’s nothing to say about what has been going on in here.”

“I think there’s a lot to say.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to argue about this.”

“We’re not arguing.” He crossed the distance, placing his hands on my shoulders. “You’re just being stubborn as hell, as usual.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Great movie,” he replied. “I watched a lot of old movies in my spare time.”

I rolled my eyes but cracked a grin.

He cupped my cheek as he lowered his chin, peering at me through thick lashes. “I’m worried about you, Kitten.”

Pressure clamped down on my chest. Rarely did he admit to being worried about anything, and that was the last thing I wanted him to be doing. “I’m okay. I promise.”

He continued to stare, as if he could see right through me, right through my lies.

…

Daemon

Hours had passed since Kat and I parted ways and some poor excuse for dinner had been brought to my room. I tried to watch TV and even tried to sleep, but it was damn hard when I knew she was right next door, or when I heard her moving around in the bathroom. Once, in what might have been the middle of the night, I’d heard her footsteps at the door, and I knew she had been standing there, fighting the same need I was. But we had to be careful. Whatever reason they had for putting us in a space we could share couldn’t be a good thing, and I didn’t want to risk them relocating us, forcing us apart.

But I was worried about her. I knew she was hiding stuff, keeping whatever had gone on there before I arrived to herself. So like an idiot with no self-control whatsoever, I had gotten up and opened the bathroom door.

It had been dark and quiet, but I’d been correct. Kat was standing there, arms at her sides and so incredibly still. Seeing her like that punched a hole in my chest. She couldn’t stand or sit still for longer than twenty seconds, but now…

I’d kissed her gently and had said, “Go to sleep, Kitten. So we both can rest.”

She nodded and then said those three little words that never failed to bring me to my knees. “I love you.”