Page 105 of This Dark Descent
Sergeant Haraver, she thought.Talyana.The same name as Mikira’s friend. Had Reid told her what was happening when he delivered her father’s message? She hoped that was where he was now.
Shira waved away his concern. “Not to worry, Inspector. The sergeant was only doing her duty. But I have someone here who can provide my brother an alibi.”
Ari stepped up beside her. “I was with Damien at the time of those men’s disappearance.”
She expected the inspector to question her, to tear apart the lie that Shira fed her, but he only nodded. “Of course. I’ll see him released immediately.”
“Before you do,” Ari cut in. “I’d like to talk to him.”
A constable let her into the hall, where the pale light of dawn cast a blue sheen across the rusted bars of the cells on either side. Dark shapes shifted inside them, but Ari paid them no heed, even when they called to her.
We can silence them, said the voice.We can silence them all.
I know.
At the end of the hall, Damien paced the short length of his cell like a caged lion. His hands had been cuffed before him, his jacket unbuttoned from where they’d taken his guns. Even his curls were a mess. It was the most unkempt she’d ever seen him, and when his eyes locked on her, the look in them was nothing short of feral.
“What did he—” he began.
“I’m okay,” she said, but the exhaustion in those words was a bottomless well. Reflexively, she burned a little verillion, seeking its warmth andstrength. They’d given her the key to his cell, and she toyed with it in the pocket of her dress.
Damien’s wrists strained against the handcuffs. “I will make him regret it,” he promised, and she knew he would, if she let him. But she didn’t want to let him.
She wanted to do it herself.
“I assume it was your brother who told Rezek I’m an enchanter,” she said quietly.
“Yes.” Damien leaned his forehead against the bars. They looked like the only thing holding him up. “I don’t think he told him that you’re unlicensed, just that you might know how Mikira was winning the race. But for this to have happened… Someone betrayed me, Ari.” He bit the words out, as if they physically pained him. “I promised myself I’d never let this happen again.”
Like it had with Rezek.
She realized then just how much that day all those years ago had broken him. How he’d spent every moment since putting himself back together piece by piece. There’d been no room for weakness, no place for vulnerability. Those things left you dependent on other people. They left you open to attack.
Yet he’d done it anyway.
He’d trusted Reid, and her, and Mikira. He’d trusted someone enough that this deception meant something to him.
But he was not the only one who had been deceived.
Ari traced her fingers along his jaw and said, so quietly the words were nearly lost, “Did you send those men to attack me?”
Damien flinched.
It was all the answer she needed. Her nails curled into his skin, but he did not pull away. Rather he caught her hand between his bound ones, holding it there. “They were never supposed to touch you.” His voice was a low rumble. “They were to take your coin and leave.”
“But they didn’t.”
His jaw tightened. “But they didn’t. And I saw they were sufficiently punished for it.”
He had. But was that enough? Once, she might have been uncertain where she stood with him. Might have doubted herself, unsteady and unsure. But he was looking at her now as if she was the only thing that mattered.
“Forgive me, Arielle,” he said hoarsely. “That was before I met you, before I got to know you and your strength and your mind. Before I loved you.”
He did not hesitate when he said it, though it left him breathless and vulnerable. Her eyes searched his, and he did not look away.
Those men would never trouble her again. He’d made sure of it—for her. She knew that, knew that Damien kept his truths clutched tight to his chest, knew the bars separating them were the very reason why. But if he wanted her, wanted her power and her mind and her soul the way she wanted his, then this would be the last time.
Her thumb brushed across his lips. “Never manipulate me like that again.”
