Mark of the Erios

Chapter 16: Damien

Srogray Adara Point of View

I can sense the tension of her muscles under the tips of my fingers as we walked. Her breaths are tight and short forcing her to keep her back straight. From the outside she looks powerful, from the inside she is tearing herself apart. A dry tear stain can be seen when she turns her head just right against the light, but the power behind her glare keeps you from seeing it fully.

Each footstep seems calculated as her eyes move back and forth between the guards and I, she watches me more than the others. I feel her trust as we walk together, he armor in the room from before, but her hell fire right behind her heart.

I have always found her strength beautiful, the way she doesn't follow the social norms or the way she decides her own fate when life doesn't work out just the way she wants it. She seems to know the hard times, from what I have been told, and continues to push herself to a better life. Her heart is so big, so full of love that she wants to share, but she keeps it hidden behind her mask of hatred and anger to keep people at a distance.

She sees love as a weakness, a sign of fallen strength. Ever since I first met her and sat on the back of my dragon waiting for her to approach me, I have craved for her to be mine. It is as some part of me always knew that she was my second chance.

As if fate themselves blessed me with these golden threads, I have a chance to show her love and happiness. I get to show her how it really work, and what it really means to be mates. But that is selfish of me to think that way, the other half of me wants to rip the pricks heart out for hurting her, for bringing her any sort of pain that I can't fix.

And while I want to fix her, repair her shattered heart that continue to get stomped on, I will never be able to repair the damage that has been done to her.

Now that she bears our mark, I can touch her emotions barely, I can sense the way her mind fluctuates from happy to sad, feel when she is faking something, but she doesn't need to know that I felt her pains. That I felt her panic attack as she couldn't breathe and tried so hard for air.

I felt when she was ready to give up, give in to the darkness. Leave.

Nothing prepared me to fall to the floor holding my chest as I crawled to help her from her pain, she doesn't need to see my hurt. To see that her pain is my pain. She would conceal every emotion she ever had, and she needs to feel. The only way to heal is to break down over and over till one day you decide you're fine and the pain is no longer that painful.

The emotions I already feel for this woman are dangerous, the amount I would do for her just to get a minute of her time...

I can only be grateful for what she shares with me, and I have to respect what she wants with me. I can't force her to do anything. If she wants me to be her mate the I will step up, if she needs a friend I will be there, if she goes back to him... I will guard her and make sure he stays in line no matter how much it would hurt me to see her happy with another man.

She is now under my protection. The convicts. We have our own government of sorts, our own form of rule and she doesn't know how safe she actually is. How much help she will have when we come up with a plan to save everyone. She is a queen of the underworld and doesn't have a clue.

"Alright we are here."

The older guard calls me out of my thoughts calling my attention to the large door sitting in front of us. The door reflects years of pain from the stress of holding something so sinister behind it.

"We are here for five minutes and then Prince Damien requested your presence the courtyard. Apparently he found some things you care about." The guard seemed cocky and tried to intimidate my little tiger to which I watch her tilt her head towards the man and smirks.