Demetri seemed distracted. He watched me as the words rushed out of me, in too much of a hurry to even take a breath in between sentences, but his expression never changed. Something akin to concern furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw, his eyes far away in thought as he stared at me. But it didn't seem like he was hearing what I was saying so I didn't think it was that.
"What's going on?" I finally asked, the silence following the long string of words that leaped from my mouth becoming too much.
"How are you feeling?" He asked softly, ignoring the fact that I asked him a question.
His demeanor was so unlike what I was used to that I was taken aback for a moment.
"I'm fine," I said defensively, too proud to admit that that was the farthest thing from the truth.
Last time I was overwhelmed and vulnerable and it made me slip up. I wouldn't do it again.
His eyes narrowed and he stepped forward to grasp the back of my neck, not allowing me to escape his piercing gaze. "You're not."
I tried to hold my stance, unwilling to let him push boundaries like this, but I couldn't maintain the lie. A few stubborn seconds passed as I held his eyes in defiance before it faded away. I slowly relaxed into his hold, closing my eyes to contain the emotions that threatened to show.
"I will fix this, Ecasia. You will be safe soon enough."
With his words I felt his other hand come up to curve around my jaw, his hold firm and comforting. My eyes opened of their own accord and I wasn't surprised to find him only inches away. His deep chestnut eyes stared back at me, conflict clear as they bounced between mine, a war waging within himself.
My own conflicting emotions held me in my spot, unsure if I should pull away or draw closer. The urge to be closer had won out just as I heard him mumble almost to himself in a foreign language, "Pozhaluysta, izvini menya." The sound was harsh and heartbreaking to my ears and I struggled to understand what it could mean.
He pulled away and as I reached out for him, unsure what what happening, I felt myself being pulled from the dream. Like a rug being pulled out from underneath me, the world slipped away and I tumbled back into the quiet comfort of sleep. Only when I woke it hadn't felt like it gave me much comfort at all. Instead it felt like sleep had escaped me entirely, leaving dark circles under my eyes.
Noah spun me until I came to abrupt stop against him, pulling me from the memory playing over in my mind. I ground my teeth together to prevent myself from voicing the anger that I felt in my core.
"Wha-" I began, unable to contain myself.
Don't. His growl vibrated in my mind and my insides froze uneasily.
Every person in this room is listening to us. You have questions, but this is not the time nor the place, Dröttning. He voice was stern but gentle at the same, his mind's tongue loosely curling over the last word without any difficulty, making me wonder if it was his native language. I hadn't detected any kind of accent when he spoke, but his words were always so soft and careful that it was never a question.
I took a breath, even more questions on the tip of my tongue. Something he must have seen because he settled me with a quiet but final, Soon.
We parted as the music slowed to a stop, a silence settling over the room. His hand gently released my hand, and I took the cue of the others as they stepped back into the crowd. I weaved through people as they watched me with mixed expressions. Some looked at me with star struck envy, as if they were jealous I was lucky enough to dance with a man on the Council. Mostly the expression shone of variations of unfavorable opinions.
From their perspective I was a half-shifter that had shown up to this important event in a somewhat revealing suit. I didn't belong in their eyes. If only they knew.
Their eyes stayed glued to me as I passed, pretending I didn't notice the attention I was attracting. I subtly peered around me, trying to find Alec to provide some sort of comfort. That's when it happened. Fire ran through my limbs, hitting me so hard I wavered on my feet. I grabbed at air and connected with a mans arm. He steadied me and I heard a muffled voice ask me if I was alright. I ignored it and stumbled through the sea of people, occasionally bumping into a body. I found the door through the fog of dizziness and blindly started down a hallway, every step becoming more difficult.
My shoulder caught the corner of the hallway as it came to a turn, sending a sharp pain through my body. I hugged the wall, trying to think through the strange haze hanging over my mind.
Bathroom. Think, Echo. Where's the bathroom? I thought, trying to shake myself out of whatever was making me like this.
I pushed off the wall with effort and forced myself to continue walking, hoping I would stumble onto a bathroom. So intent on finding a bathroom to hide out in, I almost didn't notice the voices I found myself walking towards.
"I lost her," a familiar voice cursed, sending a shiver down my spine in a warning that had me pausing.
"How? She has red hair, Kieran. How do you lose someone with red hair?" Their was a pause followed by a sigh. "Don't answer that. Her scent is practically a beacon within itself. Use it. Find her." Thinly veiled anger laced the strangers voice.
"That's the thing, I already tried scenting her, but it's like she disappeared into thin air. Someone has to be masking her."
"Demetrius," a voice grunted.
"My thoughts exactly."
"You have to finish it tonight, Kieran. I don't care how you do it, but you have to find her and do your job. The King needs this to be done with and he's starting to question your capabilities."
A snarl bounced off the tiles, startling me backwards. My back connected with a body as a hand came up to smother my scream. My surrounding blurred and twisted in a flash, making my stomach dropped in the same way it did when I missed a step going down the stairs. Black spots clouded my vision before it cleared to reveal pine trees scattered around the scene.
I struggled against the body I found myself leaning against. The hand pressed against my mouth vanished with the weight supporting me and I tilted on my feet. A hand reached out, catching me before I lost my balance and held me steady. I tried to pull away but my efforts seemed pathetic and ineffective so I stopped, looking up to see who had taken me.
Piercing grey eyes flashed against caramel skin, meeting mine with an expectant lift of a brow. "What? Cat got your tongue?"
I opened my mouth but no sound came out. My eyes silently drifted from his eyes to the hair that fell into perfect waves of small twists, following them where they fell against his bare chest, dipped down to the light material that loosely fit against the bottom half of his body, stopping at his bare feet.
He shook his head. "Your generation. I swear, manners have all but left your vocabulary."
I cleared my throat, wincing when even that hurt. "What?"
His eyes darted to my mouth and dimmed as they hardened. He reached up and wiped my upper lip before I could protest and came away with blood. Dread captured my heart with a forceful hold and I struggled to keep my breathing calm.
He regarded the blood on his thumb with a distant look and let out a breath. "He was right. We're out of time."
My breath caught and my eyes jerked to his. "Out of time?"
He nodded, not seeming to catch or care that I was seconds away from panicking. "We'll have to do this tonight."
Relief and wariness warred inside me. "We?"
That seemed to shake him out of that far away look and he returned his eyes to mine. "Of course. Demetri is an artist at what he does but I'm an artist at what I do. Different skills are needed here. He should be busy with the Council right about now, so I'm here keep the audience entertained with some magic trickery."
"And you are?"
"Lincoln," he said, turning away from me to move further into the woods. "I was hoping we'd meet under better circumstances, but I suppose this will do."
Noticing I wasn't following him, he looked back at me. "Come, child. We don't have all the time in the world." He made an impatient motion, spurring me into motion.
Something occurred to as I caught up to him and I reached forward, grabbing his hand in mine to turn him to me. "You know what I am," I stated rather than asked.
His eyes flashed with a dangerous smile. "I know many things," he said, not denying or confirming.
He continued, moving through the maze of trees, not offering anymore information. I rushed after him, breathing too hard for the simple action. My muscles ached and my bones screamed at every movement but I didn't care. I was finally getting out of here. I was going to live. The revelation gave me the strength to fight through the pain and continue.
"So what am I?" I demanded, my voice husky from the exertion.
"There are many things you are not ready to hear, child." He paused and looked around, deciding on a direction to our left.
Annoyed and aggravated at people withholding information I had every right to, I stopped in my tracks. He noticed immediately and turned to look at me, waiting for me to speak with an expression that was almost knowing. Angrily stewing, I stood and pinned him with a glare.
"You don't get to decide that."
His eyes glinted as he tilted his head at me. "You're not ready."
I tilted my chin up and set him with a stone cold look, channeling Alaisdair as much as I could. "You need me as much, if not more, than I need you. I could easily scream right now and have several guards on our ass. Demetri needs me for something important based on the level of effort he's putting into this, so if you don't tell me what I am, I'm going to make it hell for you to get me anywhere," I said, my voice low and threatening.
I wasn't even sure if I was bluffing at this point. I was so close to death that I could feel it with everything in me and that knowledge made me bold and unpredictable.
A smile slowly grew on his face and he seemed downright delighted with me. "The answer to your question will cost you."
Nodding, I bit the inside of my cheek. As long as I finally got my answers. "What you want?"
He shrugged casually, put kept his eyes on me with an intensity. "Just a favor to be determined."
I hesitated. It was the same thing Demetri had asked for, but I felt like this had much more weight on it. This was far more than just a small favor.
"Decide quickly. If we don't start get moving, we'll never get to our destination," he warned lightly.
Fuck it.
"Fine."
He offered his hand and I took it. As soon as my hand made contact with his, dark tendrils seeped from where our palms met and tightly wrapped itself around our joined hands, only stopping when it reached our elbows. I gasped and tried to pull away, but it held me in my spot, making it impossible to remove myself from him. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it dissolved, sinking into my skin until it was no longer visible. Almost like a sentient being, it sat just under my skin, twisting and turning until it settled comfortably.
I looked up at Lincoln, my eyes wide.
He met me with a serious expression. The first I've seen from him. "Hybrid. You're a hybrid, descending from each of the four Courts."
Leaving me with that, he returned to the invisible path only he saw.