WHAT SHOULD HAVE DISAPPEARED
1882 Words
The darkness beneath us breathed again.
Kael's hand hovered near my elbow not touching. After the way I'd snapped at him, he was waiting for permission.
I hated that I noticed.
I felt the pulse through my palms.
A slow, heavy pulse traveled through the concrete, up my arms, and settled behind my ribs. My fingers went numb. The cold rain on my skin suddenly felt too distant, as if my body had forgotten which sensation to obey.
For one terrible second, I couldn't move.
The voice had said my name.
Not a name.
Mine.
“Aurelia.”
Mira's fingers tightened around mine.
“Aurelia, look at me.”
I forced my eyes toward her.
Her face was pale beneath the rain, but her gaze was steady.
“Can you stand?”
“I don't know.”
“That wasn't an answer.”
I almost laughed.
Almost.
My legs trembled when I tried to push myself up.
The ground pulsed beneath me.
I froze.
A crack split through the concrete.
Mira stumbled backward.
“What the hell was that?”
Another crack appeared.
Then another.
Something moved underneath us.
Not like a person.
Like something enormous turning in its sleep.
Kael stepped forward.
“Move.”
His voice cut through the rain.
I looked at him.
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here.”
Mira pulled at my arm.
“For once, I agree with the terrifying stranger.”
Kael's golden eyes flicked toward her.
“Good.”
“That wasn't a compliment.”
“I didn't take it as one.”
I blinked.
For the first time since he had appeared, something almost human touched his expression.
Not a smile.
But close.
Then the ground buckled.
“Run!” Mira shouted.
This time, none of us argued.
We sprinted.
I barely felt my feet touching the pavement. Rain struck my face hard enough to sting, and the smell of wet concrete filled my lungs.
Behind us, something groaned beneath Blackhaven.
The sound was too deep to be a wolf.
Too alive to be the earth.
I risked a glance over my shoulder.
The cracks were spreading.
Silver light leaked through them.
My chest tightened.
The mark.
It was glowing again.
“No,” I whispered.
Kael heard me.
He turned while running.
“What?”
I grabbed the collar of my shirt, trying to cover the light.
“Nothing.”
His gaze dropped to my chest.
“You're lying.”
I glared at him.
“Congratulations. You've discovered the first useful thing about me.”
His expression remained hard.
“Control it.”
“I'd love to.”
“Then do it.”
Anger flashed hot beneath my fear.
“You think I haven't tried?”
He stopped.
I nearly ran into him.
Kael caught my shoulders before I could collide with his chest.
The moment his hands touched me, the strange pull returned.
Warmth spread through my skin.
My breath caught.
His eyes changed.
Not the color.
Something behind them.
Recognition.
Again.
I hated it.
I stepped back.
“Don't.”
His hands dropped immediately.
“I heard you.”
His fingers flexed once at his side, as if some instinct wanted to reach for me and he was forcing it back.
The simple answer unsettled me more than an argument would have.
Mira reached us, breathing hard.
“Can we have the boundary discussion somewhere that isn't collapsing?”
Kael looked toward the street behind us.
“Yes.”
He pointed toward a narrow building half-hidden between two ruined shops.
“There.”
I didn't move.
Mira looked at me.
“Aurelia.”
I swallowed.
Then followed.
The building had once been a small apartment block. Most of the windows were shattered, and rain poured through a hole in the roof.
But the walls were standing.
For now.
Kael entered first.
He scanned the room before stepping aside.
“Clear.”
Mira came in behind me.
I remained near the entrance.
Kael noticed.
Of course he did.
“You're afraid I'll trap you.”
I folded my arms.
“Should I not be?”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
I studied him.
“You're not very convincing.”
“I wasn't trying to convince you.”
“Then what were you trying to do?”
“Keep you alive.”
There it was again.
That command beneath everything he said.
Protection.
Control.
The difference between them was getting harder to see.
“I can keep myself alive.”
His gaze held mine.
“You did.”
Something in his voice changed.
Not softer.
More deliberate.
“For five years.”
I went still.
“How do you know it was five years?”
Silence.
Mira looked between us.
Kael didn't answer.
My pulse quickened.
“You asked me how long I've been in Blackhaven,” I said slowly. “You already knew the answer.”
“I knew enough.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
I stepped closer.
“Then give me one.”
Kael's eyes lowered briefly to the silver glow beneath my collar.
“You need to understand something.”
“I'm listening.”
“That mark isn't an infection.”
My stomach twisted.
“I never said it was.”
“You were thinking it.”
Mira frowned.
“Wait. What is it?”
Kael didn't look at her.
“I don't know.”
I gave a short, humorless laugh.
“You're terrible at lying.”
His gaze returned to mine.
“I know what it isn't.”
“That's not good enough.”
“It will have to be.”
I wanted to shove him.
Instead, I clenched my fists.
“Why did you say it was impossible?”
For the first time, Kael hesitated.
Rain drummed against the broken windows.
The silence stretched between us.
Then he said, “Because that symbol should have disappeared five years ago.”
The words landed harder than they should have.
My fingers went cold.
“Why?”
He looked toward the doorway.
“Because everything carrying it disappeared with the Moon.”
My mouth went dry.
Mira whispered, “Kael…”
He finally looked at her.
“You should stay out of this.”
Mira stepped between us.
“No.”
Kael's brow lowered.
“No?”
“She is my family.”
Her voice was quiet, but there was nothing uncertain about it.
“If something is happening to her, I'm already in it.”
Something shifted in Kael's expression.
Respect, maybe.
It disappeared almost immediately.
He looked back at me.
“Then stay close.”
I almost scoffed.
“Was that an order?”
“A warning.”
“Those sound very similar coming from you.”
“Then consider it advice.”
That surprised me.
So did the small warmth that followed it.
I hated that too.
My fingers brushed the crescent beneath my collar.
The mark pulsed.
Once.
Kael's attention snapped to it.
“You felt that.”
I nodded.
“What does it mean?”
He stared at me for several seconds.
Then his voice dropped.
“It means we're not the only ones who woke up tonight.”
A chill crawled over my skin.
“What's beneath Blackhaven?”
“I don't know.”
“Another lie.”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“I genuinely don't know what is beneath this city.”
I searched his face.
There was fear there.
Real fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
And somehow, that frightened me more.
A deep rumble shook the building.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Mira looked upward.
“Please tell me that's just the building.”
Kael's head tilted.
“No.”
Another rumble.
Closer.
The silver crescent burned against my skin.
I gasped.
The room disappeared.
Silver light flooded my vision.
I was somewhere else.
A stone chamber.
White walls.
Moonlight pouring through a circular opening above me.
Someone stood in front of me.
I couldn't see their face.
A hand reached toward mine.
I knew that hand.
I knew
“Stop!”
I jerked back into the ruined apartment.
My breath tore from my lungs.
Mira caught me before I fell.
“Aurelia!”
I gripped her arm.
“I saw something.”
Kael was already in front of me.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“A room.”
His expression changed.
“Describe it.”
I hesitated.
“You know it.”
His silence answered before his mouth did.
“A stone chamber,” I continued. “White walls. Moonlight.”
Kael's face went completely still.
“And someone was there.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
The memory slipped further away.
I closed my eyes.
“A hand.”
Kael didn't move.
“I knew the hand.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Whose?”
I opened my eyes.
“I don't know.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Kael looked away.
That was the first thing he had done since meeting me that felt like fear.
Not the fear of a monster.
The fear of a memory.
I pulled myself upright.
“You've seen it before.”
Kael's gaze returned to mine.
“No.”
“Then how did you know what I was describing?”
He said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“You know something about me.”
“Aurelia”
“No.”
My voice shook, but I didn't care.
“You keep looking at me like I'm someone you lost.”
His jaw tightened.
I saw the answer before he gave it.
“You've seen this mark before.”
Silence.
I moved closer.
“On who?”
Kael's eyes dropped to the crescent.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet.
“Not on you.”
My heart stopped.
“Then where?”
Kael looked directly into my eyes.
“On the woman who disappeared the night the Moon died.”
Something flickered across his face.
Pain.
Gone so quickly I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it.
“You knew her.”
It wasn't a question.
Kael said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
My stomach tightened.
“Who was she?”
His jaw locked.
“Someone I failed to save.”
The room went silent.
My skin prickled beneath the rain-damp fabric.
The mark was still warm against my chest.
Someone Kael had failed to save.
Someone who carried this same symbol.
Someone who disappeared on the night the Moon died.
And somehow, that symbol was now burning beneath my skin.
I didn't know what frightened me more the possibility that Kael knew the truth about my past...
or the way he had looked at me when he said he'd failed to save her.
For five years, I'd been afraid of the things I couldn't remember.
Now I had something worse.
A reason to remember.
And Kael Draven was standing directly in front of it.
The man who knew the pieces of my past I couldn't remember.
The man who looked at me like he'd lost me once already.
And, somehow, the man I was beginning to fear I might want to trust.
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