Tasting Darkness By Jessicahall Chapter 22


    Chapter 22 Aleera POV


    I woke up dazed and confused and back in my room, and I couldn’t remember how I got here. Thest


    thing I remember was being out in the training fields, and I remembered Darius using his magic. I


    rubbed my temples, looking around the small space when the door bursts open. Darius’s eyes fell on m


    e, and at first, I thought he would scold me, but the panicked look on his face told me he wasn’t in my


    room to deliver some punishment.


    “Is he in there?” Lycus said, bumping into the back of Darius.


    “What’s-” I wanted to ask what happened, but Darius cut me off with a re


    “Stay in your room.” he snapped at me before mming the door so hard I was surprised it didn’t


    break.


    Something niggled at my insides, dread filling me, and I wasn’t sure if it was my own feeling or the


    intuition of the bond that had been growing stronger daily. Without realizing i t, I ran my fingers over my


    infinity marking with their names.


    Kalen flooded to the forefront of my mind before my room suddenly disappeared. Just evaporated


    around me. My stomach tried to rise into my throat when I felt pulled into new surroundings. I had no


    idea what I had done, but I was suddenly inside Kalen’s head.


    I couldn’t hear his thoughts but could see out his eyes, see what he saw. I appeared to be in some


    attic. Dust-covered boxes were scattered everywhere. His hands started banging o n his head as he


    yanked his hair, nails scraping down his face. I could feel his flesh tearing, and I wondered what was


    wrong with him, why he was acting this way. I wanted to understand, and I cursed that I couldn’t hear


    what he was thinking. What good was it to be in someone’s head if all you got was seeing what they


    saw and feeling what they felt.


    His emotions were all over the ce as I tried to understand them when I was pushed out. I gasped,


    feeling breathless. How did I do that? I had no magic. Maybe it was a trick of the mate bond or possibly


    my harmony side of my magic. All I knew was I somehow thought of him, and I was suddenly in him.


    I looked down at the infinity symbol, confused. One thing I did know was I got the same nagging feeling


    of panic I saw on Darius and Lycus’s face, that he shouldn’t be alone. That he was a danger to himself.


    Moving toward the door, I was shocked to find it unlocked. Darius must not have checked the main


    entrance or forgotten with his worry. I peeked out into the hall and saw no one. Darius said to remain in


    my room, yet I found my feet moving on their own as I wandered aimlessly around. Coming to the


    stairs, I stopped when I heard Tobias’s frantic voice and Lycus and Darius were arguing over where


    Kalen would go.


    “He is not in the usual ces,” Lycus worried.


    “Can either of you feel him?” Tobias asked. I glimpsed over the banister, I was on the third floor, and


    they were on the ground floor.


    “What happened? What did you do this time to set him off, Darius,” Tobias said, gripping Darius’s shirt.


    “What do you think he did? He probably did something to Aleera. You know how he gets when it has


    anything to with her,” Lycus snapped.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    “Fighting with me is not helping to find him; I did nothing. I only asked if he took his medication because


    I could tell he hadn’t,”


    “Shit!” Tobias curses.


    “What is it?” Darius demanded, and I looked over to see Tobias clutch his head.


    “I told him if he took them, I would let him see her tonight,”


    “You what?”


    “She won’t hurt him, Darius, I think she even likes him,”


    “If she liked him, she wouldn’t have run the first chance she got,” Lycus scoffs.


    “I don’t know, but she is different around him,”


    “How so? I swear if she has done something, I will fucking end her,” Darius snarled.


    “No, not that. Like she can sense the shadows on him. I can’t exin it, but she is different when it


    comes to him,” Tobias argued back.


    “Maybe?”


    “No!” Both Lycus and Darius bellowed at the same time. I turned away, having heard enough. I wasn’t


    sure what was going on with Kalen but I needed to find him, the bond pulling me toward him and urging


    me to get to him.


    I had no idea where I was going, but I seemed to have wandered into an almost empty part of the


    castle. This side was cold and the draft told me it had been closed for a long time. Dust clung to the


    walls and the sparse furnishings. Pushing the door further open, I slip inside.


    The cold draft washed over me and sent a chill up my spine from my toes. This ce looked


    untouched, and I wondered how long I had wandered for beforeing to this blocked-off part of the


    castle. It was eerily silent over here and gave me the creeps. Walking down therge hall, I looked at


    the high ceilings, the chandeliers covered in cobwebs. This ce looked like it was out of some


    medieval movie. Like I stepped back in time to a different world. I ran my fingertips over the hallstand


    before brushing the dust off.


    Even without having magic, I could tell this ce was abandoned and forgotten for a reason.


    Something terrible happened within this part of the castle. Moving further down the hall, I stopped in


    front of a massive portrait of a man. He had a startling resemnce to Darius before my eyes fell on


    the teenage boy at his side. Reaching up, I swiped the dust off his face and it was indeed Darius. The


    man had his hand on his shoulder, and Darius appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen. Both dressed


    in a suit, and he shared his father’s features, the same cold eyes, and expressionless face.


    Giving it onest look, I let the bond pull me to another corridor lined with doors, yet I never got the


    urge to enter any of them as I passed them, instead my feet took me to the end t o arge door with


    silver knobs.