Chapter 23


    Chapter 23


    I twisted it, having to push my weight against it as I shoved it open. I coughed and choked on the dust,


    and the draft here was so much colder. Ice cold and made me shiver. Stone steps led up. Climbing them,


    I stopped halfway up the spiraling stone steps to a stained ss window.


    I peered out and saw the back of the castlends but that wasn’t all I noticed. It was road. I was high


    enough to see over the forest and I could just make out with my heightened vision a road snaked


    between the forest as a car drove along the narrow-looking path.


    That could be my escape, yet I wondered how it led into the castle grounds or if it did. Ascending further


    up the steps, I find I am in a round room. The pointed ceiling told me I had found my way to one of the


    castle towers. By the time I got to the top. I was covered in cobwebs and dust.


    The wooden floorboards creaked as I stepped inside. Boxes covered nearly all of the floor when I noticed


    a figure that looked out of ce amongst the boxes. Kalenid on the floor, his cheek pressed against


    the floorboards. He was murmuring t o himself in anguage I hadn’t heard before, or maybe it didn’t


    exist because his words held no sense to me.


    “Kalen?” I murmured but he didn’t move, and the feeling I got from him was cold and numb, shadowed


    with darkness.


    I called out his name a couple of times before giving up andying on the ground beside him; Iid on


    my side facing him. His eyes were closed and his lips moved as he spoke to himself in a barely audible


    whisper. I reached out and brushed his cheek gently with my hand. His eyes flew open, going to mine. I


    don’t think he had heard me calling his name or felt my presence. He seemed to be in some trance-like


    state before I touched him or maybe he still was, I was unsure.


    He grabbed my hand on his cheek, kissing my palm, and he looked so vulnerable, desperate as he


    clutched my hand. My hand cracked in his tight grip, but I just gritted my teeth through it instead of


    jerking it away.


    “You’re here, are you really here?” he whispers, kissing my wrist and hugging my arm and hand to his


    chest.


    “You feel real. I can even smell your scent,” He whispers.


    “I’m real, Kalen,” I tell him, but he mumbles to himself incoherently. His behavior scared me. He almost


    seemed insane.


    “Why are you up here? It is freezing,” I tell him.


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    “I don’t think it’s cold, is it cold?” he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or me. His eyes


    stared at me, but it was like he was looking through me.


    “I don’t want to go with them,” he mumbles.


    “Go with who?” I ask him, and he wiggles closer.


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    “They want me back; I shouldn’t be here. They want me back with them,”


    “Who wants you back, Darius?”


    “No, they won’t let me near you. They took you from me,” his words made no sense because I was right


    in front of him.


    “Now, I can’t see you,”


    “Why can’t you see me? I am right here, Kalen,” I tell him.


    “But I won’t be able to see you. They will make me take the pills. I don’t want to the pills. I don’t want


    Darius to take it away. He always takes you from me, I need you, I need you,” He mutters. I moved


    closer, pressing my forehead against his.


    “I love you, Aleera. I have always loved you,” he mutters, wiggling closer to me, so his body was against


    mine. My heart twisted painfully in my chest? Was he like this because of me? Did my leaving send him


    insane? Surely a keeper didn’t have this much power and influence over their mate.


    “Kalen, we should head back to Darius,” I tell him. I didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t want to say the


    wrong thing, I wasn’t sure if he was violent in this state, but I knew I didn’t want to find out. Kalen shakes


    his head.


    “We can stay a little longer; I don’t want you to disappear again, just a while longer,” I chewed my lip,


    knowing I needed to call them somehow, but I had no magic when my eyes darted to Kalen. I could feel


    his dark magic oozing off him, it had utterly enveloped him, and it was so thick and strong, almost


    glowing off him, and I was surprised I hadn’t noticed when I came in.


    Darius would kill me, but I didn’t know what else to do. We couldn’t stay up here, but siphoning even just


    enough magic t o alert them to my whereabouts meant they would know I touched his power. I


    swallowed, deciding I would take the wrath of Darius. I was their keeper. This was what I was supposed


    to be for, transferring power from one to the other and it was almost too easy as I touched my fingers to


    his hand that still clutched hand tightly. My fingers were purple as the cirction was cut off.


    I barely touched him, but I gasped as his dark magic flowed through me, making me giggle as it tickled


    my sense when I felt it trying to change to light. I couldn’t allow that, so I quickly touched my mark,


    sending the power through my infinity symbol. It glowed silver but didn’t burn like it did the first time.


    Just tingled when I felt a weird sensation, almost like an intuition run up my arm from my mark, letting me


    know they felt it, and I was d I didn’t try to revel in the feel of Kalen’s magic, they would have noticed


    my power change, and they may have figured out what I was. Despite sending the magic into my mark, it


    lingered in my veins writhing through me, and I felt it give my magic a little kick, urging it to life and my


    senses tingled with ecstasy before it died out, knowing Darius wouldn’t let me keep it.


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