Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 9 - Aleera POV As more memories washed past me, | couldnt be bothered to focus on them.

| didn’t care for them. | cared for the feeling of agony tearing through my chest as his pain bled intothrough the bond. The pain was so intense and raw, so d*mn fresh, that | didn’t believe it could be eased by the most skilled healers.

Nothing I did would pullout of the trance my body was in. It didn’t matter how hard | tried to fight back, how much of my energy and my own power | forced into breaking the veil - it didn’t move. It didn’t letgo.

It forcedto watch his memories. | was stuck in-between the pain and past. The veil forcedto endure Darius’ pain physically in this memory state and in the waking world.

Even in my current surroundings, | could hear them. As if the veil took pity uponand letlisten in while the memory scenes kept rounding me. The foreign feeling forceddeeper into the past of the very man who shared his pain with me.

Their voices roundedlike whispers in the wind, but | could still hear the intense panic resonating through the few words | could understand.

Tobias wanted to help Darius and | could hear my phoenixes cawing loudly, desperately wantingto cback. They were tellingsomething was seriously wrong.

Nothing worked, no matter what I tried, it didn’t work, so | decided to focus on my anger towards Darius’ past.

Maybe that could helpbreak the chains that heldin this helpless state.

A storm was brewing fiercely, it made the wind howl, and | was suddenly very aware of my outside surroundings.

The memories that trapped my mind caughtbetween both worlds. | was present in two alternate realities at the st- one in the far past, and the other which needed me.

The more | saw, the more enraged | became. Along with my rage, my magic strengthened to the point it consumedwhole.

Yet, when Darius’ pain and power surged through the bond, something insidebroke. My scream echoed in my head and bled out of me. It was powerful enough to force my eyes open and break the veil between reality and memories.

| could hear and see everything, but my body was paralyzed. | could hear my mates, see them. Hear the glass breaking. Even the tiniest cracks were like the loudest speakers replaying the ssound over and over again in my mind.

And then, finally, | could hear the power surging as | forced it on them, feeding my mates with my power through the bond. For a brief moment, relief washed over me. | did something I had no idea | was desperate to do.

| wasn’t sure how I did it. Wasn't even aware it was possible, but when | felt Darius start fighting with new vigor, | knew | did something useful. Wherever he was, whatever he did, he hadnow, and | would do anything to get him out of there alive.

Just like he chose me. Regardless of how wrong or right his doings were - he always chose me. Now, | chose Darius. Now | accept every dark part of him, just like he chose to love every dark and light filled part of me.

“He’s hurt!” Kalen gritted out. His voice was filled with anguish, and that alone made my heart sink. Desperation overtook my senses again.

| knew that, just like me, my mates were desperate to get Darius out of wherever he was and bring him back to safety.

| sucked in a deep, sharp breath, yet couldn't break the trance. Although I thought | had gotten past the veil, broken it, | was as far from the truth as one could be.

Darius’ memories were translucent as | peered up at the ceiling. | felt like | was watching everything through cellophane. | was still stuck in that transient state between the waking world and a talready passed.

His memories were forced onto watch, but those were the last thing | wanted to see. What | truly wanted was him, safe and sound, away from the awful past and reality.

All of a sudden, the lights flickered brightly, too brightly, and the entire room started shaking. Even the memories shook as | tried to break the hold his bond had on me.

The brickwork cracked and glass shattered when a loud, deafening scream left me. | couldn't stop it. | didn’t see the moment coming.

But the moment a scream broke out, a shift in energy rippled around me, and | felt it surging in my veins when it burst out of me, white-hot and f***king furious.

Like a slivering crack in the glass, | felt the seal Darius placed start to ripple, bend and crack before it exploded along with the light bulbs.

My breath hitched and cold seeped into my bones. The darkness enveloped me, making my bones ache. While | couldn't move a muscle and pain kept surging through me, my heart felt like a raging inferno, growing hotter with each throbbing beat.

When | finally managed to open my eyes, the room was so cold that my breath remindedof smoke clouds in the air. Fog filled the room as goosebumps laced over my skin.

The room was ice-cold, like a freezer.

Whatever awoke insidewanted out.

Fire and ice, light and darkness, both combative and just as lethal. Both fought a war inside, as I did my damnedest to fight his memories.

| could still feel Darius, feel my mates.

Lycus moved to touch me, but once his fingers barely grazed my skin, he hissed in pain.

His fingers turned black, as if frostbitten, and he screamed, jerking away from me. “How do we wake her?” | could clearly hear Lycus’ voice.

| tried to tell them | was right here, | was here with them, yet no sound left my lips. Frozen like a block of ice, trapped in a freezing room and my own mind. | could have screamed and even that sound wouldn't reach my mates.

Instead, i listen to them, focusing on them and their words. | barely grasped the short conversation as | tried to focus on the clawing caws of my Phoenixes. | tried to make them go with my mates, but they refused to leave.

Their disobedience only angeredmore. My mates needed the Phoenixes, yet the stubborn creatures weren't willing to leave their keeper.

Slight relief filledas | heard them rush to Darius’ aid, yet my nightmare was far from over. | was still left paralyzed in this state. I still couldn't break free and leave this place to look for Darius. Just when he neededthe most - | was... here...

Coldness slivered in my veins as | stared at the ceiling, watching the memories play out. Each passing second felt like an eternity, the coldness did nothing to numb my torment.

It did nothing to helpbreak free of the pure torture of knowing my mates needed me, and | was powerless. | was too far gone, too stuck to break free and help them.