Page 47 of Dancing With Demons
Her panic as she chooses to rush through him breaks through the fog of my rage. “I’m protecting you.” It almost sounds like a question.
“Protecting me?” She reaches out to touch the cage, and then she jerks her hand back as one of the sparks zaps her. “What would I need protecting from?”
I open my mouth to respond, but as I study the worry on her face, I’m not so certain. I had thought he’d found a way to take her, to try and punish Piper for the fool she made of him. Ulstrath has been known for a long time to want an audience with the King and the one he received today should have been quite disappointing.
But as she hits her knees, murmuring to him that he’s going to be okay and that she’s going to save him, I realize that I misjudged it entirely.
“Let him go!” she cries, her eyes filling with tears.
“But-”
“Now!” The tears fall freely. “Don’t hurt him! He’s been hurt enough.”
“Piper,” Ulstrath calls to her soothingly. “I told you I’m fine.” He winces as my magic starts to brand his skin. “Don’t worry about what happened. It wasn’t–” His voice cuts off with a hiss at my magic wrapping around him. “-your fault,” he forces out.
He’s comforting her. I’m trying to kill him, and he’s comfortingher.Now, I can see how wrong I really was, and with my evaporating anger, the magic starts to fizzle out. The cage wavers, and finally, it dissipates.
Ulstrath drops to the ground, and Piper throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. “Are you okay?”
He looks like he’s on the verge of passing out, but he still gives her a gentle smile, touching her cheek as he whispers, “I’m okay.”
It makes my heart twist. I don’t even really know what came over me or why his concern for her was what made me pull back. All I know is that I would do anything for Piper, and she wanted me to stop hurting the little demon that I thought was hurting her… so, I did.
I grit my teeth as the emotion washes over me. I’ve fallen too hard for this human. Dare I think it, but I might be in love with her.
Sighing harshly through my nose, I know that is exactly what I feel. It feels so right as I roll it around my head, and the thought terrifies me. Piper has become my weakness, but she will never be mine. I will always have to guard these feelings because she is for the Hooded One.
“Piper,” I call out to her, and she turns toward me, standing slowly. “Let’s go home.”
She dares a glance back toward Ulstrath as the infirmary attendants come bustling in, shooing her away so they can tend to the demon. With one last longing look, she turns back to me and takes my hand.
We’re both quiet as I take her back to my tower. I’m too wrapped up in the events, of how protective I feel over her, of how quickly I’ll give into her. I don’t know what’s becoming of me.
I have every intention of just leaving Piper at her room. I have an afternoon class I need to deal with, and my head is a jumbled mess. I want to disappear into my study for a little while I sort out the hold this human has over me because I can’t keep losing myself like this. She can’t even be mine.
I’m playing with a storm, and I know it.
We arrive at the corridor her room is on, and I give her a subtle nod before turning to walk away. I expect Piper to want to get away from me, seemingly so upset with what has happened with Ulstrath today–not to mention my comments that seem to have driven her into his arms in the first place–but before I get more than a few steps away, a small hand latches onto my wrist.
The effect she has on me is instant.
My muscles relax, my brain fog clears, and my lips start to curl as I turn around to look at her. It doesn’t matter what’s going on; having her hands on me is always going to make me grin like a fool and turn my thoughts to liquid.
“Piper?” I whisper, my heart catching in my throat as I meet her gaze.
She doesn’t look happy. She’s staring at me with a mix of confusion, sadness, and hesitation. I’d do anything to erase that.
“Tolmond, you can’t keep treating me like this.”
I reach up to touch her cheek, but she takes a half step back. It’s enough of a movement to hit me like a blow to the chest. My hand falls to one side, and my heartrate kicks up another notch as I ask her, “Treating you like what?”
She blows out a breath, pushing her hair out of her face. “Like you own me!” Her demeanor changes so fast that it shocks me, but she’s angry. “You don’t want me to do anything or be around anyone without your permission, but you can’t confine me like this. You said you were supposed to help me with my powers, not be my warden.”
Gods help me because I swear I’m about to fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness from this woman. I’ll give her anything. “Piper, I never meant to make you feel trapped here. I just want what’s best for you.”
“Why?”
I blink. “What?”