The Dark Rising (The Hidden of Vrohkaria Book Two)

I rouse from the bed, a tinkling noise rattling against the windows. I look over to the side of Darius’s bed and see he’s not there again. Though this time I didn’t wake up when he left, he definitely tired me out.

Tink.

My brows furrow and I creep out of bed, picking up the dress I had on earlier and putting it on. Padding over to the balcony doors, I open one and step outside in the night, wondering if it’s Illium. I frown when I don’t see him anywhere, and I go to turn when something clacks against the door. Looking down, I see a stone rolling to a stop. What the… Picking it up, I examine it in my hand. Another comes then, landing next to my bare foot and I look over to the balcony. Creeping closer, I open my senses and look out toward the distance.

Leaning my palms on the stone, I look down and spot a figure standing below. He’s wearing black pants and a t-shirt rather than donning his armor like earlier.

“What are you doing?” I ask Darius, my head tilted.

He throws a stone up in the air before catching it. “Come down,” he says, his tone soft.

“Huh?”

He huffs, looking up into the night sky. “Come down, barefooted, and quickly.” Confused, I eye him one last time before I leave the room and make my way down.

Rounding the hallways and opening the door at the bottom of the stairs that lead me outside, I walk out with the warm summer breeze gliding past me. Darius waits for me, his arms folded and he nods his head to follow him.

“Where are we going?” I ask as we walk. I follow close behind him on bare feet, watching as the muscles of his back move with each step. My eyes are unable to help trail down to his ass and then down to the back of his thighs. His dark chuckle brings me out of my staring.

“I can feel your eyes on me, little wolf.” I huff.

We take the now familiar path toward the iron gates where we go to the willow fields. My dress gently flows around me as we walk under the moonlight, and I inhale the scent of the lands, relaxing my shoulders as I take it in. The grass stalks flatten under my feet as we pass the gate and as we venture deeper, Darius pauses suddenly, looking up toward the moon once more.

“This will do.” What will do? He turns toward me with a look in his eyes that I cannot understand. He goes to open his mouth, but then closes it, stepping toward me. “Put your power to the ground, just a little further up.” He nods in the direction in front of him.

“What? Why?” I wonder, looking down. “The land is healthy here.” He sighs in frustration but what does he expect me to say? He woke me in the middle of the night and brought me here, I’m going to have questions.

“Can you just do as you are told?” I blink at him. “Of course you won’t,” he says, but it’s laced with something like adoration along with a small smirk. He walks over to me. I tip my head back to look at him and he stands in front of me, his eyes roaming my face. “Just do it, little wolf.” He leans forward and rubs his nose against mine. A breath escapes my lips and he takes a good amount of steps back from me, giving me room.

I eye him curiously as I walk a little, feeling the grass tickle my feet. “How much power?” I ask him, calling it to my palm already.

“Just a little at first,” Darius says.

Crouching down, I feel the stalks between my fingers, the summer breeze making them pass through them gently. Looking over my shoulder at Darius, he stands there, arms folded as he watches me with an intensity that makes fireflies swirl in my belly.

Without taking my eyes off him, I place my palm to the ground and immediately feel life pulse through me, greeting me. I wiggle my fingers before I guide my power into the earth, watching as the glow of my tendrils seep down before I lay my hand flat on the ground. The grass lengthens.

“What now?” I ask him.

“Keep going.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

I look down and do as he asks, calling more power and tingles spread to my fingertips, flowing through my hands. They connect with something deep into the dirt, and I tilt my head, pushing a little more into it. Something tickles my hand, and I snatch it back, watching as a stem appears out of the ground. It sprouts up, coming up to below my knee if I were standing. My head turns sharply to Darius when I see a bud form at the end.

“Is.. is that…”

“More,” he says gruffly. I look down at the bud, wondering how it got here. “More, little wolf,” Darius says again, this time more demanding.

Taking a deep breath, I do as he says, pressing my palm back down to the ground and pushing more of my power into the earth. I feel it spread out under it, like roots moving and twining, connecting with others. A stem pops up next to the one in front of me, then another and another. I pause, hesitant and not quite sure what’s going on.

“Keep going,” Darius whispers, but I hear it all the same.

With shaky hands, I press my other palm to the ground and push more and more power into the earth, feeling my markings appear as sprout after sprout shoot up around me, spreading out. There are hundreds of them, if not more. The green stalks keep coming all over the clearing while I look at Darius.

“Just a little further.” He keeps his eyes locked on mine as I force more power into the earth, unable to look away until my gaze snags on a color out of the corner of my eye.

Blue, a blue I know so well. I gasp, rising to my feet on unsteady legs. My eyes widen as blue flowers after blue flowers bloom, too many for me to count. They start glowing under the moonlight, and tears sting the back of my eyes.

“Lesia flowers,” I breathe, reaching down to touch their petals, feeling the breath releasing from my lungs like the force of a wave against a cliff.

My eyes take them all in, feeling a homesickness wash over me briefly, but then replaced by a giddiness that I can’t contain. I stalk through them, feeling them on the tips of my fingers as happiness unfurls inside of me, the feeling strange after so long. They reach up to my knees, and I make sure not to crush any as I move. Stopping beside another one, I caress its petals and marvel at its beauty. A laugh suddenly comes from me, and then, I’m running.

I run through the flowers that were my childhood, that remind me of my mom with a smile on my face as I laugh in delight. I pick a flower and twirl around, smiling down at it as I bring it to my nose and smell its scent. I can’t believe this, I can’t believe the sea of blue I’m surrounded by.

Still smiling, I pick a bunch of them, my bare feet covered in dirt as I don’t stop running and twirling in the field of lesia flowers. The moon shines down on them, making them glow and lighting up the way, making me feel like I’m gliding through them on water.

I pick one last flower and spin, and then stop short. Darius stands a few feet away from me, having come closer at some point, his eyes alight as he takes in my appearance that is no doubt covered in dirt and frazzled.

“How?” I ask Darius, closing my eyes and taking in the sweet scent surrounding me. It feels like I’m wrapped up in a blanket of happiness and safety.

“You missed them,” Darius says. “I saw what they meant to you when you realized they got rid of them at your old pack home.” Is that why he started bringing me a flower every day?

Gratefulness fills me. “Were they always here? Just hidden deep below?”

He looks off to the side. “No.”

“No?” I ask, surprised. “Then how did they get here?” He hesitates in his answer, and I tilt my head at him curiously.

He shrugs. “I bought seeds from a merchant.” My eyes widen, and he looks around the field, his jaw ticking like he’s uncomfortable. “I spent any time I could coming out here and putting them into the ground.”

“You… you planted every one of them?” There are hundreds. Is this where he has been going at night?

“Yeah,” he whispers, and I look back at him with tears in my eyes.

“I…” I look around in awe, and my chest warms at the fact that he did this for me. Darius, the Alpha of the Elites, planted flower seeds, for me.

“It’s yours now, little wolf.” He nods to the flowers. “Do with it what you wish.”

A smile spreads across my face and he looks over my features, his shoulders tensing. I walk back over to him, Stopping a few feet away. “There are so many of them,” I tell him, and he grunts.

“I wanted to give you something back that was taken from you.” I swallow past the lump in my throat as emotion threatens to choke me. I felt like since I was captured and put in that basement, all anyone has ever done was take from me what I had not freely given. He has no idea what he has just done for me. The single flowers were more than I could hope for with seeing a lesia flower again, but this?

I bite my lip and my feet take me the last remaining steps to the male who gave me a field of lesia flowers. I pick a flower from my bunch, the best one and hand it to him, suddenly nervous. He’s the Alpha of the Elites. What would he want with a flower? But the urge to give him one overwhelms me. He did all of this for me, he didn’t have to but he did. I want to show him my appreciation and this is the only thing I can think of right now.

I don’t look up as I hold it out to him, nerves flowing through me and a shyness overcomes me that I don’t feel often. It’s not enough that it overshadows the elation I feel though. I hear rather than see him swallow, and then his hand is reaching out, his fingers grazing mine as he gently takes the flower from me.

“Laeliah,” he murmurs, and my head snaps up, a smile on my face at him calling the flower beautiful. But he’s not looking at the flower, he’s looking at me.

My chest rises in the deep breath as he takes a step closer, towering over me as he raises his hand and carefully, so carefully tucks the flower in my hair, just above my ear. When he’s happy with it, his hand comes down to my cheek, and he holds it in his grip.

“Laeliah,” he repeats, looking deeply into my eyes as he tilts his head down and places the softest of kisses against my forehead.

I close my eyes and let the feeling of tenderness fill me, letting out a small sigh at the contact. Moments like this where he’s so gentle with me are not often, but it makes me cherish them more, unable to help the way it makes me feel. Cared for, adored. I don’t get to feel that a lot of the time so when I do, I wrap it up within me for safe keeping.

Darius makes a noise in the back of his throat before rubbing his thumb over my jaw. “Go and play, little wolf.” He takes a step back, a small smile on his face that I want to see more of. “I’ll watch over you.”

I go to him and raise up on my tip toes, placing a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”

Then I turn, smile, and I run.

I run through the flowers that were my childhood that were stolen from me but now have been given back. Runa howls in delight inside of me, and I echo it in the giggle that escapes me. And then I twirl and spin, letting my magic flow after me like ribbons dancing on the breeze in pure happiness as their sweet scent tickles my senses. I laugh, the sound so free and innocent that I wonder if it even came from me as it has been so long since I’ve heard it, but it did come from me.

I don’t stop moving in a field of blue flowers that my enemy made me. Just for me. Well into the night and when the sun begins to rise, and the flowers stop glowing, I still play, run, twirl and be free. Darius gave me something so precious, and I’m not even sure he realizes it.

I stop in the center, my chest heaving and my smile wide. Turning to Darius, he stands there all imposing, arms folded, but I see his own smile on his face as he watches me.

I add that to the smile with the wisps, the pups, when he kissed me under the moonlight.

I add that to my precious memories to keep as he tilts his head at me and smirks.

And then I continue to play while he’s there, watching over me and never leaving my side.