You Can't Run From The Dark

{Part 43}

~Dessa~

Dessa couldn't believe that had worked. Why had she demanded they take her with them, when the last thing that she wanted to do was return to the Dark Realm to face a vindictive Fae Queen? Well, because the alternative was being left behind, to wait and worry if Zaire would return to her. And if it was true that the two of them shared one life force, and the man she loved was somehow slain on the other side of the Veil, she at least wanted to witness their demise, rather than suddenly perish in the mortal world, only able to wonder with her dying breath what could have been powerful enough to kill her mate, and her, by association. Not to mention, for some reason, Zaire and Talon both attempting to force her to stay in The Den to preserve HER safety, while they went to aid the Dark Fae rebellion, had ignited her own need for revenge. The King and Queen had been the ones to order her kidnapping and imprisonment. If it weren't for that, Dessa would probably still be blissfully unaware that everything that she was afraid of was real. She would be listening to music, stressing about money, and focusing on surviving in her more-predictable reality. 

The seed of revenge had excited her shadow - it had wound around her neck like a pet snake, and she had refused to back down until Zaire surrendered. Her selfish pride was short-lived, though, as Talon drove them in the direction of her neighborhood. What the hell?  

"Why are we - " Dessa started to ask, a roll of nausea plaguing her. 

"The closest seam is in the park near your house," Zaire explained, glancing back at her from the passenger seat. 

You've got to be fucking kidding me!  She had literally frolicked through that park growing up, unbeknownst to a goddamn portal to Faerie lingering right under her nose. Once again, she had to come to terms with the fact that she had never been safe. How long had Talon protected her without her knowing? Since she was born? She bit her tongue as Talon parked his silver Volvo and they all stepped out. Dessa slammed her door harder than necessary, and Talon did his best to stifle a smirk as he locked the car with a key-fob. On the way, Dessa noticed tire tracks in the grass, and Zaire chuckled darkly.

"Hm. Someone stole my car."

Talon laughed, shaking his head. "You left the keys in it?"

Zaire shrugged, absolutely careless, "I had more important things to worry about."

Dessa's lips parted, and she didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry hysterically. He must have left his Mercedes in the middle of the park, when he went to negotiate for her. The theft of his expensive vehicle didn't bother him one bit. That notion was both infuriating and flattering in some sick way. Infuriating, because she couldn't even afford a damn bicycle, and he mentioned the loss as if it were a minor change in weather. A car that had a higher cost than she could have ever hoped to afford in multiple lifetimes! Flattering, because she  was the thing that was important. The lowly human that he had decided to save was what merited his concern. She decided not to find it admirable. Saving her life once  hardly made up for the countless deaths that she had allegedly suffered. He was not her hero, but rather a villain that had decided to turn a new leaf, after decades of apathy. And she was no damsel-in-distress who would fawn over him blindly. She had to remind herself that just because she was in love with the man, that it didn't mean that he deserved it. She was so desperate for care that she could have twisted a serial killer into a knight-in-shining-armor, if he had just offered her his jacket on a chilly evening. She wasn't so delusional that she would allow herself to be weak in the knees over him abandoning his fancy Mercedes that clearly meant nothing to him. As if he could read her mind, rather than just taste her floundering emotions, he gave her a sideways glance that made her heart lodge in her throat.