Daughter of Stars and Nightmares (The Eternal Bond Saga book 1)

The Madness that Consumes 2

Julia's eyes fluttered open and saw Damien standing over Mormo's limp body; his hands drenched in blood. He turned and scooped Julia up into his strong arms and ran to his room on the fourth floor.

Still a little groggy she whispered, "What happened, Damien? What did you do to Mormo?"

He lay her down on his bed, sitting next to her checking her over. Then tilted his head and stroked her cheek. "Your eyes have changed colour," his voice was, soft and kind.

Julia was going to swat his hand away; but she remembered her conversation with Beatrix and went easy on him. She sighed reaching up and took his hand giving it a little squeeze. "What happened, Damien?"

Damien gazed into her eyes for a moment. "Mormo would have killed you. I walked in on him performing some spell that wasn't working. Then he stopped and started ranting about not needing you anymore and how he could make a better weapon than Lord Dumah. He grabbed a knife and was about to stab you." Damien looked into her eyes silently pleading with her. "Julia, I love you. Not in some twisted way like Alex. I didn't fall in love with you because you look like Beatrix . I fell in love with you, the girl in front of me. I'm sorry I kept the whole reincarnation thing a secret; but I know how messed up it is. You were happy in Havenswood and I didn't want to take that away from you."

Julia winced as she sat up the pain in her body still hadn't gone. She reached out and put two fingers on his lips to stop him from talking. Deep down she knew he wasn't the bad guy in all of this. She just didn't know why he did what he did. "Please stop, Damien. I know you love me. I'm still not one hundred percent convinced that you're not transferring some of the feelings you had for Beatrix onto me, but I know you love me. It doesn't change the fact you're working for Thorsen. You know he's crazy and hell-bent on destroying our peaceful way of life. Why would you work for him? What happened to you?"

He looked away and Julia could tell he was ashamed. She put both her hands on his cheeks and pulled his face toward her. "Please, Damien, I need to know."

He looked like a defeated man. Looking into her eyes with such longing he answered, "She said she loved me. When Beatrix was betrothed to Alex, she wanted us to run away together and get married. I talked her into staying knowing our families would make an example out of us for defying them. I had hoped that I could get my family on board first and then talk Alex into breaking the engagement off. I thought I had time, because they loathed each other."

His whole body deflated and seeing the tears lapping in his eyes crushed Julia. She knew he had such a kind soul and the depth of his feelings ran deep. There was so much more to him than she'd ever given him credit for.

"But somewhere along the way they fell in love and she chose him. It destroyed me, Julia, and utterly crushed my soul. Thorsen saw that, and he played on my weakness. Promising me a new start with a different version of her ̶ you. I am so sorry for the part I played in all of this but it was so we could be together."

She started to say his name, but he cut her off with a kiss. This one wasn't like the one in the woods. It was chock full of passion, love, sorrow and desperation. She knew he was showing her his true feelings. Because Julia was so confused about who she was, and how she truly felt, she kissed him back.

At first it felt nice, even liberating. She knew without a doubt he loved her and not Beatrix. But, all too soon, Alex flashed in her mind. Even though she had serious doubts about how Alex really felt about her and she could see herself being happy with Damien, deep down Julia knew she didn't love Damien. Not the way she loved Alex.

Julia pulled away from him. "I'm sorry but I just don't love you the way you want me too. You will always be in my heart. But I will not string you along, Damien. No matter how hard I try not to love him or how confusing things get. My heart always goes back Alex. I'm connected to him, there's this bond we have and I can't explain it but he is a part of me."