Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 21 – Lycus moved to Kalen’s side, his hand ghosting over the others’ shoulder. He leaned against him, trying to pull him away from the darkness that threatened our mate. His depression was heavy like a blanket and was not only suffocating Kalen, but also us. Without Aleera he was a mess, he needed her to remove the shadows that threatened to overtake him.

Tobias on the other hand had lapsed into silence since we found ourselves back here. Silent and troubled, he was lost to his thoughts, every bit the same as I was, trying to reason out her plan. Aleera wouldn’t have risked abandoning Kalen.

Even if she did have a plan for all this, her actions would still have consequences. She’d forgotten the most important thing about our unit, without her, there was no us.

If anything happened to her and her plan went wrong… There was no way we could survive her loss, not now when we were all connected to each other and finally complete.

Loud screeching caws echoed close by and my eyes moved to where Tobias stood still staring out the window. Did he not see it? From his blank, empty stare I figured he was trapped in his own mind, but I did. A flash of bright plumage in this dark hellscape.

Ryze landed on the windowsill. She screeched again at Tobias and almost automatically, he scratched her feathers. She shook her head and called to him again, but he continued to stare. Ryze screeched angrily before biting him hard enough to make him jump.

“What is it, girl?” I asked, approaching the pissed off Ryze.” Why did you leave her?”

and when I reached the window

were covered in Aleera’s Phoenixes, which all

prison of darkness. He gasped at the sight of all of them. He moved quickly, shoving me aside, so he too could stare at all of them. Hope bloomed within him and flagged shortly after. He must have thought that she would have returned with them, but that would be too easy. His hope wilted away as she

fingers. She screeched at me, trying to get me to show her my palm. Her feathers ruffled and she bit me harder. “What?”

speech. “Leera,” she added, biting my finger again, did

empty palm. I had no food for her right now. Her tongue flicked over my wrist,

connection, I felt it. It was a small glimpse, but the bond confirmed that she was alive. I had my own glimmer of hope. However, she was moving farther away,

there was nothing there

forcing my muscles to go rigid, but it blessed me with the clarity I so desperately sought. “We aren’t powerless, she sent them home,” I mumbled. Her intentions were crystal clear.

“The Phoenixes,” I whispered.

magical birds. “What about them?” He asked,

shook his head as he stared at his glowing red wrist. The surge of power Ryze had given me, shone on my mates as well. “She sent them home to us,” Tobias declared,