The Forest Keeper

Chapter Eleven: IN WHICH Dameon Makes an Appearance

Monday, October 22nd

"Kea..."

She opened her eyes and sat up, yawning and stretching. She rubbed her right eye and watched Leonas sit next to her, grim and dark. "What's wrong?" she asked, still waking up.

He raised his hand, like he was about to put his arm around her shoulders, but he stopped before he touched her.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," she snickered, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Come on, what's wrong?"

He met her eyes, his pupils barely visible as the slits they were. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. "I'm not afraid of you," he whispered with a thin smile. "I just don't want to make you that way."

She rolled her eyes, putting her head on his shoulder – it felt like that was what she was supposed to do. It felt... good, being so close to him. "You're not going to. I don't scare easily, and you know it."

He chuckled and rubbed her shoulder. "You are an interesting woman, Keeper Kea," he breathed, inclining his head and brushing his free hand over one of hers. He smirked as she shivered. "Are you cold?"

"No. I'm fine..." she sighed. "What is it that you need?"

He looked at her for a moment. "What would you say if I told you I need you?" he asked, his question little more than a sigh. He grinned and wrapped his fingers around her hand.

She pursed her lips, fighting to keep her heartrate down. "Then I would smack you and call you a lovesick fool," she answered, ready to pull her hand away.

He shrugged. "Well, I suppose you would be right..." He let out a long breath. "But no. That's not what I'm here for." He reached behind him and took something out of a bag. He held his hands out to her. "I found these while I was coming back from the fortress. Thought you might..." He shrank back for a second, and then held his hands back out.

She looked at his hands. He held two blue wings between his hands, the silvery powder sticking to his fingers.

"Are those..." Avanelle's wings. My mom's... wings... With shaking hands, she took the wings and looked at them with wide eyes. They had shrunk quite a bit, shriveled in the moist air and soil of the Dark Quarter, but the color was still the same.

Leonas put his hand on her shoulder again as she started to cry. "Why are you crying, Kea?"

She shook her head. "I knew she was gone, but..." She blinked the tears away, shaking her head. "But I guess it just hadn't sunk in. I guess I thought, maybe, there was a chance."

"She was a darkling, Kea. You may have forgotten, because she was your friend for thirteen years, but that doesn't change who she was. And when you work for a demon, there is no guarantee as to how long you're going to live in his service. Trust me."

She looked at him, tears still barreling down her cheeks. "What do you mean?"

He shook his head, pressing a finger to her lips. "Just trust me. I know what I'm talking about." He glanced at her mouth, and then back to her eyes. "If I knew you would always trust me, I would tell you everything. I would give you my whole life story, if that's what you wanted."

She took his hand, putting it on her knee. "I've been asking you to tell me for a month, Leonas. Are you going to tell me now?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. Not until I have a good enough reason to."

"Oh, and me finding out that you had a three-year relationship with Talyn isn't enough?" she hissed, moving away from him and letting him go.

He grabbed her hand back and entwined his fingers with hers. "There are things that surpass that relationship. Deeper, darker things, that I hope you never have to see from me." He looked at her hand, brushing his fingers along her knuckles. "I just need you to trust me. Can you do that for me?" he whispered, meeting her eyes again.