Tasting Darkness

Chapter 17 

Darius POV 

Lycus was in a terrible mood when I came up to the room. Pushing the door open, Lycus was yelling at Kalen, which was rare; he tried to never raise his voice around Kalen. We all knew how fragile he was. We had all had to pull him back from the brink at some point, yet walking in, I had no doubt that Aleera was the reason.

“What’s going on?” I asked, opening the door and shrugging off my Jacket. I tossed it over the back of the chair by the fire. Turning around, they were both glaring at each other, yet neither answered.

“This has something to do with Aleera?”.

“Who else, she needs to go,” Lycus snaps at me, finally turning away from Kalen.

“What is this about? What did she do?” If she has disturbed the peace, she will be back in the cells.

“She did nothing; Lycus is the problem,” Kalen says before storming toward the door to leave.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“Out,”

I growled at him, and he stopped with his hand on the

You don’t get to control all of

safety, I do. You leave this room before I know what is going on. I will have her placed back in the cells, now sit your ass down,” I growl at him. Kalen’s knuckles turn white on the door handle, where he gripped it before he

fits four men was impossible, so we made one. Lycus watches him and moves to the couch by the fireplace. Despite his anger, Kalen’s behavior was as expected, and I could feel a hum of

just lay in bed and sulk or stare off blankly when he is depressed, clinging to our pillows like they were a safety net. I watched, amused as he reassembled our pillows so he could steal our

room. I turnt o him, and he nods, letting me know he dropped Aleera’s dinner off to her. He glances at Kalen, and I shrug, and he rolls his eyes before climbing on the bed and sitting next to him. Kalen rolled instantly, placing his head in Tobias’s lap. Tobias leans back against the headboard and brushes his fingers through Kalen’s hair and, I could feel Tobias magic

is coming from him. Kalen was our weak spot in more ways than one, and we hated upsetting him. His mind was fragile. One minute he was fine and overly excited and bouncing around. The next, he refused to get out of bed, would harm himself, or try and kill himself. I lost track over the last six years of the number of times he wanted to end it, the number of times he actually did, and we had to pull back from death, each time we brought him back, each time he

hung from the rafters unmoving. I had all the cameras pulled down that week. When I checked the footage, it sickened me. I couldn’t unsee it. Kalen on that damn tablet wondering why she never opened his message, staring at the screen when

the rope around his neck until he jumped off the

perfectly. He knew no one was in the castle watching. He knew we wouldn’t get back in time. Luckily, Lycus went back feeling sick. Kalen was dead before he walked into the castle, and Lycus found him hanging from the second floor. He cut him down and performed CPR until Tobias got back. We all felt his bond sever, yet Tobias didn’t stop. He kept feeding his blood to Kalen, and by some miracle, his heart started up, and Tobias’s blood

called on us. Kalen had never been

bed beside him before tucking his

his magic, it always made him worse, and I couldn’t believe I was stupid enough to take it from

“Come here,” I tell him,

her?” I asked him and

at Lycus because he

at her,”

wrong thing,” I tell