Tempting Darkness

However, Kalen still asked, and I noticed Darius fall onto the bed. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my skull. "Tell me something. You remember the night of the fire?"

I blinked at Kalen, wondering how that helped anything. Yet the look on his face told me he was trying to prove something to Darius or maybe to me, I wasn't sure. "I remember coming home sick from school. I think I got food poisoning," I told him, and he nodded.

I thought back to that day, but it was kind of hazy. My brows creased as I tried to think. "My mom was angry; she and my father were arguing, and I threw up on the floor."

Why couldn't I remember after that? I remembered my father cleaning the mess up. I also remembered my mother giving me a drink, but that wasn't it until the actual fire.

"What else do you remember?" Kalen asked, leaning forward, and I noticed Darius hop off the bed and walk over to us. He dropped into the armchair across from us and loaded more wood into the fireplace, though I knew he had only come over to listen. "I remember the smoke woke me, and I remember calling out to my father. He called back and told me to hold on. That he was trying to get to me," I answered.

"What else?" Kalen nodded.

"Just trying to move, trying to get to the door, but I felt so heavy, and my lungs burned. I think I crawled to the door," I told him.

"Anything else?" Kalen asked when the bathroom door opened. Tobias stepped out, followed by a billow of steam.

"I remember burning, which must have been my side. Then waking up to see Darius standing in front of me, his hands out. My mother's screams when the roof fell in and the forest behind the house caught fire but that is it." I averted my eyes when Tobias dropped his towel, catching a glimpse of his a*s as he slid some gray tracksuit pants on.

Kalen chuckled as my face flushed. Darius raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing, nor did he add anything about that night. He simply sat back and watched Kalen and me.

Looking over at Tobias, I stared at the burns on his back and his skin, patchy in places. "Your burns. Why didn't you heal them, and why are they so bad?" I asked.

He looked at me over his shoulder before turning to Darius, who nodded at him.

"Because it took all of our power to heal you," Tobias said simply.

I looked at Darius, who had an indecipherable expression on his face.

"Your back would have looked ten times worse than his and your legs. When we got to the house, the roof over your bedroom was partially collapsed. You were trapped on the floor with a beam on you. We dragged you out just before the entire room caved in after breaking the wards that trapped you in there," Darius finally said.

"Wards?" I asked, a little confused.

"Yes, your room was sealed. You could get in but not back out. Tobias is burned because he used his body as a shield while I broke them," Darius answered.

"So, why didn't you heal him?" I asked.

"As Tobias said, we drained our power to heal you. What we had left, we used to cloak you."

I pulled a face. He made no sense.

"That is also why we couldn't find you after your powers manifested. We cloaked you well, even from ourselves."

"Why cloak me at all?" I asked.

"To hide you from the person or people who tried to kill you. What I want to know, though, is why they tried because the only logical reason is that you are my mate." "And mine," Tobias added.

"Why does it matter if I am your mate?"

"Exactly, Aleera. So, ask yourself this: Why would your parents try to kill you just to stop me from having you?" Darius asked.

"My parents didn't try to kill me, Darius. I remember them trying to get to me."

"You remember hearing their voices? Tobias and I got to you pretty easily by opening a portal into your room. Getting you out? We couldn't open one. So, again, Aleera, why would they try to kill you?"

"They wouldn't. My parents loved me, Darius. I heard my father trying to smash through the floor to get to me. Then you got there whenever you did and killed them. You probably started it," I snapped at him. "Why would I try to kill my own keeper? Hurt my mate?" he asked, nodding toward Tobias.

I looked at him, and Tobias was watching me. "Maybe you were only after my parents, then? You said it yourself. Our fathers hated each other."

"For good reason. Your parents aren't who you think they are, Aleera," Darius snarled.

Tears burned my eyes at his words. How could he say that?My parents loved me; I knew they loved me. "You're wrong. My life was fine before you came in and turned it upside down. My parents would never hurt me." "And if you're wrong?" Tobias asked.

"I'm not," I told him, and he shrugged.

"If that is what you want to believe," Darius said.

"And if I was under a cloaking spell, then how did the authorities find me when my grandmother died?" I asked.

"Because you lived on one of my family's properties, that's why. I called the school after she passed," Tobias answered. "Pardon?" What was he on about now?

"The house you were taken to belonged to my family. The private school you went to, we paid for," Tobias answered. "What are you talking about? The Fae Authorities picked me up?"

"They said they were Fae Authorities but they weren't. They were wardens of the school. That school you went to, Darius and I paid for. Your grandmother was broke. Your parents took everything from her just before the fire, cleaned her out not long after we left. So, we took her in when she agreed to care for you," Tobias said.

"Bullshit," I told them, and Darius growled before walking off into the closet and returning with a box. Darius dumped it at my feet and nodded toward it. I rolled my eyes before removing the lid and finding some papers. I pulled them out.

All of them had my school letterhead. My school photos were even there, and most of them were bills for the school fees, thousands and thousands of dollars they had spent on putting me through school. All addressed to Darius and Tobias Wraith, my next of kin. "Still think we're lying? We have no reason to lie to you, Aleera. So maybe stop lying to yourself," Darius said before walking off.

I dug through the box, pulling out my school files-everything from when I started, even some of my schoolwork. Rummaging through the bottom, I found my grandmother's locket-the only item I could bring with me when I was taken from her house-next to a photo album I had lost when I called on them. It was in the bag I had dropped. They wouldn't even let me take my clothes; they said everything would be provided. I rubbed my fingers over the locket. It had a picture of her with my grandfather and a lock of his hair she had cut off.

"You got this from my room," I told them.

"Yes, when we came looking for you," Kalen said.

"I never knew," I told Tobias, and he nodded when Darius spoke behind me.

"How could you? When you ran before we got there?"