Friends with the King of the Underworld | Book 1

Chapter Forty

Time froze.

All I could hear was the roaring in my ears as my breath hitched in my throat.

Damien's eyes were violet again. They watched me in concern. "What's wrong?"

I stepped back immediately, trying to place as much space as I could between us. His arms dropped at his sides as I pulled away, confusion creased his features.

My hand reached for my throat, my fingers closing around my neck. I was hyperventilating, panicking - the walls were closing in around me.

No, I wanted to scream. No, no, no.

He stepped towards me and I stepped back. I missed a step and fell backward on the floor landing on my elbows.

Robyn. I saw Robyn.

Robyn was looking at me through Damien's eyes. I saw him.

I know I did.

Damien reached for me again but I instinctively flinched back in terror. He held his hands up as if to show me he had nothing to hide. "What is it?"

I shook my head vigorously.

I'd imagined it. I imagined Robyn watching me. It was only Damien. They shared the same form of the lips and the same strong jaw but the similarities ended there. It was Damien's violet eyes that watched me with concern, Damien's brow that was furrowed.

It wasn't Robyn. He was dead.

Damien said so himself.

Damien crouched next to me, my eyes followed him all the while. "Emylin, what is it? What do you need?"

It was Damien. The same mannerisms, the same voice ...

I shook my head. "Sorry. I just had an awful flashback. Sorry."

Damien shook his own head and sat down on the marble floor next to me. He still didn't move closer. "Are you all right?"

"I - I think I need some sleep." I was lying. Sleep? I couldn't sleep, I had pure adrenaline pumping through me.

"All right," he said gently. "Would you like for me to take you to your room?"

Slowly, I nodded.

He watched me as we stood but didn't take a step closer - he kept his distance the entire time we walked. We didn't say a single word to each other.

We made our way down some of the familiar hallways but stopped before a pair of doors I didn't recognize.

He turned at the doors back to me. "I know you've been staying with me in my room lately but I think it's time you had some space to yourself."

I didn't mind that we'd been sharing his room while I was feeling unwell. He had his own bed while I had mine - mostly to keep an eye on me he'd told me, just in case anything happened.

"It's not a guest room like before," he explained. "It's your room. Your space to do with whatever you want." He cleared his throat. "Since you might be here for a while."

"Where's yours?"

He nodded towards one side of the hallway. "A couple of doors that way on the left."

He pulled down on the handles and the doors opened towards the room.

It wasn't as large as the original. It was a bit smaller but still just as gorgeous. It had large windows along the entirety of one of the walls with large curtains from floor to ceiling that billowed in the wind. The view of the windows was of the entire river - I could follow it up as it curved around the woods and up the mountains.