“We will find him,” he said to Anastasia and Selena. “Argento, I think you and your men had better stay within the walls for now. I don’t want to risk your lives if Brady decides to attack.”
Argento nodded, and Dakota turned to help Anastasia back to her bed.
He shut the door gently behind them and went to stare in the fireplace once he had set her down on the bed. “I was bait, then?”
“Yes,” she responded cautiously, noting how his jaw was clenched.
“And you knew it before you came for me.” It wasn’t a question; he knew the answer.
“Yes.”
“Why did you come for me?” When he turned, it wasn’t anger she saw in his eyes. Instead they were filled with guilt.
“Because I had to. I couldn’t just leave you there. It was me he wanted.”
“And look at what happened to you. Just because I was too weak to protect myself when they came for me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Anastasia sighed and leaned back against the wall.
“It matters to me. I'm so sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault, Dakota.”
“How can you say that? Especially when you don’t even believe it yourself.” He turned back to the fire.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, irritation beginning to show in her voice.
“You haven’t even been able to look at me since you’ve been back. When we found you, it was Tony you wanted, not me.”
“You think I blame you?”
At how small her voice sounded, he turned to face her. The unshed tears in her eyes had him kneeling in front of her.
“How could you not?”
“Dakota, I don’t blame you for anything. I would trade myself for you again in a heartbeat. I love you.”
“Then why have you been so distant?”
Anastasia took a deep breath to steady herself. She knew she was going to have to tell him sooner or later, she had just hoped it would have been later. “I killed Mitch.”
“He shot me,” Dakota said simply. “Spent your childhood nearly killing you. He deserved it.”
“I enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that for a moment I embraced all the power in my veins and I went dark. I wanted to learn more from Vincent, wanted all the power I could get my hands on.”
“But you came back.”
Anastasia nodded and continued, “I came back because of you, and when I did, Vincent was angry. He chained me in a room where I couldn’t use my magic—not that I would have, I was so afraid of losing myself again—and he killed you over and over again in front of my face.”
“What?”
“I knew it wasn’t really you, the illusion had mistakes in it, but it looked like you and the voice sounded just like yours.”
Dakota wiped a tear away from her cheek. She continued to relive each and every death as if it were happening all over again. “The first time, he ran a sword through you—my sword, actually. Then a Brute snapped your neck. Another beat you until you died. Vincent even slit your throat once or twice. I can’t really remember because eventually it all turned into a blur.” She took a deep breath and then continued, “When that didn’t work, he brought in Brutes to beat me until I used my magic, believing that if I did so again I would go dark and he wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore. I fought Brutes with no weapon for nearly two weeks, I believe. At some point I lost count of the days.”
“Ana, I—,” Dakota started, but stopped when Ana put her hand up.
“That’s not even the worst part.” She took another deep breath and closed her eyes. “I woke up in a house in Seattle. We were married and we had a beautiful little girl together. She was so perfect, and we were all so happy. I was a writer, you were a doctor just as you had always wanted, and none of this had ever happened.” She opened her eyes and looked at him, afraid to stop talking.
“The book I had been working on was about all of this, a work of fiction.” She laughed lightly, but it was empty. “You told me that I had episodes where I would forget my real life and believe that my story was my life. In fact, I was nearly convinced of this. So much so that you talked me into seeing a psychiatrist who just so happened to be Vincent,” she said angrily. “He told me that in order to have the life I always wanted, I had to delete the book I was working on and admit that I had no magic. To erase everything I believed was reality. I almost did it, even though on some level I knew all along that it was an illusion. I wanted that life so badly that I nearly gave everything up to have it, until I saw you.”
“Me?”
“You appeared in a mirror in his office and you asked me to come back to you.” She shut her eyes and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Our daughter was screaming at me, crying and begging me to stay with her, and I left, forced myself out of the illusion, and when I woke up in that cellar again a part of me was so angry at myself.” She clenched her jaw and shook her head. “So angry for leaving all of that behind.”
“It wasn’t real, Ana.” He touched her face gently and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It could have been for you. Had you never met me, you could have gone on to be a doctor and have a beautiful daughter. You could have had a normal, happy life, Dakota.”
Everything began to make sense to him. She hadn’t blamed him for what happened to her, but was blaming herself for the things she believed his life lacked.
“Ana, I wouldn’t have wanted any of that unless it was with you.” He felt the weight in his own chest when he lifted her face to look into her eyes. “You hear me? You are it for me. I don’t want anyone else, and I never would have wanted my life to turn out any other way. Everything has happened the way it was meant to. We will have that life one day and you will hold a daughter in your arms, I swear it. But I don’t want any of that unless it is with you.” He wrapped his arms around her and held on.
“It hurts so bad, Dakota,” she cried into his chest. “It all felt so real, and I wanted it so badly.”
“I know, baby.” He stroked his hand down her hair and leaned back on the bed with her. “I know, baby,” he repeated, feeling his own tears burning in his eyes.
“Dakota.” The gruff voice pulled Dakota from sleep, and he looked up to see Argento standing over Anastasia and him.
“What is it?” he whispered, afraid to wake her.
“We need you outside.”
“Now?” he asked, wishing Argento would go away and he could curl back with Anastasia. It had been so long sine he had held her, and he never wanted to let her go.
“I wouldn’t have disturbed you if it weren’t important.”
Dakota nodded, knowing he was telling the truth. “I’ll be right there.”
Once Argento stepped out, Dakota looked down at Anastasia. Her face was tight, as if she were having some sort of nightmare, and he wished with all he had that he could ease the pain he knew she was feeling. Vincent was an absolute monster, and he would see to it himself that he paid for everything he had done.
Dakota gently eased out of bed and kissed Anastasia lightly on the forehead.
She curled into him, and again he fought the urge to just say to hell with the world and stay with her. She needed him, he knew, but so did everyone else, it seemed. He had meant what he had told her. They would have a family and there would be time for him to cradle her in his arms then, but now he had to make sure that future was a possibility.
“What is it?” Dakota stepped out into the cool air of early dawn. Argento and Tony stood staring at him with grim faces.
“How is she?” Tony asked, gesturing to the small cottage.
“She is coming around. What is it?” Dakota repeated to Argento.
“We found this on one of our rounds.” Argento handed Dakota a piece of rolled-up parchment.
Dakota unrolled the paper and read the words that had been roughly scribbled on its surface.
Dakota,
Unless you bring Anastasia
to us, Vincent will kill you all. Seems like a simple decision, and you had better make it soon.
Brady
“What the fuck?” Dakota crumpled the note up. “Has he lost his damn mind?”
Tony’s jaw was hard, every muscle in his body tense, and although Dakota hadn’t noticed it before, he certainly knew why now.
“This is Vincent,” Argento said quickly. “I know that Brady has been skeptical of us since we arrived, but he was not violent until we got your Anastasia back. Vincent is using Brady as a last resort to getting her back.”
“Son of a bitch. I want to rip his throat out.” Tony’s fists tightened, and he took a deep breath. “What am I supposed to tell Selena? She lost her husband when Brady was young, and now she may lose her son as well.”
“We will get Brady back, Tony. We just need a plan.”
“We can’t give him Anastasia,” Argento responded.
“Absolutely not.”
“Even if it weren’t for your relationship,” he started, “she is much too powerful an enemy. If he were to turn her, we would lose any hope of winning this war.”
“He wouldn’t be able to,” Dakota said quietly. “But you are correct about one thing: she is powerful, and we need to let her know what is going on.”
“You want to risk that?” Tony asked, serious. “She would give herself up for Brady in a heartbeat.”
“We need to make sure that isn’t an option.” Argento took the note from Dakota and crumpled it in his fist. “This needs to stay between us. We will up the numbers of our guards on the gate in preparation of an attack, but no one needs to know about this note.” Argento narrowed his eyes at Dakota and Tony until they nodded.
“Agreed,” they both said.
“As soon as she is ready, we need to prepare her for a war,” Tony said, nodding to the cabin where Anastasia slept. “She needs to be physically ready when the time comes.”
Mentally as well, Dakota thought to himself as he nodded in agreement. It was going to take her time to heal, he knew. He only hoped they had the time to spare.
“Anastasia, watch your stance.” Tony held his sword out and she tapped hers to it.
“Tony, I remember.” She smiled lightly and got her footing. He stepped towards her and she dodged, swinging her sword and knocking his out of his hand.
“I see I don’t need to go easy on you.”
“Let’s be serious, Tony, you weren’t going easy on me.” She laughed lightly, and Tony grinned. It had taken two months, but she was beginning to come around to herself again.
“Again.” Tony charged her and she dodged again. This time he spun around her and knocked her sword to the ground. “Not quick enough.”
They laughed and sparred for an hour before she was exhausted. “I feel useless.”
“You are many things, Anastasia, but useless is not one of them.”
“Hey girl.” Anastasia smiled and rubbed Kaley’s soft coat as she rubbed against her. “I see you made time for me today.” Since Anastasia had come back, Kaley had spent most of her time tailing Dakota.
“Seems she does have a bit of a crush on our Dakota, doesn’t she.” Tony laughed, but when he looked at Anastasia, his smile vanished. “What is it?”
Her face had grown serious, and the light in her eyes had dulled some.
“Nothing,” she assured him with a light smile. “I’m still having some trouble, is all.”
“The nightmare again?”
She nodded. Tony had been the only one she had told about the nightmares that she had started having. In them she woke up back in the house she had been in during the illusion Vincent had put her in. Only this time Brutes came in and destroyed it. She had watched them kill Dakota and kidnap Annabelle every single night since a week after she had been brought back.
She was beginning to have trouble coming out of the nightmare, even after she woke up. It was much like it had been in her illusion, where she was having trouble distinguishing real from fake, only this time there were no images of reality to pull her out.
“Still haven’t told Dakota?” he asked her, serious.
She shook her head. “We have enough to worry about. Besides, I haven’t really spent a lot of time with him recently.”
“Why not?”
“There’s so much going on that it’s not a distraction we need right now.”
“Oh, Anastasia.” Tony shook his head. “There is no better time for the right kind of distraction. You two need each other, and if you lose sight of that, then what is it exactly you are fighting for?”
She smiled, remembering when Elizabeth had told her that same thing after she had found Dakota again, or rather after they had found each other. “You sound a lot like Elizabeth.”
Tony grinned. “She is one wise woman.”
“Speaking of.” Anastasia smiled and turned to face him. “What is going on there?”
“Nothing. Yet,” he added, laughing. “I have fallen head over heels for that woman, but she is taking her time. It’s okay, I will wait. I'm very patient.” He winked.
“I’ve noticed.” Anastasia laughed, and Tony wrapped his arm around her.
“Your father would be so proud of you, Anastasia. You have come a long way.”
“Thank you, Tony.”
“Anytime. I am going to head to town and check on my woman.” He winked at her again as he stood. “You know where to find me if you need me.”
“See you, Tony.”
Anastasia sat on the steps of the training cottage and watched him disappear into the thin line of trees that blocked the view to the village. She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. She could feel the magic in her blood. Magic that she hadn’t used since the night she sent Dakota back, for fear that she would go dark again and not be able to come back.
The coldness she had felt that night when she embraced it had stuck with her, and just the memory of it made her feel like shivering. She remembered how it had felt to have the power surging through her, how she had wanted nothing more than to gain more at any cost.
Anastasia closed her eyes when the vision of Dakota’s death came into her head. After she had killed Mitch, it had taken her a few days to come back around. It was Carmen’s visit and mention of Dakota that had pulled her out of the void, but once it had, Vincent had done everything he could in order to take away her light and plunge her back into the darkness.
He had killed Dakota sixty-two times in front of her. After the first two she had known it wasn’t really Dakota, but each time hurt as if it truly had been. She had been forced to watch as the light went out of his eyes each time and felt a piece of her die when it did.
When that hadn’t worked and he resorted to the beatings to try and get her to access her magic, she had been grateful. Had even hoped that they would kill her and then all of the responsibility she had would be gone, her pain would disappear, and in death her life would be simple again, but each time she had felt that way, Dakota’s face would come into her mind and she knew she had to hang on for at least one more day.
The thing that stuck with her most, however, was the illusion Vincent had weaved for her. She had told Dakota how a part of her had been angry for leaving, but she hadn’t shared with him that sometimes she longed for that version of her life. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t been real, only that it had been simple and happy. Only now the nightmares were ruining that as well.
She supposed it was her punishment for leaving. She now had to watch her dream life be torn apart by the same monsters that gave it to her.
“Hey.” Dakota’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
“Hi.” She smiled lightly at him.
“I was wondering where you went off to.” He leaned down and petted Kaley. “I was going to go for a walk outside of the walls, check for some damage. Want to join?”
Anastasia took a deep breath. She hadn’t been outside since she had been back, and wasn’t sure she was ready just yet.
&
nbsp; “If you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
“No, I’ll go.” She was scared, but the thought of him being out there alone bothered her more.
She stood, sheathed her sword at her back, and then she and Kaley followed Dakota to the gate.
“How are you doing?” he asked once they were out of the village.
“Good,” she responded quickly.
“Ana, it’s me.” He stopped and turned her to face him. “Please tell me the truth.”
“Dakota, I’m fine. Not perfect yet, but a whole lot closer than I had been.”
She watched the anger flash across his face. He knew she was lying, and she knew he was going to call her on it, just as he had always done when they had been kids and she had lied about how she had gotten yet another black eye.
“You have to stop lying to me, Anastasia.”
“What do you want me to say? I don’t know how to act Dakota, I don’t know what we are to each other anymore.”
“How can you say that? We are exactly the same as we were when you sent me through that damn portal. At least I am.”
Anastasia looked to the ground.
“Do you love me?” he asked quietly.
“You know I do.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“I don’t know!” she yelled, and covered her face with her hands. “I just don’t know, Dakota.”
“You had better figure it the hell out.” He turned and continued walking.
They spent the rest of the time outside the gate in silence, and when they finally walked back into the village, he headed towards the cottage where his mother was staying.
“See you tomorrow,” he said without looking back, and the amount of anger in his words cut through her like a knife.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, Anastasia walked back to the training cottage alone. The silence of the darkness was overwhelming, and she sat on the steps for a while before finally going in.
She washed up and climbed into her bed. “Come here, girl.” She patted the bed and moved over so the large cat would have enough room to climb up with her. Kaley gladly accepted her offer, and although she had hoped it would help, Dakota’s absence only sank in further.
The Fighter (Prophecy Series Book 2) Page 6
