Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery

by Ethington, Rebecca

  I looked away as he smiled, wishing the conversation would just end, and they would leave us, taking the suffocating hate with them.

  “But, Master,” Cail said, “it also said one would fall. What if that one is Ryland?”

  “Then let him fall,” Edmund hissed, Timothy laughing at his outburst. “He was always just an expendable piece of property.”

  “Is he strong enough?” Ovailia asked as she walked up to his cell, bending at the waist to get a better look at Ryland. “He doesn’t seem to be doing much.”

  “Cail is controlling him, Ovailia,” Timothy said, his hands writhing together in excitement.

  “What can he do?”

  “Turn him off, Cail,” Edmund said. I stiffened, knowing what would come after, my breath catching in my throat for one solid minute before I was able to pick it back up. “Let my daughter see what all of your work has done for us.”

  “Thank you, Master,” Cail breathed, his voice awed and humbled. He bowed slightly before moving forward, his hands wrapping around the bars of the cage.

  I couldn’t look away from Ryland, from the calm way he sat until the first whimper escaped his lips, his hands already moving to claw through the air around his head as the hold Cail had on Ryland’s mind dissipated.

  “Joclyn,” he moaned, the grip of his fingers increasing as he began to rock back and forth, his mumbling increasing.

  “This is your weapon?” Ovailia asked. “A weeping child?”

  “No, Ovailia, it’s what the weeping child does that is the weapon.” Edmund smiled and clapped Cail on the shoulder, his action making him look like a proud father. “Go on, Cail.”

  “Ryland,” Cail taunted, “Ovailia’s here. She saw Joclyn.”

  Ryland looked up, his whimpers turning to a howl as he stood and rammed at the cage, his voice opening up into a wail that only increased as Cail went on. I pulled against my chains, I wasn’t scared of Ryland, but I didn’t know what Cail had planned for his little show-and-tell, and that worried me.

  “Joclyn?” Her name was a groan on Ryland’s lips, his hands gripping the bars in front of him so tightly that his knuckles had turned bright white.

  “Yes, Ryland. They had a nice dinner together, and do you know who else was there?” Cail asked, turning to Ovailia who smiled broadly and stepped up to the bars.

  “Ilyan was there,” she said simply. Ryland’s grip tightened as he yelled, slamming his head into the bars over and over again.

  “Yes, Ilyan was there, Ryland,” Cail continued, raising his voice enough to be heard above Ryland’s yells. “He was holding her hand and touching her face.”

  Cail stopped as Ryland’s howls opened up, his body pulling against his chains repeatedly as he tried to get through the bars to them. Cail smiled as Ovailia squealed with joy, her hand hitting the bars loudly in an effort to excite Ryland, his howls getting louder.

  “He kissed her hand, Ryland,” Ovailia said, her icy voice eager to jump in on what she obviously viewed to be a wonderful game. “He traced her lips with his finger. He touched her neck—”

  “I’m gonna kill him!” Ryland howled, his voice rising with every beat of Ovailia’s hand against the bars. “I’m going to make her pay!”

  Edmund stepped forward to view his son better, his eyes full of pride as he watched his own flesh and blood writhe with torment and agony. “Perfect. I never thought I would say this about him, but he is perfect. If he cannot fight beside me, then I will use him as a weapon. With the power he has, and his lust for Joclyn, he is the perfect weapon.”

  Edmund reached through the cage as Ryland continued to fight to get at them. His hand ran along his son’s face, a wicked gleam shining in his bright blue eyes.

  “Are you going to go kill your brother, son?” I froze, my eyes flashing to Sain who looked just as shocked as I felt.

  “I’m gonna kill him!” Ryland howled, his head knocking against the bars. “Kill… kill… kill…”

  “And what of Joclyn?” Edmund asked, his hand leaving his son’s face to curl around the chain that attached to his wrist. “Are you going to make her pay? Pay for hurting you?”

  “Hurt her!” Ryland howled, his fingers clenching and unclenching in a halo around his head. “She’s hurt me… hurt… she’s gonna hurt…”

  Ryland hit his head repeatedly in his agony, and the group in front of him laughed.

  I couldn’t watch anymore, I couldn’t. I couldn’t watch the beautiful boy who had been destroyed by his own family and turned into a weapon against the only person he ever loved, the only person who had ever loved him back.

  I tried to drown out the sounds of his suffering, the sounds of his torment, but they kept coming. Ovailia’s squeals of joy, Edmund’s chuckles of pride, and Cail’s constant taunts broke through the general cacophony.

  I wished I could cry. Ryland needed someone to mourn over what he had lost, what he could never get back. I wished I could do that for him; there weren’t many left who would.

  “Let’s finish this,” Edmund announced and the iron-barred doors opened simultaneously, the grind of the metal closely followed by the clatter of chains.

  “Are you ready to go kill your mate, son?” Edmund asked, the chains rattling as Ryland was led, writhing and screaming, out of the prison and up the stairs.

  “Kill!” Ryland screamed. “She… she has to pay!”

  “Come on, Sain,” Ovailia spat, her voice so full of hate I could taste it on my own tongue. “I want to show you what I should have done to you in the first place.”

  “I hold no hatred for you in my heart, Ovi,” Sain said calmly as he stood.

  “Don’t call me that,” Ovailia snapped as she led Sain out of his cell, his hands still shackled and chained.

  “I am happy to see your love life has improved,” Sain said, his voice light, as if he was talking to a long lost friend and not his former lover. “Cail is a much better match for you.”

  “Anyone is better for me than you were.” Ovailia turned on him, her finger sparking as she shoved one long-nailed pointer in his face. I would have expected Sain to flinch away, but he stood still, his eyes focused on her and not the warning that flared only millimeters from his face.

  “I quite agree; Angela Despain was a remarkable woman.”

  Ovailia’s finger sparked; her face hardening as she jerked on his chains. His torso jolted down until her finger pressed against the skin between his eyes.

  “Leave my love life alone, Sain.”

  “Then leave my daughter alone,” he replied. Ovailia released her hold on Sain’s chains. I would have assumed the strength in Sain’s voice to startle her, but I knew better.

  “Haven’t you been listening?” she asked, moving her face closer to him. “Ryland is going to take care of her for us. Well, after he kills Ilyan anyway.”

  “We’ll see,” Sain whispered, his calm voice not missing a beat.

  “You act like you actually control your sight, Sain.” Ovailia laughed at the idea and left the cell, dragging the old man behind her.

  “Oh,” Cail scoffed once the sound of Sain’s chains had ebbed away to nothing, “I almost forgot.”

  He laughed and threw something at me as the light began to fade. I stared at the loaf of bread he had tossed into my cell, unable to move toward it, my stomach rolling with need.

  “Bon appétit, Wynifred,” Cail spoke from the steps, his body already disappearing around the bend in the stairs. The shackles around my wrists opened, sending me tumbling down, and I landed on my chest right in front of the dinner-plate sized loaf of bread. The stale, mostly green surface was crawling with maggots.

  Bon appétit, indeed. I reached toward the loaf, my weak fingers curling around what was sure to be the only food I would see for another week.

  One Hundred Nine

  Ryland

  “No, don't make me! I won’t! I can’t!” I tried to fight them, to pull against the hands that dragged me toward the center of the room and
the four chairs that were set up around a hospital-type bed. A bed with straps.

  I knew what was happening. I had heard them talking about it. I had tried to warn her just hours ago, I had told her to leave. Begged her. I never should have done this. I never should have thought I was strong enough. She needed to break the connection.

  I hoped she listened, because as much as I was fighting, I knew I wouldn’t win.

  ‘You’ll never win against me. You’ll never get away.’

  We were out of time.

  “You can’t have her!” My entire world shook as I screamed, my words rumbling as the guards continued to drag me closer to that table, Cail already standing there, grinning.

  “Have who, Ryland? Joclyn? You can’t have her either. Ilyan has taken her from you.” His words were slime in my head, the imagery working like an infection that snapped something inside of me and what little control I had slipped away.

  “Ilyan!” I screamed, fighting the guards for a different reason, now. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill them both.”

  “Then come here, Ryland, and you can.” He patted the table and the voices inside of my head screamed. Some in victory. Some in panic. I was fighting again.

  “No! I won’t! You can’t make me!” I tried to bite at the guard to my left, he punched me instead.

  “Shut him off, Cail, I can’t even think with all of that racket.” My father drawled as he followed us in, his shoes tapping loudly as he and Ovailia circled to stand by Cail at the table.

  “Yes, Master.” At Cail’s words the blanket of his magic swarmed over me, my mind, my thoughts, my body, my magic. It all became numb. The guards stepped away as I relaxed, and walked confidently towards Cail’s grin.

  ‘Good boy, so nice to see you beaten down. As you always should have been.’

  “I bet you are going to be glad to be rid of him.” Ovailia crooned, twirling Cail’s hair as he forced me forward, my body mechanical as I laid down on the table.

  No. I shouldn’t be doing this. I needed to get away…

  I needed to…

  “No.” The word was more of a hiss than a shout as I lay there, all of them strapping me in.

  “Yes,” Edmund leaned over me, my father’s eyes sparkling as he smiled. “I told you son. For years I told you. Stop fighting me. And now, here we are, I have won anyway.”

  “No.” The word was stronger that time, but still not enough to do anything more than trigger the echo of laughs around me.

  “Yes, Ryland. You are going to give Cail what he wants, and then we are going to unleash you.” He was proud. For the first time in my life he was proud of me, and I couldn’t feel worse.

  This was not what I wanted.

  “No.”

  “Bring Sain!” My father called, ignoring me as the door was opened again and Sain’s shuffling steps entered the stone hall.

  “Edmund, this will not end in what you desire. Your son may be part of your downfall,” Sain began, I tried to twist in my bands to see him, but I couldn’t move. “There are other ways to make yourself strong. I have told you this before.”

  “Don’t worry, Sain, I am following all of your advice. You have been invaluable to me, as I know you will continue to be.”

  “Yes, so invaluable,” Ovailia laughed at her response to our father, Cail joining in as the wicked stabs of their glee sliced against me.

  “I need you to do this last thing for me,” He continued to drawl as the last of the straps tightened me against the table. “Break your daughter for me.”

  Sain said nothing. I was forced to watch as they gathered around, hand after hand placed over my heart. The blanket of Cail’s control slipped away and I began to fight. Began to scream. Began to plea. I tried to grab at my magic to stop them, to save her.

  But it was not enough.

  Nothing was enough.

  The world went black as the blade plunged into my heart.

  “Who are you?”

  I opened my eyes at the voice. I expected Sain or Cail, instead, it was a girl with blonde hair to her waist and eyes so dark they could have been completely black. She couldn’t have been more than ten.

  “Who…? What…?” I gasped as I whipped around, this space was different then where I had normally gone.

  “Who are you?” She said again, stepping forward. “You are his son. You look like him.”

  “Yes?” I asked it like a question, still looking around as I waited for Sain to arrive.

  “You are the one he is hurting. I asked him not to hurt you, but he doesn’t listen to me. Sometimes he doesn’t remember me. I’ve been trying to help. But it’s been too long.” I turned back to the girl. She was still looking at me curiously. She seemed familiar and yet I knew I had never seen her before.

  “Who are you?”

  “I asked you first,” she replied, forcing a smile that time.

  “Ryland.” She nodded as if she had known all along and she stepped forward, her hand wrapping around mine.

  Her skin was soft, and warmer than I had ever felt in this place. Just the touch of her tiny hand against my own sent everything buzzing and rumbling. Pain and fear and hope and love all swirled through me, the feeling was the same as every time I stepped into the world the souls blade created.

  My eyes widened.

  “I figured.” She moved closer, the black eyes looking up to me with hope. “You have his eyes. I didn’t. But I will help you, for as long as I can. Whatever they are planning, you have to stop it. I won’t have the power anymore.”

  “Rosaline?” I asked, but she didn’t smile. She just squeezed my hand and turned into smoke, right as I felt that line in my heart explode.

  The line of the Zȇlství.

  They were taking us right to Joclyn.

  One Hundred Ten

  Joclyn

  I woke up the next morning and almost yelled out. My body was filled with the aches of having avoided the Tȍuha for so long. I shifted my weight in Ilyan’s arms and my back seized, the muscles calling out in protest.

  I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to go into the Tȍuha, but I was still scared; more so after last night’s dream. Dramin had told me to wait to talk to Ilyan about breaking the bond until after I had decided what course to take, but I was clearly out of time. It scared me the way Ryland had begged me to break the Zȇlství right then, and then there was Cail...

  Cail lived off of his taunts—his torture—but he hadn’t even hesitated before killing me. The lack of his usual games made my teeth clench.

  I shuddered at the memory, my heart rate accelerating until my chest felt like it was pressed under a hundred ton weight. I rolled over to face Ilyan and moved the hair that had fallen over his face, his mouth slightly open in his sleep as usual.

  I knew what I had to do. As much as I didn’t want to, as much as it hurt, I needed to break the connection. I had thought I needed Ryland. Ryland had protected me as I had grown up. He had loved me and taught me how to love when I hadn’t been sure I knew how to anymore. He had protected me from his father and used his body to shield me, and now he was trying to protect me by breaking the connection.

  I loved him more than I ever thought I could love someone. That’s why it hurt so much every time he asked me to break the connection. I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose the last normal thing from my old life.

  But I wasn’t normal anymore. I wasn’t normal. And I don’t think the relationship I had with Ryland could ever be what it was.

  Besides, once that connection was broken, I would be free. Free from the torment. Free to become what I was born to be.

  The Silnỳ.

  “For it is only by your side that she can find her true purpose, that she will find the strength to kill those that would end the magic of the world.” I whispered the words of the sight to myself, still staring at Ilyan’s sleeping face.

  I knew it was true, and although part of me shattered at the thought, I knew it needed to be done.
/>   I needed to break the connection.

  “Ilyan,” I said his name loud enough for him to hear me, my hand on his bare chest.

  His eyes opened sleepily, blinking a few times before he fully registered where he was.

  “Jos,” he sighed, his voice heavy. He reached up and placed his hand over mine pushing it into his scarred chest.

  “No nightmares?” He was so hopeful, I only smiled and shook my head. After all, that would be the last one.

  “I am so glad.” He freed my hand from his chest to pull me into him. I cringed at the pain the movement and pressure caused. He stopped immediately, his magic flaring abruptly as he searched through my body. He looked at me alarmed and I knew he had found something.

  “I have to go in,” I whispered, my voice as weak as my body felt.

  He leaned over to me and gently kissed my forehead, his lips soft against my skin.

  “I will be here the entire time, Joclyn. Be quick.” I smiled at him and nodded. When I got back I would tell him. I would need strength to break the Zȇlství anyway.

  I pulled the necklace out from under my shirt and pushed my magic into it before leaning into Ilyan’s chest and letting his arms wrap around me.

  I closed my eyes only to open them to the same dilapidated kitchen and instantly started hyperventilating. Cail stood right before me. His face was pulled into a wicked grin, his eyes blacker than I had ever seen them.

  The dark eyed man.

  “Why hello, Joclyn,” he said. “You don’t seem happy to see me.”

  I stared at him, unsure of what to say.

  “What are you doing here?” His twisted joy grew at my fear.

  “Why, Joclyn, isn’t it obvious? I’ve been here all along.” He smirked and stepped forward, causing me to step back instinctively. My foot hit the table leg and I stopped, trapped, as he continued to move forward.