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

by Ethington, Rebecca

  At least I was safe from whoever was chasing me. I turned, and froze. The door was gone. It was just more hall.

  An endless hall and rattling footsteps that had followed me here.

  I ran and immediately began opening doors, racing through them so I could get away. I moved from one hallway to another, running as the steps followed. Louder. Quicker. Just like the sound of my heart in my ears.

  One door. Then another.

  Another.

  Doors.

  One of them had to lead somewhere I would recognize. One of them had to lead to… to…

  Where was I going?

  I stopped as I moved through the fifth door in the third hallway, or was it the twelfth door in the ninth hallway? I couldn’t tell. This hallway looked like all the others. Was there something there I was trying to find?

  Yes.

  But what?

  I closed my eyes, racking my brain and trying to replay the last few minutes.

  The way out.

  I was looking for a way out.

  Which was behind a door. I just had to find the right door.

  This space was messing with my mind. I immediately turned around and went back through the door I had entered, back into another identical hallway when I froze.

  More doors.

  I had no way of knowing which one I had come through. I was so concerned with getting away from whatever was following me, that I had gotten myself lost; lost in this house. I wasn’t even sure how I had gotten here.

  Ryland’s mind… I was in Ryland’s mind.

  I sunk down to the ground. Tears burned my face as they trailed down my cheeks, I tried to restrain the noise, unsure if Cail was down here or if he was even still trying to find me. I sucked in my tears, letting Ilyan’s lullaby take their place. I sang the song aloud, whispering the words in the desperate hope that no one would hear me while still needing the comfort.

  Slowly my pulse began to slow. My breathing evened out, and I let the song fizzle away. I wasn’t comforted. I wasn’t safe. I was still trapped in this hell that Cail had designed for me, but things didn’t seem so desperate. I needed to find...

  What was it again?

  That was right.

  Home. I needed to go home.

  I stood and walked across the hall, reaching for yet another doorknob. I froze, my hand still poised over the knob.

  There were voices on the other side of this door.

  The voices seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place them.

  “It’s been hours. How is the progress?” The older man’s voice boomed. He almost sounded bored, as though he was looking over paperwork.

  “It is coming, Master. I have guided her to where we want her and begun the process as you have asked.”

  Master? Why did that phrase sound so familiar?

  Suddenly the voice of the younger, scared man clicked into place—Cail. Which would make the older man Edmund. I shook my head in an attempt to clear the fog. How could I have forgotten them?

  “Have you? Already?” Edmund sounded shocked now, pleased.

  “Yes.”

  “Very nice, Cail. I’m impressed,” Edmund said, “They have already begun to break their bond, I will continue the process before she finds her way back.”

  Break the bond? That sounded familiar. I moved one step closer to the door, pressing my eyes against the small opening, desperate to see. Cail stood before Edmund, who sat in a large ornate chair with his legs crossed as he played with an elaborate ring on his finger. Edmund looked wrong somehow, though; almost like he was faded or covered in wax paper.

  “I have set a web to trap her inside my mind.” Cail said, his voice breaking with tension. “There is no way to find a way through it without guidance.” Edmund didn’t even look at him.

  I stepped away from the door to look around me. Cail’s mind. He had told me it was Ryland’s mind.

  Ryland.

  The bond.

  “She has been brought here through the bond, meaning Ryland could find his way inside and lead her out. Break the bond and destroy the path that got her here. She would be trapped, her mind lost inside of yours with no way out.”

  Everything clicked together and I covered my mouth. Something in me was screaming trap, danger, warning; but I still couldn’t quite remember why they would do all this to me.

  “Are you sure you are up for the challenge, Cail?” Edmund asked, yet Cail only laughed in response.

  “I am sure, Master. She is putting up quite an enjoyable fight.”

  “You better give me a good show, Cail. Finish quick, otherwise I will unbind that little curse you put on your sister.”

  I pressed my eyes against the opening again at the mention of Wyn, surprised that the recollection of her name had come so swiftly. I didn’t like how fuzzy this place was making my brain. I needed to get out of here.

  “No!” Cail’s voice was loud, panicked, and unexpected. I would never have expected such terror to come out of him. Cail had taken a desperate step forward, the action causing Edmund to look up.

  “Oh, yes, imagine all that poison weaving itself away from her skin and into her blood stream…”

  “Master, you…” Cail began to interrupt him but was silenced with one look from Edmund. Cail’s hand flew to his heart in panic.

  “Cail.” The strict tone of Edmund’s voice was like ice down my spine.

  “Yes, Master.” Cail spoke quietly—dejectedly—before his back straightened and his head turned to look right at me. This time I was sure he had seen me.

  “Yes, Master,” He said again as his lip curled. “Let the games begin.”

  “Oh, good. I will give you one month, Cail.” I barely heard Edmund’s voice over the heavy thumping of my heart. Cail turned and was walking right toward me, his eyes boring into mine. I couldn’t move. I had frozen in place, my hand still clinging to the doorknob.

  I knew I should be looking around for some form of weapon or trying to get away, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from his black stare or the sneer on his lips.

  “Run, Joclyn.” I barely registered that someone had spoken before a hand wrapped around mine, another person dragging me down the hall.

  I stumbled along for a few steps before turning toward whoever was pulling me away. My heart jumpstarted at the mop of dark curls bouncing in front of me.

  Ryland led me from hall to hall, the long passageways changing to smaller rooms, and even apartments complete with kitchens. Everything about the space we now moved through was familiar, like a place I had lived in or visited once. I looked at them all in brief intervals, unwilling to take my eyes off of my savior for long.

  Ryland could get me out of here.

  Couldn’t he?

  But what had Cail said about Ryland’s memory, or was it his mind?

  I couldn’t remember.

  Everything was tangling together again.

  Finally Ryland came to a stop, his large hand pressing me against a damp wall as he looked back around the corner, obviously worried we had been followed.

  I clutched his hand, wanting to cling to him—to apologize—but I couldn’t think of why I needed to apologize. Had something happened?

  “I think we’re okay,” his voice was relieved, yet when he turned to face me, I audibly gasped.

  It was Ryland, but something about him was off. His eyes weren’t as blue, or maybe his forehead was higher. I couldn’t place exactly what was wrong. I shook my head, maybe I just wasn’t remembering him right.

  That must have been it. I sighed and pushed myself into him, relaxing as his arms wrapped around me.

  “Oh, Jos. You have no idea how happy I am to have found you.” His hold increased, it was almost like he couldn’t get close enough.

  “I know,” I said, my body shaking much more than I would have expected. “I thought Cail was…”

  My voice cut off as Ryland’s grip got tighter again, choking the air from me.

  “I thought I would never se
e you again.” He said deeply, his tone becoming monotone while his grip continued to increase.

  I gasped and sputtered, hitting him as I pounded at his back, but he didn’t respond until the last possible minute when his hold loosened and his eyes lowered to look right at me.

  “I’m sorry, Jos. I got scared.”

  I looked in his eyes, desperately trying to figure out if it was him or not. All the times in the Tȍuha, all the dreams, every encounter with Ryland’s possessed body had made it so I couldn’t tell the real Ryland from the fake Ryland anymore. I didn’t know if this Ryland would hurt me or protect me. The old Ryland—my Ryland—was now becoming a fuzzy memory of someone I wasn’t even sure existed. I didn’t trust the Ryland that held me. I didn’t want to be near him.

  With that one thought, everything that I had felt before was shattered. I didn’t feel the love I had once felt for him and it scared me.

  “It’s okay,” I said, my words stopping as the heavy footsteps from earlier filled the space, the cabinets and bottles in our current refuge rattling with each impact.

  Ryland clutched me to him, his nails digging into me at each beat. I barely noticed. My muscles jumped at each footfall right along with them.

  Before I knew what had happened, Ryland had grabbed my body and thrown me across the room. I sped through the air, screaming at the unprovoked action, before slamming into an empty bookcase. The second my body made contact with the moldy shelves, the thumping stopped.

  “You brought them to me!” Ryland yelled, his voice echoing around me.

  “What are you talking about?” I picked myself up to face him, body aching. His eyes were wide and his fists balled at his sides. I stared as he yelled at me before hunching his shoulders and charging at me.

  “You cursed me!”

  He had made it about halfway across the room before I ran through the first door I could find, Ryland still yelling behind me. I swung the door shut, though I did not halt my progression. I ran from door to door, hallway to hallway, until I thought that I had put enough space between us.

  I looked wildly around the room I had entered to see cabinets, a hospital bed, a dresser, and a filthy toilet. I recognized this place, but like all the other rooms, nothing made sense. The walls that had once been solid had deteriorated enough that you could see through them in many areas, but only enough to see what was coming.

  It was a lookout.

  A hiding place.

  I ran over to the toilet and wedged myself between the filthy bowl and what was left of one of the walls, an old hospital bed perfectly placed to block me from view.

  I moved my legs into my chest and clung to them, my eyes wide as I looked around and tried to figure out my next move.

  Next move?

  Why was I here anyway?

  Did I live here?

  No.

  That wasn’t right.

  I clung tighter to my legs, rested my head on my knees and tried to ignore the smell of the toilet, the scurrying feet of large pests, and the

  drip

  drip

  drip

  of water that was falling on my head.

  A strange heat slowly began to spread through me. It began in my shoulder and soon reached every part of me. I screamed and jumped up, expecting to see blood trickling over my skin, but I found nothing. I looked around in a panic, knowing my yell had given away my location and that Ryland would be right behind me.

  I ran my eyes over my skin, still looking for some form of injury, there was nothing there. Just warmth.

  The warmth seemed familiar, comforting, wanted. I just didn’t know why.

  I had the distinct impression I was forgetting something.

  Or was it someone?

  One Hundred Sixteen

  Ilyan

  My stomach growled with the lack of food, but I ignored it. I had gone longer without eating. I had been living in comfort for too long, my body had become used to consistency. Being trapped in a cave for the past few days had not provided my body the food it now felt it needed.

  I laid my head against the back of the cave, ignoring the hard, cold stone and focused instead on the soft warmth of the girl that was curled against me. At least I could make Joclyn comfortable. I pulled Dramin’s robe around her, tucking the edges under her in an attempt to trap her body heat.

  Her heartbeat was steady. It hummed against my skin as it followed the rise and fall of her chest. I focused on it, waiting for her body to seize again.

  I had slept with her here for the past few nights. Tonight, though, I could not sleep. I didn’t know what was going on in the prison she remained in, but her body had twitched and moved more than usual. Only an hour ago, her knee had been hurt so badly that the tendons had been ripped away from the muscle. I repaired it dutifully as she slept, wrapping it in heavy bindings as she twitched. Through it all, I sang my song to her. I let the words fill her mind, my voice imprinting inside of her whether she was there to hear it or not.

  It had been the same pattern for the past four days—heal her and sing to her. Then, after every time, I connected with her mind in an attempt to find her. I would keep trying everything I could to save her, to bring her back to me. I would wait forever if that was what it took.

  Her body seized again, and her chest racked as she coughed, more blood drizzling from her mouth. I wiped it with the back of my hand and then onto my jeans. With nothing to clean her with, my pants had become stained with a warm, red hue, her blood deepening the color every day.

  My fingers clung to the once soft fabric of her shirt, pulling it down just enough to check the skin on her shoulder where the Štít lay inside of her, the dark red scratches deepening in color as I watched, a small trickle of blood appearing on the surface. I replaced the shirt and held her against me, rocking as I clung her to me.

  Desperation, it was a feeling I had rarely felt in my long life. I had never really been hopeless enough to feel it. I was always the one in control, powerful and resilient. I laughed at battle and found joy in an impending death. With Joclyn’s injured body in my arms, though, I only felt desperation.

  If I had ever believed in God, now would be the time I would call to Him, beg Him to save her, to bring her home. I still didn’t know if such a God existed, and whoever had called my kind to come forth from the mud had always been strangely silent.

  “Have you slept?” I didn’t move at Dramin’s question. I kept my head curled against Joclyn, my hair falling around us.

  “No,” I whispered loud enough for him to hear me. I knew my voice would carry through the cave. “Last night was bad.” I didn’t dare elaborate.

  “Any new developments?” He knew there would be none, just as I did. We were still trapped in the cave, and Joclyn was still trapped in the Tȍuha.

  “I can stay with her again today, if you would like? Thom can shift rock on his own for a while; it would give you time to rest.” I knew he meant well, but I didn’t need to be coddled. Resting while Joclyn writhed was not a possibility. I would rather shift rock with Thom as I did every day. At least then, my mind could focus on other things.

  “I see you braided her hair again,” he commented when I didn’t answer him. I nodded at Dramin’s question, waiting for what would come next.

  I had braided her hair after some of her blood had dried in it. I had been able to repair the head injury easily enough, but the dark mass of curls needed to be washed. With nothing to clean it with, I resorted to re-braiding, weaving the clumps into the intricate five strand braid. I hadn’t even realized what I had done until it was finished.

  “The wedding braid is an interesting choice.” I ignored him. “To match the shoes, I take it.”

  I leaned my head back and looked at him out of the corner of my eye, almost daring him to continue.

  “You can imagine my surprise when she showed up here wearing those things on her feet. They are excellent workmanship.”

  Dramin let his unasked question linger. I c
ould feel it swirl around us, the intensity of it growing the longer I left it unacknowledged.

  I knew I owed him no reply; it was not my place to allow insight to my every thought. But, Dramin did not ask as a curious servant, he asked as my friend and Joclyn’s brother. In that regard, I owed him an explanation.

  “I made the shoes as a gift,” I finally admitted, refusing to look at him and instead focused on Joclyn’s heartbeat.

  “She had lost something I couldn’t even fathom; I wanted to give her what was due her. What her husband should have placed on her feet on the night of the bonding.”

  “And so, with him gone, you tried to take his place.” I could hear the accusation clearly, but instead of making me angry it only made me laugh.

  “You know, that was never my intention, strangely enough. I made the shoes as a gift from her newfound brother, a wedding gift. Part of me fully expected Ryland to return, to fight Edmund and reappear as if nothing had happened. But then, when she wasn’t recovering, when Ryland never came, I knew he was gone. Then, I had begun to make them for an entirely different purpose.”

  “As a gift from a husband to his wife.”

  I nodded. I knew it was a foolish line of thinking, and one I still resented ever having, but if that last visit into the Tȍuha hadn’t cured her, I would have replaced Ryland’s bond with one of my own. I knew that would have saved her because I had seen it done before. I would have gladly taken that role if it was necessary, but it wasn’t.

  “It is not my place, Dramin.”

  “Not yet,” he said. I could only smile, letting the beautiful visions of the sight from so long ago wash over me.

  “She is bonded to my brother, Dramin. That is a sacred connection and one I would never take advantage of. I will protect her for him. I will keep her safe as my soul calls for me to do, but I will never take her from him. She is not mine. I love her more than I have any other. I love her enough that I would rather see her happy than in my possession. My time will come.”

  I didn’t doubt that any of my words were true, and it wasn’t the fickle truth of having convinced myself to believe something. I truly believed it. I had felt it from the beginning when I had first seen Ryland swing her around on the grass at her school. I knew then that I could never take that away from her, that connection. It wasn’t my place. Besides, doing things like that was not who I was.