I had sat in silence, the dull, green glow of Sain’s light keeping me company as I thought through the experiences I now possessed and let who I had been blend with who I had become in a mashed up jumble of personalities and experiences.
I couldn’t even bring myself to touch Talon. It wasn’t because he had lied to me about my past, it was because I had murdered his family, and the guilt was eating me up inside. I didn’t understand how he could have forgiven me for something like that.
So I sat with my back against the cold wall as I let everything wash over me. I tried to find balance.
“Would you have believed me if I did?” Sain whispered from across the prison.
The answer to his question was clear; no, I would not. I had known I was missing my past, but I could have never guessed it was that… horrible. I had been an assassin, a whore, a keeper of magic stronger than any other of my kind. And I had somehow become a fun-loving friend. Fun-loving, Thom had taught me that and Talon had perfected it.
“Who am I?” I asked the question more to myself than to Sain, but he laughed nonetheless, his answer coming quickly.
“You are Wyn.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes, to groan, to yell, to threaten, or seduce. Every single emotion was there, every desire, and they blended together so seamlessly that it wasn’t confusing, but somehow, it all made sense. Sain was right.
I am Wyn.
I smiled at the thought, the wicked sneer I had long forgotten sprouting on my lips as I looked at Sain from beneath my eyelashes. He was right; I was Wyn, and I would not just sit here and take this.
Sain returned my smile, his own power shining from beneath his eyes, the silent conviction we both shared strong and defiant.
Then Talon groaned.
I heard him and my heart called out, my guilt forgotten. I was at his side in an instant, my hand wrapped around his. His burning flesh scorched my skin, but I held on anyway, pressing his hands between mine as his eyes slowly fluttered open.
“Talon?” I whispered, but he didn’t shift, his eyes remained unfocused on the ceiling. I heard Sain’s chains rattle as he attempted to move himself closer, desperate to see.
“Talon? Baby?”
His eyes were still unfocused, but his lips had begun to move, the limp movement subtle.
“W… Wyn…” he said, finally able to get my name out after several false starts.
“I’m here. I’m here.” Slowly, his focus slid toward me, the color of his eyes clouded over as he looked through me.
“I thought… I hoped you had gone,” he gasped, his voice wheezing as his chest struggled to give him enough air.
“No, baby, I would never leave you. I’m here,” I whispered, my hand clinging to his.
He coughed a bit, small drops of blood lining his lips. My eyes widened. No. I squeezed his hand between mine, the warmth painful, and yet, somehow comforting.
“It’s going to be okay.” It was an empty promise. I knew it. I had heard Sain’s proclamation as clear as day, and now, with my memory returned, there was no way I could deny the words. I knew Sain’s power.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said again, trying desperately to ignore the tightness in my chest.
Talon said nothing; he only looked at the air behind me as if he was seeing my face there, his eyes drifting in and out of focus.
“Wyn?” he asked, his voice faltering after only one word.
I breathed in slowly, my emotions causing my chest to shake and my eyes to burn.
I grabbed his hand and placed it against the filthy skin of my cheek, needing to feel him, to be close to him. His skin was fire against mine, his palm flat and strong before it went limp again.
I clung to him, watching his eyes drift before they finally came to rest on me, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips.
“Wynifred…” Talon began, his eyes coming into focus. This time, the clouded irises met mine.
“I love you, so much.” No. I couldn’t let him say this. Not now.
“Don’t start, Talon. Please,” I said, but he didn’t even hear me. He plowed on.
“I never thought I could love you…”
“Talon, no.”
“I want you to always be happy.”
“Talon.” My voice was lost in a sob, my hands shaking around the palm of his hand that I held against my face.
“I want you to laugh every day. I want you to find a reason to… to…”
I tried to speak. I tried to talk. I tried to control the sobs that racked my body. Nothing could escape the shaking that had taken control of my lungs. Nothing could escape the panic that held me together.
I clung to him, holding on to his hands as tightly as my frail body would let me. I pushed myself against the bars, desperate to be closer to him, to hold him.
“Clara.” His voice broke as he said his sister’s name. His vision moving beyond me, his eyes on something that no one else could see.
His sister. She had come to take him home.
“No, Talon. No.” I pressed my shaking hand to his, my words distorted through my sobs.
“Be safe, Wyn,” he gasped. “Be happy.”
He paused as he wheezed, his breathing stopping before picking back up, my hand shaky against his.
“You’ve done so well, Wynifred. You amaze me.”
I sucked in breath, my voice shaking as the sob released it in an almost inaudible burst.
He smiled. “You know when I first loved you? When I knew?”
I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t try. I just sat and cried.
“When you gave up your magic to save your brother. I had seen the good in you for years, but that’s when I knew.”
I gasped at the knowledge, my sobs racking through me as I tried to get the three words out. The three words that were the most important ones I could say, the ones I wanted him to hear before it was too late.
“I love you. I love you, Talon.”
“Clara.”
His voice faded to nothing, his eyes drifting out of focus for the last time, and the heat of his flesh left me as his hand dropped to the ground.
The air was silent, my sobs forgotten, the wheezing in my husband’s chest gone.
He was gone.
“No!” I cried as everything exploded. I sobbed as I yelled. I clawed at him through the bars, trying to pull him toward me, but his body wouldn’t come. I couldn’t reach him. The bars of the prison that had killed him still kept me from him.
“Talon! No!” I shook the bars, hitting myself against them in vain, willing myself to be strong enough to reach him.
My heart ripped open, pouring out loss and grief as I felt everything, raw and fresh as if for the first time. The loss of Talon and Rosaline burst together in a mixture of sorrow so deep it threatened to incapacitate me.
I didn’t care if someone heard. I didn’t care if they came. I didn’t care if this was the end. I screamed out my pain in a keening moan that ripped open my throat and rattled my vision.
Edmund had taken them away from me. My father had taken them away from me. They had taken everything from me.
Everything.
No. Not everything.
I could already feel the boil of my magic as Talon’s soul left him and his magic released from his body. Free from the omezující stone, his magic found its mate for the last time, the strength of him rumbling through me as it joined with my own. A new emotion roared through me, a new power, a new strength.
Talon’s magic filled me from my toes to the tips of my fingers. The feeling was so foreign, so forgotten, that my body almost rebelled against it. I keeled over onto my hands and knees as my stomach heaved. A steady stream of pain ran through me, my body fighting against the magic, against the pain.
I opened my eyes to a pile of sick on the floor only to gasp at the small, black stone that rested amongst the disgusting mess.
Talon’s last gift to me.
He had banished the omezující stone
.
His magic settled into my blood, taking its rightful place as my own came back full strength. The power that rippled under my skin was strong and painful. I hadn’t felt power this strong since Ilyan had bound it inside me. I had almost forgotten how powerful I felt, how powerful I was.
Edmund had made one giant mistake. When he had unbound my memories, he had also unbound my power.
He had unleashed me.
I gasped as the sobs left me. My anger squashed my anguish and turned it into something violent.. I was ready for it. I needed it.
“I love you, Talon,” I whispered against the skin of his hand, the last contact I would ever have with my mate, the only closure I could ever hope to receive.
Talon’s hand fell to the floor as I stood, my fingers wrapping around the small stone on the floor, clenching the slippery surface in between my gritty fingers. I felt my body heal as I stood, my magic knitting muscles, bones and skin back together. I felt bruises disappear.
I flexed my fingers as my determination took over.
I didn’t care who came.
Let them come.
I opened the doors to each of the cells, the shackles that still bound Sain’s wrists falling to the ground with a clatter as I released him. I watched him stand in my peripheral vision, his feet bringing him straight to Talon.
He kneeled down next to him, closing his eyes, and then he kissed his forehead. Any thought of my doing the same was forgotten as the footsteps that had begun thundering above us came nearer.
“You ready?” I asked, surprised at the deep timbre of confidence that had come back to my voice.
“We will need to get to the Rioseco Abbey,” Sain said as he came to stand by me.
“I don’t suppose you know where that is?” I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“It is in Spain.”
Great.
Spain. Half a continent away.
I didn’t look toward him. I stood still, unwilling to move as the footsteps thundered down the stairs.
The strength of the earth flowed through me, the fire magic building to a flame. When the guard appeared at the foot of the stairs, his eyes wide and confused as to what had happened, I didn’t move. I just let the magic surge, turning the man into ash. He didn’t even register what had happened until he tumbled to the ground in specks of grey glittering snow.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I had forgotten how addicting taking a life could be.
“Was that really necessary?” Sain asked, his voice torn between disgust and humor.
“He would have done the same to us,” I answered as I began to move forward, Sain right on my tail. “If you don’t like it, don’t travel with a trained killer.”
“As long as that assassin doesn’t turn her skill on me, I think I will be happy.” He wasn’t worried. His voice was light and airy, and I could tell at once that he had seen something.
I took one last look at Talon, at the body of the man I loved, the only one who was strong enough to love me back. My heart beat once in silent farewell, the heavy pulse thick against the fragile skin of my chest.
Goodbye Talon.
I ignored the sadness and let my anger fuel me as I raced up the staircase and into the thankfully empty guards’ room. The room looked the same as it had the day I washed the sheet, the eerie light bouncing off the jagged edges of the stone.
I let my magic surge outward, searching for anyone nearby. No one else was close, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
“We should move,” Sain spoke from behind me, and I didn’t challenge it.
I walked out of the room and into the first of many dimly lit halls with Sain on my heels. I kept my magic alert, each step of my bare feet against the rock on the floor giving me a clear map of where we were in relation to everyone else within the mountain.
There was a clear path laid out that would lead us right to the exit—to freedom. As it stood, we wouldn’t run into anyone, we could simply leave.
I was already moving us in that direction when I felt it, the gentle tug of a magic that I knew all too well. It surged through my feet as it called to me, the magic of the earth making its presence known. Cail and my father were tucked away somewhere deep in the caves.
Cail’s warning ran through my head. Kill Timothy first. I raised my left hand and stared at the marks on my skin, the jagged edges where the zánik curse was bound strong. My brother had done that and in doing so had severed his mind into two halves. He had done it to protect me, in the hopes that he would someday be saved in return.
I had two paths before me, one to certain freedom, and one in the service of my brother.
With the power in my veins, the only thing that could stop me was Edmund, and he was safely tucked inside the bowels of the caves in search of the wells of Imdalind.
Imdalind.
I don’t know how, but he hadn’t found them yet. I could stop everything before it even began.
“Which have you chosen?” Sain asked. “The path of light or that of dark?” The reference to his sight was jagged and unwanted.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, old man,” I said, my voice hard. “I am choosing the path that makes the most sense.”
I tapped my toes once against the ground, a surge of power and energy rushing away from me. It flowed through the rock before it exploded into the large cavern that held the orchard, the whole thing going up in flames with a loud explosion that shook the entire mountain.
I couldn’t help but smile at the surge of power, while Sain jumped at the distant noise. His sharp intake of breath increased my smile before he laughed, soft and joyful. I guess that meant I made the right decision.
I tapped my toes against the stone once more, confirming that my father had moved away from Cail in his attempt to find out what had happened. My jaw clenched as I felt him move closer, the wicked desire to kill that I had lost when my memories were bound coming back strong. I was ready. Timothy would be walking in front of us in three… two… one…
His quick steps moved him through the tall doorway of an adjacent hallway, but he didn’t even make it past the archway before my magic had grabbed him and pulled him into the darkened space Sain and I hid in, flattening him against the rock.
He caught sight of me and opened his mouth in a scream that never left his throat. I placed my hand against his mouth, my magic pushing the small, black omezující stone into his belly before my power flared and burned his vocal cords to a crisp. He didn't even have time to draw breath.
“Hello, Father,” I taunted, cocking my head to the side in amusement.
His eyes widened as he tried to move against my bindings, the strength incapacitating him. I smiled, my eyes flashing at the sudden reversal of roles.
He deserved this. My blood pulsed strongly in expectation and my smile grew.
“What? Are you not going to say hello?”
Timothy’s pupils dilated in panic as he looked at me, the scream of pain and fear that he could never muster lost somewhere deep inside of him.
I placed my hand against his stomach, my palm pressed against the fabric of his shirt. His eyes widened as I pushed against him, my magic shooting a blade of fire into him. My eyes flashed with glee and then I pushed harder, dragging my hand against his belly as my magic sliced a large gash through him, the heat of my magic cauterizing the wound instantly.
“Choose light, Wyn.” I froze, the advance of my hand stalled at Sain’s voice.
Fine, I would choose light, but that didn’t mean I would leave him unaccountable. I would not leave him free to repeat his same sins. He could die alone in the dark. The way he deserved to.
“Goodbye, Father,” I spat before sending his body flying back toward the empty room we had just come from, his back snapping as he impacted with the wall. He slid down and fell into a heap, his lack of magic immobilizing him.
I didn’t look back.
“This way,” I hissed, grabbing Sain
’s hand and pulling him behind me.
One step against the stone and I could see a quick layout of the caves, my magic pulsing at the realization that Edmund was moving directly toward us. It was no surprise. The man was smart and he knew me well, too well. I altered my route, pulling Sain into a connecting hallway I hadn’t planned to use in an attempt to get away from Edmund.
If only the hall had been empty. Four of Edmund’s guards were running through the hall in their attempt to get to the blazing orchard, their feet stopping the second we came into view.
Crap. I had been so focused on Edmund that I hadn’t noticed them.
I pulled Sain behind me as each of their faces registered our presence, their hands rising in unison. They looked between each other and then back to me, their faces lighting with an eager anticipation. They thought they were going to take me down.
Poor little bastards had no idea what was coming.
“You aren’t going to try to kill little, old me, are you?” I asked, a little pout entering my voice. Each of their faces fell. Now they knew. Most of them were old enough to remember what I had been capable of, what Edmund had trained me for.
The Trpaslík at the back wasn’t going to risk being near me. One look and he took off in the other direction, trying to escape before I unleashed my full power on him.
Let him run, it wasn’t as if I wouldn’t face him eventually. Besides, I had three more to play with.
I smiled, waiting for them to attack, letting my magic surge as I prepared to breeze past them. The one in front raised his hand, his fingers shaking as he tried to pull together enough strength and confidence to attack me.
It was pitiful to see, and if I hadn’t squashed down all my emotions until I had time to deal with them properly, I would have felt sorry for him, but I didn’t. I reached my magic out toward the wall of the hallway, the cold stone warming under my fingertips. The heat inside my body grew as my magic moved into the stone and I liquefied it, the rock heating and melting into a stream of molten lava that seeped away from the wall and over the floor toward the guards.
The man that had come to the front screamed as the fast moving molten rock covered his feet and began working its way up his body. Pain incapacitated him as he was smothered, the rock hardening over him in a coffin of stone.
Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery Page 93