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

by Ethington, Rebecca

  This could not be allowed to happen. It was not the end. I had seen my path, and my path was her. I had seen the end, seen my love for her and hers for me. I had seen everything. It was her. She was my everything. I would wait a thousand more years to experience those sights, but they would come to pass. They could not just be a zlomený. I wouldn’t allow it.

  “But, she is still sleeping… She’s been sleeping for two weeks…” My eyes looked away from Dramin; I couldn’t stand to try to explain something that I didn’t understand. “How can she be…”

  Dramin came to stand next to me, his hand moving to lay against Joclyn’s face. His touch was soft against her cheek as he filled her with his magic. My eyes moved to glare into him as I felt his magic surge, the power of it right up against mine. I had never felt Dramin’s magic so strongly. It wasn’t the same deep magic of the Drak I was used to feeling; this was bright and strong. It almost felt powerful.

  Dramin looked at me in wonder, the gleam in his eyes making it clear that he had found my new connection to Joclyn. He had known what the Black Water would do inside my veins after all.

  I turned my hand toward him, showing him the angry welt that covered my palm. My face cringed as I let the pain show through my eyes, my chest still locking the rest of my pain inside.

  Dramin’s eyes went wide as they stared at my hand in silence. With one nod, he pushed more of his magic into her, the flow wide and strong. The burn on my hand had obviously opened up something inside me. It was more than the connection with Joclyn; I could feel the hidden strength of a Drak now.

  I could feel something else too. The heavy black mark that had hidden the thin strand of fine gold ribbon that her mind had followed to enter the Tȍuha.

  I found it.

  I found her.

  “It’s a Vymȁzat.”

  “What?” Dramin’s hand pulled away from Joclyn’s face, the mug in his other hand dropping to the floor in surprise. “How did you miss that? You tried everything—”

  “I didn’t miss it. It was hidden,” I said as I pushed my magic into her, feeling it move through her as it would in me. My awareness of her body swelled. I felt everything. I felt the thick ridge of the curse inside the hollow cavity of her mind. The curse had spread like spider webs over her skull, so thin and fine, it was no wonder I had missed it. Whatever Edmund had done to her, he had hidden it well. Just not well enough.

  I kept pushing my magic into her, my body beginning to feel weak and heavy as my power smothered her. I pushed as I worked to reverse the Vymȁzat, to remove it from inside her.

  “Ilyan, you can’t possibly be saying what I think you are saying…”

  I surged my magic violently through it until the thick strands of my father’s curse began to break loose, the bands loosening away from her spinal column. It was there, with the sensation of her within me, that I felt her mind coming back.

  Joclyn’s mind, her soul, was clicking back into place as the Vymȁzat loosened its grip on her. Her mind moved back into her, like a child playing with dominos—one piece falling after another as they moved into place. I could feel the heavy threads of her thoughts, the increased panic of her breathing, the elevated rate of her heart, and her hand against my shoulder.

  One Hundred Twenty-Nine

  Joclyn

  I screamed as the bone cracked.

  It always cracked.

  And then healed.

  Always healed.

  “Come back here! Let me finish what I started!” Ryland was angry, always angry. Always hurting.

  I dragged myself to the room with books. I could hide there until it healed. I heard him behind me, he was too close. He wanted to end it. He wanted me gone.

  He had told me so.

  He’d said it had been too long. Over Two weeks.

  No, eighty days. Was that two weeks?

  I had lost track, I didn’t know which made sense.

  Lots of lines on the floor.

  Which day? How long?

  I didn’t know how long.

  I clawed at the warmth in my shoulder, my fingers wet with blood. The warmth was there all the time now. It was nice; I liked it. If I got it out, I could see what caused it. I could hold it in my hands.

  I got to the books and pulled myself into the corner where the rats lived. They let me in. They sat on my lap.

  Song.

  Song.

  No more words.

  Words were gone.

  Only the song.

  I rocked, the rocking helped. The rocking felt nice.

  Like the warmth, the warmth so strong.

  Song.

  Song fading.

  I was fading, too.

  I could feel it.

  “Snap out of it, Joclyn!”

  That voice.

  I knew it.

  “Mi lasko! Snap out of it! Get out of there!” The voice was close.

  The warmth was strong. So strong it hurt. I looked up to find the voice, but it was not a voice. It was a girl on a bed. A man was kneeling over her. He was strong. His face was strong. He was tall with bright blue eyes and short blond hair. He was the one who was yelling, but he was not angry like Ryland, he was scared.

  Seeing him scared me, too. I moved into the rats, but the rats were gone. They were scared.

  “Joclyn! Come back to me!” he yelled again. I could tell he was crying. He placed his hands on the girl, but his hands didn’t hurt. His hands were gentle.

  I didn’t know someone could be so nice.

  The warmth inside me grew, but I didn’t claw at it. I didn’t think I was supposed to.

  I couldn’t stop looking at the man. I knew this man.

  “Joclyn!”

  That was my name. He called the girl my name, but the girl was not me. This girl was clean. This girl was beautiful.

  I moved to look at the girl.

  “Dramin! Bring the Water!” he yelled. Another man entered. This one was tired, but he was kind, too.

  “What in land’s end is going on here?” The new man was worried.

  I walked around them. I couldn’t take my eyes off the sad one.

  I knew him.

  Something was familiar about him, but something was off.

  He couldn’t see me.

  Why couldn’t he see me?

  “Ovailia has returned. It was just as Joclyn said…. Ryland’s here. He’s awake.”

  I spun in fear as the new one said his name, but he was not here. Pain was not here.

  “What do you mean he is awake?” the sad one said. There was fear in his voice. He looked back to the girl.

  “Joclyn!” he yelled again, but the girl did not respond.

  “Ovailia brought him. He’s fine, however the bond is gone. Edmund broke it weeks ago.”

  The sad one was still scared. The new one looked scared now, too.

  The warmth. It grew again. It was hot now. It hurt.

  “But she is still sleeping… She has been in the Tȍuha for weeks. How can she be…” The sad one’s voice was heavy. He placed his hand softly against her head.

  They were both so nice. Could people be so nice?

  “It’s a Vymȁzat.”

  “What?” The new man dropped a mug he was holding, the dark liquid seeping into the floor. “How did you miss that? You tried everything…”

  “I didn’t miss it. It was hidden.”

  The warmth was so hot it hurt. I clutched my shoulder, my teeth grinding with the pain.

  “Ilyan, you can’t possibly be saying what I think you are saying…”

  Ilyan.

  I knew him.

  My Ilyan.

  The song.

  My song.

  He sang me the song as I lay dying, when I woke from nightmares, and when I was sad.

  I remembered.

  Everything.

  The sight. The sight of the Drak.

  My sight. It must be how I was seeing this.

  I looked to Ilyan as he continued to yell at t
he girl, no, to yell at me. Was this happening now, or had it already happened?

  “Ilyan?” I yelled his name in a panic, words were foreign on my tongue after not using them for so long. He didn’t respond. He looked at the girl, his hair short on his head. I liked it. Now it was the way it had been in the vision. Was that why he cut it? Was it really him?

  I waved my hand in front of his face, but he didn’t turn. The warmth continued to grow. The warmth that was Ilyan’s magic.

  Magic.

  I walked around them, watching their movements, trying to figure out what to do, and why I was seeing this. It had to be for a reason. It was my way out. I knew it.

  My heart thumped at the possibility, my body twitching the way it had for however long I had been trapped in here. One hour to every ten minutes. Weeks. I twitched again. It had been so much longer to me.

  I yelled to Ilyan, screaming at him as his panic grew; as he and the new one, Dramin, yelled back and forth. The room was full of sound as they yelled, each person’s panic adding to the noise. Without thinking, I reached out to place my hand on Ilyan’s arm.

  My hand made contact.

  Ilyan’s skin was warm underneath my icy fingers. He looked up, and I was sure he could see me. His eyes widened in horror before moving back to the beautiful girl he still sat over.

  Everything clicked together as Cail walked through the door, his wicked scowl fading at the scene before him.

  And then it hit me.

  I had magic.

  I placed my hands firmly on Ilyan, shoving him out of the way and directly onto Dramin. Both men fell onto the floor in a heap as I raised my hands; the sleeping form of myself raising hers as well.

  I could feel the crackle in my skin, the power congregating before I released it right into Cail’s chest. Cail screamed and jumped to the side, the powerful burst flying into the soft, blood-soaked wall behind him.

  “No!” I could only smile at his outburst, the fear in his voice making me feel more powerful.

  “How do you remember?”

  I looked at the group to my left. Cail obviously couldn’t see the vision as I could. “I am stronger than you would have ever assumed, Cail. My father made me that way.”

  “No! It can’t be!”

  Cail moved to attack, but I stepped to the side, my brain able to determine the weakness of his weapon early on. I did not wait for him to regroup. I did not wait to find a weakness. I needed to get out of here, and Cail was keeping me trapped. I moved my energy into him, and let the power burn him away.

  His eyes grew wide at the first of the energy and at the pain my attack was causing him. Soon his legs gave way and he sunk to the ground; his life ebbing away.

  “Wyn.” His final word was a whisper of his sister’s name. My best friend. I didn’t have time to make sense of it. I didn’t have time to rejoice.

  It took only a moment for me to realize my mistake, though. I was trapped inside Cail’s mind, a mind I had just destroyed.

  Everything around me began to shift and fall as Cail’s consciousness disintegrated into nothing. I screamed as the ceiling peeled away, doors fell off of their hinges, and red liquid poured into the room from behind every new opening. I would drown in it. Drown here, in Cail’s mind. There was no return path out of here. I would die here.

  I turned to Ilyan, knowing this was the end.

  My breath caught as Ilyan looked right into me, his eyes seeing me as I stood in the melting room, the floor shifting as it attempted to give way.

  “Goodbye.” My voice caught as I reached toward him, my fingers twisting around his newly cut hair. I wished I could tell him that I liked it. I liked how young it made him look, how strong. I smiled, trying to ignore the tears on my cheeks. “I love you.”

  “No!” Ilyan’s arms wrapped around me, his body bridging the gap between worlds. His magic flared and filled me so quickly I couldn’t stop it.

  I screamed in fear at the pressure before I realized the change.

  My body seemed more real, and my brain was clearer. Ilyan had somehow brought me back.

  I looked around wildly not knowing what to expect. I was lying on a bed; my body twitching, and my breathing ragged.

  “Joclyn?” Ilyan’s voice was wild, his eyes wide.

  I didn’t know how to respond to him. I didn’t know if I could. I reached up and placed my hands on his face, my eyes boring into his. I had his eyes memorized; every speck of gold, every vein. Those memories came back stronger than I had ever experienced, and for one fleeting moment, I felt my heart calm.

  It was him.

  “Ilyan.”

  I pulled him to me, placing my forehead against his as I clung to him, basked in him.

  And then everything changed.

  The door to the room I was in flew open and Ryland walked in. His blue eyes were wide and scared as he searched for me, but it didn’t matter.

  He was pain. The reaction was branded into my soul. I couldn’t stop it.

  My reflexes took over, my breathing picking up as my body moved into a panic. Except now I could fight back. Now, I had magic.

  I lifted my hands as something deep inside of me yelled at me to stop. My brain screamed at me, but I couldn’t focus through the fear. The response that I had been trained to display over the past two months had become far too strong in me now.

  Somehow—in the recesses of my mind—I knew I had seen this scene before.

  Still, I aimed to kill.

  My magic flew away from me and Dramin stepped in front of Ryland as he did his best to shield him. I knew why my mind had been screaming.

  I had seen this before.

  And now I knew where.

  The screaming of everyone in the room intensified as Ilyan’s magic ran through me. I only saw a flicker of Dramin’s slow decent to the floor before Ilyan’s magic put me to sleep.

  One Hundred Thirty

  Ilyan

  “Ilyan.” Her voice moved through me with the strength of a tidal wave. It crashed into my soul and took the breath out of my chest.

  I looked into the silver sheen of her eyes, my soul undeniably lost to her, my heart belonging to her more than it ever had. Just as her sight had said.

  She wrapped her hands around my neck and brought my forehead down onto hers, the contact of her skin igniting my blood. I could feel the fire of the Black Water speed up in my veins, its burn deep and yet so pleasant.

  I would have gladly stayed there for hours, staring into her eyes, her skin against mine, but I could feel them coming. My magic had been so focused on Joclyn that I didn’t feel their pulses until they were right on top of us.

  I turned toward them as the door opened, stepping away from her in a panic, unsure as to how Joclyn would react at seeing Ryland.

  He was the first one in the door, his blue eyes blazing as he searched for her. I looked toward Joclyn, expecting to see the heart-stopping joy I had seen light up her face before, but it was not there. The look of pain and fear that I had seen on the haggard girl’s face had taken over Joclyn’s beautiful features. Panic and fear ravaged her before her hands raised toward him, a pulse shooting through the air with more power than even I could conjure.

  The glowing mass exploded from her hands with enough energy that the air rippled behind it, the deep earth magic reacting to Joclyn and strengthening the attack.

  Time slowed as I watched the flame burn through the air, everyone slowly registering what was happening.

  I shielded Ryland quickly, knowing that her energy pulse would burn right through. The mass barreled toward Ryland’s chest faster than a bullet. I could tell by the look on Joclyn’s face that this wouldn’t be the last attack. She was angry and terrified. Her eyes held more hatred than I had ever seen.

  I surged my magic through the Štít and into her tense and frantic body, my magic soothing her mind to sleep as quickly as I could, just as Joclyn’s attack made contact.

  I expected the impact. I had yelled out against i
t, but it never hit Ryland. It hit Dramin.

  He moved in front of Ryland in silence, his eyes hooded and sad. He was not panicked at what was about to collide with him, he was accepting. Dramin looked at Joclyn as her magic hit him, his face full of pity before he collapsed to the ground.

  Everything froze in place as I felt Joclyn fall into sleep beside me, my magic plunging her into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Joclyn’s body sagged as Dramin’s did, but it was Dramin’s body that held my attention this time. The dull clunk of his head against the wood echoed through the quiet room, Thom’s yell breaking the silence.

  “Dramin! No!” Thom collapsed to the ground by his friend, his hands shaking as he reached for him, plunging his magic into him.

  All other thoughts left me as I dropped to Thom’s side as he howled, my own yells joining his as he held onto his friend. My friend. All the times I had hidden him, protected him, and now he was just another one to fall.

  “Dramin,” I gasped, my voice inaudible above Thom’s moans. “No… No… Dramin!”

  I placed my shaking hands against Dramin’s face, my magic moving into him in an attempt to find some evidence of life inside him, to find anything that would give me some hope.

  I let my magic flow, my panic making it hard for me to regulate the strength of my magic. I explored every inch of his body, my power covering him in my desperation to find something.

  If it wasn’t for the deep tick of the Black Water that would forever flow through me, I might not have felt the small spark that was hidden in his heart.

  “He’s not dead,” I said firmly, the regality coming back into my voice as I fought the hopelessness that Dramin’s injury had filled me with.

  “What?” Ovailia’s surprise mirrored my own, but the bitter sound within her voice was stronger than usual.

  I grabbed Thom’s magic that now snaked through Dramin’s body to direct him to the spark of energy that I had found.