Scorched Treachery (Imdalind #3)

by Rebecca Ethington

  Her strong magic raged through me, my muscles tensed at the tingling ecstasy that washed over my nerve endings. The water continued its blissful movement, until it began to pull away. Her magic seeped back into her –bringing her with it.

  Without even knowing how, I felt her arms around me, warm and whole. I felt her presence leave mine, her mind whole again.

  I pulled away from the warmth of her arms, scared about what I would see, my heart swelling at the unscathed, healthy face looking back at me.

  “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. Joclyn’s response to seeing Ryland was the exact opposite of what I had been expecting to happen.

  Ryland pulled up his shield as a reflex reaction, although his confused face opened in a plea I barely heard above the panicked noise that had filled my suite.

  I shielded Ryland quickly, knowing that even with both of our barriers 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 then 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 it, but it never hit Ryland. It hit Dramin.

  I watched him as he moved in front of Ryland, 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 removing her alert state and 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, and through my heart. I could feel the surprise at what had just happened pulse through each of us for one breath before Thom’s yell broke the stunned reverence we had been trapped in.

  Thom yelled as he collapsed to the ground by his friend, his hands shaking as he reached for him, plunging his magic into him. His voice was the deep lolling of a keel, the sound of one lost to the deep pieties of the world. The sound of heartbreak.

  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 surge, my panic making it hard for me to regulate the amount that I plunged into him. 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 may 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.

  “Focus on that,” I instructed him before pulling away.

  My magic left him as I brought it back inside of myself, my heart thumping against my chest at what I was about to do.

  “Please don’t let me kill him,” I spoke more to myself than anyone else, but I knew that everyone had heard me, that everyone knew what I was going to do. It was what I had tried to do to my friend, Sarin, before I killed him a thousand years before. It was what I needed to do now in order to save Dramin’s life.

  My hands rested against Dramin’s face, the skin contact warm and threatening. I breathed in, bringing my magic right to the surface, before breathing out and surging it into him. I let in just enough to jumpstart his entire body and hopefully, ignite his magic, but not enough to kill him – or so I hoped.

  I looked up at Thom expectantly, hoping to see him looking at me, but his focus stayed on Dramin. The spark had obviously not ignited; his magic was still not strong enough to sustain his life.

  I needed to perform the ozdobit třásněmi one more time.

  I repeated the process, careful to keep my magic at just the right caliber inside of his body. This time, a small groan escaped Dramin’s lips, his hand twitching in response to my jolt. My heart froze for one terrible moment before I gently pushed my magic back into his body, stretching it right to the small spark I had found, pleased to now find a fire.

  I exhaled once I had felt the life inside of him, the knot in my back loosening. I looked up to Thom, his eyes meeting mine.

  “He’s alive?” he asked in awe, his voice a heavy rumble over Ryland’s constantly mumbling voice behind us.

  “Stačí nyní.” I answered Thom, careful to keep my voice low. Even though Ovailia was now standing next to Ryland and Joclyn, I knew she was listening.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” I gasped through the tense feeling in my shoulders.

  “Me either,” Thom said, his voice awed. “Even when we sparred back in the cave, after she gained full use of her power, she was never able to produce something that strong.”

  I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, forgetting that I had already cut off the long strands.

  “Try to keep him alive, Thom,” I pleaded, trying to make it plain that I needed his help.

  “I will, but there is only so much I can do. With his magic so weak…” Thom’s voice drifted off as he placed his hands against the skin of Dramin’s face, his head shaking in worry. “Why did she attack Ryland like that in the first place? I thought she loved him.”

  “She did. She does,” I corrected myself, ignoring the heavy thumping in my chest. I looked toward Ryland quickly, thankful to see both him and Ovailia absorbed in the sleeping girl before them. I needed to get over there.

  “Something must have happened in the Tȍuha,” I continued, bringing my focus back to Thom. “He must have been attacking her somehow.”

  “Ryland was attacking her?” Thom asked, the alarm in his voic
e mirroring the anxiety that already burned through me, igniting the heavy Black Water inside of me again. I cringed against the burn, trying not to show the exhaustion the pain was cursing me with.

  “I believe so.”

  “Is Ryland even safe to have here?” Thom’s eyes darted over to where Ovailia hovered beside Ryland.

  “Safer than Ovailia is at this point.”

  Thom’s gaze darted away from our siblings, his eyes narrowing at my words, almost daring me to say what he wanted to hear.

  “I need you to watch her.”

  “You need me to watch Ovailia and heal Dramin...”

  I sighed and straightened my back. Thom had put into words exactly how terrible our situation was. I had foolishly thought that Joclyn’s awakening would solve all of our problems, but now, somehow, she had only increased them.

  “Ano,” I said simply, knowing I was already asking too much of him. He only looked at me, nodding once in understanding, his own stress staring right back at me.

  “Take him to his room, Thom. I’ll be there shortly.”

  I stood as Thom carried Dramin’s body out the door, the knot in my heart relaxing. Dramin would be okay if the spark of his magic stayed strong. But I wasn’t sure what Joclyn had hit him with, so I wasn’t sure if what I had done was enough.

  I turned to the others, unsurprised to see Ryland hovering over Joclyn. I could feel Ryland’s magic inside of her, I could feel the foreign power infusing her through the edge of the Štít.

  Ryland’s voice filled the air around us, the English words sounding out of place as he whispered to her. I could still feel Ryland’s magic right around the edges of my own, making it clear he was still there. I dutifully kept mine on the other side of the Štít, even though keeping it there was a physical pain to me now.

  “He will live.” I spoke more to myself than to the room, needing to hear the words for my own benefit.

  “Honestly, I was surprised to see him remotely alive in the first place.” Ovailia’s voice was high and filled with fury.

  I had known I couldn’t avoid this confrontation for long. Instead of walking into the ruins of Rioseco to find just Joclyn and I, Ovailia had found two others – both of which she had thought to be dead. Thom and Dramin, one her brother and the other the son of her former mate.

  Our eyes met and I refused to pull away, the intensity of our stares grew as each second passed. Given where she had just come from, this conversation could easily be used to my advantage – something I definitely needed in this game of cat and mouse that my father had set up.

  I carefully fisted the burn on my hand, keeping it out of sight. Ovailia had laid her cards in front of me. I needed to play mine right, if I was going to get us out of this then everything to do with the Black Water needed to stay hidden for my round to play out properly. Joclyn being a Drak was our greatest asset at this point, it was not information I would ever willingly hand over to Ovailia. Each of us continued to weigh our options as we danced around each other in a silent tango.

  “Is she alive?” Ryland’s accusatory voice was barely louder than a whisper but it broke the tension between Ovailia and me.

  “Yes, I just put her to sleep,” I answered quickly, not able to focus on Ryland’s misplaced worry.

  “Why isn’t she waking up, Ilyan?” Ryland’s panicked voice cut through the silence as he shook her shoulders.

  I turned toward him, my frustration flaring at his questions. Had he not noticed what had just happened? Did he not care that the man who had saved him was fighting for his life?

  I brushed my irritation at his selfishness away. His hands were wrapped around hers as he whispered to her. I thought I had been prepared for this sight, but I was surprised by the uncomfortable thunk that sounded deep within my ironclad heart. I dutifully ignored it, instead moving toward them with my back straight and stoic, in my usual way.

  “I am keeping her asleep, Ryland.”

  “Wake her up!” he demanded, his desperation making him edgy. “I need to see her.”

  Ryland ran his hand over her hair, his fingers touching the skin of her face as he looked at me, waiting for me to act.

  “I am not sure that is wise.” Ryland’s eyes widened at my response, my curiosity at his odd behavior peaking. “She just tried to kill you, Ryland.”

  He looked at me for only a minute before looking away, moving down to place his forehead against hers. I felt the pressure against my own head, and shook it off, surprised the bridge was still there even though I no longer had contact with her.

  “She didn’t mean it.” Ryland’s voice was heavy and low, his words spoken more to Joclyn than to me.

  I looked toward Ovailia, expecting to receive some support, but she only looked back with a wicked gleam in her eye that I had only seen once before. The shine in her eyes prickled at my better judgment in warning.

  “She woke up only a moment before you came in...”

  “I know,” Ryland interrupted me. “Thom told us she was sleeping before. She was just confused. She didn’t know she had woken up. I need to tell her she is all right, Ilyan. Please. Let me do that.”

  I felt my protective instinct flare at his words, the desire to push him away from her strong and growing. “Why would she have need to attack you in a Tȍuha, Ryland?”

  His eyes widened, they drifted from Ovailia to me uncomfortably, as if he was unsure what to say or how much he was allowed to reveal. The gesture made me wary, my fear rising quickly within me. I had always counted on Ryland standing with me. He had gone out of his way multiple times to save me, to save Joclyn. He knew what her purpose was in this life, and yet I could see the doubt in his eyes when he looked at me. He doubted that he could trust me, that I was telling the truth. The look triggered my own doubts about the situation, and I looked toward Ovailia, my eyes hardening.

  Ryland’s body stiffened, the large muscles in his shoulders bulging beneath his blue polo shirt. My body prickled as my magic flared in expectation of an outburst.

  “She wouldn’t... I mean...” Ryland’s fingers began to dig into Joclyn’s skin, his grip tightening with every word. “If you saw what he made us do... I mean... YOU CAN’T HAVE HER!” His voice roared, making the glass in the window rattle, his magic erupting out of him. The whirlwind of power circled through the room, ripping blankets, pictures, and ornaments out of their places.

  “SHE’S MINE!” Ryland yelled only a second later, as the torrent continued, his hands digging into her, little drops of her blood trailing at his fingertips.

  That was enough. Seeing her blood was all it took for my instincts to kick in, for my heart to thump for her safety. My magic surged as I threw him away from her, his body slamming into the stone wall of my suite where I restrained him.

  The second he had left her side, I had gone to her, my arms resting over her in a physical shield.

  Ryland looked at me in a panic, his eyes wild as he fought against me.

  “Don’t ever touch her like that,” I snarled, aware that my composure had left.

  “My, my, Ilyan,” Ovailia soothed as she came up beside me. “Having trouble letting him near Joclyn are we?”

  “He was hurting her.”

  “That doesn’t matter. He’s her mate.”

  “That bond was broken. Or have you forgotten what it takes to break a bond Ovailia,” I let my hard voice plague my words as I turned to face Ovailia, allowing my height to tower over her dauntingly. She met my hard gaze with a glare of her own, her lips turned up in that wicked little half smile.

  “Oh now, how could I forget? No matter how much you wanted me to.”

  She smiled wider, and I froze, my face in its hard mask. I wanted her out of here, out of this room and out of the Abbey. If I forced her out now, she would only instruct the Trpaslíks to attack. My father’s plan was clicking into place now, his carefully woven web settling in around us. Like all webs, there was always a hole.

  “I’ll just take him to my suite
for now, shall I?” Ovailia asked, the gleam in her eyes making it obvious she knew she had me. “He can come check on Joclyn in a few hours.”

  Ovailia moved toward Ryland as my magic released him, letting him slide to the floor.

  “I can’t leave her. I don’t care what you say, Ilyan. I need her, I can’t...” Ryland’s voice was so weak, so pained, and I couldn’t ignore the desperation that lined it.

  “I know, Ryland. I will let you see her again soon. I promise.”

  Ryland opened his mouth to say something, but Ovailia stopped him. With one whispered word from her, his face hardened, his eyes dark as he followed Ovailia out without a word, his eyes never leaving Joclyn’s sleeping body.

  I had no choice but to let them go, to leave Ryland in Ovailia’s hands and let her manipulate him right in front of me. I could already feel the pieces of a larger game fall into place. Joclyn’s sight from only a few weeks before rang in my ears, the words strong beside the vision that she had shared with me. The vision of Ovailia carrying Ryland down the hall.

  ‘A tryst has been set in motion, one you cannot ignore. The father of the four is using his seed one against another, and in the end, none will fall until two lives are lost. It cannot be stopped. Beware where your trust lays.’

  For once I needed time on my side, but in only a matter of minutes, time had already effectively ruined our chances.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I hadn’t slept since yesterday morning. I hadn’t dared. I couldn’t relax after Joclyn had woken up, my name soft on her lips before she attempted to murder her mate. Former mate. I had to keep reminding myself that the bond was broken, broken by my father without their permission, their love tarnished for his wicked agenda. It made me sick to think about. Even though part of me pained at the thought, I just knew I had to find a way to get Joclyn past her fear of him.