[Imdalind 01.0] Kiss of Fire

by Rebecca Ethington

  “You and your mother,” he mocked as he walked toward me, his steps faltering as an explosion from below shook the room. “You are both such fighters. Why can’t you die easily? But, you know it’s going to end the same way, don’t you?” He came to stand right next to me and I cringed against him, my body unable to resist the pull of his magic.

  “You both end up dead.” He placed his hand against my stomach, his palm against my skin. I could feel it grow cold as his magic entered me before beginning to warm as he generated a ball of energy. He formed it inside of me, the weapon building underneath my skin. I screamed out as the warmth turned into a burning heat.

  “Let her go.” Ryland’s powerful voice filled the air as he landed roughly on the balcony beside us. He leaned against a large pillar, his body obviously weakened as he continued to fight his father’s invasion of his mind. His body twitched uncomfortably, but his eyes were back to a bright shade of blue.

  “Really?” Cail mocked, the heat continuing to move and grow inside of me. “You think you have enough energy to fight me?”

  “I don’t...” Ryland panted, “but she does.”

  The ball of fire within me grew to a tumult as my energy drained away, filtering out of my body. I could feel my magic move into Ryland, the power increasing as our magics intertwined with one another, growing stronger with their union. My magic drained as Ryland shot a ball of intense golden light toward Cail. The impact sent him flying, his body tumbling off the balcony into the fight below. Ryland collapsed to the floor, his body twitching as he sank.

  With no wind to hold me up, I fell roughly to the ground as well, the heat from Cail leaving a terrible pain in my stomach. I crawled to Ryland, placing my arms around his neck when I reached him. He twitched again, and I forced his face up to look at me, thankful for his beautiful blue eyes.

  “How did you do that?” I panted, the pain still lingering in my belly.

  “I can do anything with you.” He tried to smile, but it was only a grimace.

  Ryland reached forward and placed his hand on the skin of my stomach exactly where Cail’s hand had lain. I felt my magic swell and grow as Ryland pulled it toward him, stopping it right before it left me to join him. The warmth stayed there and took the pain away almost instantly.

  “How...?”

  “Anything... with... you...” He twitched again, his whole body was shaking, but he refused to take his eyes off me.

  I reached my hand forward; he grabbed it, pressing my fingertips to his lips.

  “Love... you… always…” His shaking became uncontrollable as his eye color began to fade. I watched in agony as Edmund took over.

  “No!” I clutched his hands desperately. “Don’t leave me!”

  “Always.” His voice was broken and wispy in my ear as he pulled my hand against the side of his face. He pressed my fingers roughly to him, his grip tightening in his fear of losing me.

  “No!”

  Before the change could complete, the balcony shifted and collapsed. I held tightly to Ryland’s hand as we were thrown over the edge, our bodies tumbling toward the fire-filled conflict that raged below. I swept wind to us, hoping the weak energy would catch us before we landed hard against the floor; instead, the wind flung us into a heap in the corner.

  My body was entangled with Ryland’s as we collided with the wall, but I wasn’t there for long before Ryland grabbed me and shot me away from him in a surge of wind and energy. My body slammed into another wall, and I felt my back pop. There was no agony with it, so I stood, thankful that it had not broken again. I steadied myself just as Ryland landed in front of me, a wave of energy slamming into my stomach. I felt no pain; only pressure as the energy surge pushed me back, trapping me in place.

  “Hello again, little pet,” Ryland sneered as he walked toward me, his black eyes shimmering wickedly as he laughed. I cringed away from his advance, but my body was restrained again by his magic.

  “Not going to try to attack me with your weak magic?” Ryland was right in front of me now. He leaned intimately close to me, one hand resting on the wall beside my head. I could feel his breath against my face; feel his hip as he pushed it against me. He smiled wickedly, and I felt the bile rise dangerously in my throat.

  “That’s okay; I have another idea.” His voice was a sickening purr.

  His hand moved into my line of vision, his fingers twiddling together, small sparks flashing from the surge in his magic. The sparks he produced continued to grow as his fingers rubbed together wildly. In only a moment, a small dagger appeared in his hand, the small silver blade glinting wickedly in the magical light that flashed and pulsed around us.

  “You love this body, don’t you, little girl?” He smiled wickedly. I couldn’t look away from the dagger that spun between his fingers. “You love the way it looks, the way it makes you feel.” He pushed his hip further into me; I gasped in pain at the pressure.

  “Well, this body, it loves you, too.”

  The dagger stopped spinning and my eyes flew to his with a glimmer of hope. It was pointless.

  “But I don’t,” he said.

  I didn’t even see the movement; I was too consumed with looking at his face. One minute there was no pain, and the next, the pain had moved beyond me. I screamed as the tiny dagger began to dig its way into the skin that covered my heart. I felt the warmth of my own blood drizzling down my chest as the dagger slowly worked its way into my chest, deeper and deeper, toward my beating heart.

  “That doesn’t hurt, does it?” Ryland’s voice was so joyous; he enjoyed watching my agony as he tortured me.

  “Ryland!” I screamed his name, my voice finding form as the pain grew. “Fight him, Ryland!” The evil imposter who restrained me only laughed as he dug the knife deeper into my skin.

  “Sad. I don’t think he can hear you.”

  “Ryland! It’s me. It’s Joclyn. Snap out of it, please!”

  He only laughed with increased malice. I screamed again, feeling the blood pool around the waistline of my tight pants.

  “Ryland!” I panted between screams, calling to him, desperate for him to make a connection. “Remember the tree… the old guard… at the hospital… Remember when we… ran away…” I screamed and panicked as the pain increased. He only laughed as he looked at me through the depthless pit of his black eyes.

  “Remember when you kissed me…” I tried one last time before my voice broke; my mind too dizzy and confused to focus properly. My head slumped down; I focused on my own heartbeat, hoping that Ilyan would find me, that someone would see me, before it was too late.

  “Joclyn.”

  My head rose slowly to see him—Ryland, blue eyes and all—looking at me. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything; I just looked at him. His eyes looked me over, stopping in a panic when he saw the dagger that still remained in my chest, his hand and my skin covered with wet, sticky blood.

  “Oh, God, what have I done?” he asked as he released his magical hold on me and I fell into his arms. He held onto me tightly as his magic surged into me; I felt the warmth fill me all over as the dizziness retreated and the flow of my blood seemed to stop. I looked up at him carefully, the obvious request lining my face.

  “We have to get out of here,” he whispered, not waiting for me to respond before he exploded into the air, my body still pressed tightly against his.

  We didn’t even make it past the hole in the ceiling before the entire process was reversed. A gust of wind I knew neither of us controlled pushed against us in the opposite direction, dragging us back down to the destroyed floor below.

  Ryland’s arms went limp and I tumbled out of them, heading down toward the ground, fast. My fear of falling only lasted a moment before Ilyan’s wind grabbed me and pulled me, soaring across the room, straight into his arms.

  “It’s time to go,” he hissed in my ear.

  I turned from Ilyan, searching for Ryland. He stood across the room from us, his body tall and still as he looked intent
ly in our direction, his eyes back to the colorless cast. He didn’t move; he didn’t flinch; he stayed still, just as his father commanded him to do.

  Edmund’s hand was placed on Ryland’s shoulder, the fingers curved aggressively as they dug into Ryland’s skin. Edmund seemed to taunt us from across the room, his stance just willing us to come and attack him. I knew we would lose if we tried, but I did not want to accept it.

  “Ryland!”

  “We can’t take him, Silnỳ,” Ilyan said. He wrapped his arms around me as he pulled me away from them.

  “No!” I yelled out in a panic, reaching for Ryland.

  “I can’t get him away from Edmund and get you out of here safely, Joclyn. You are my number one priority now. We have to go.” Ilyan grabbed me tightly around the waist, and jumped us back. Edmund had just released Ryland’s shoulder and Ryland was now advancing toward us surprisingly fast.

  “No! I can do it! I can save him!” I don’t know what made me say that; I knew I couldn’t. My heart beat wildly as I fought against Ilyan’s arm; my body, my heart, desperate to get back to Ryland.

  “I can do it! Let me go!” Ilyan held me tighter as I fought against him, my hands clawing uselessly at his strong arm.

  Ryland kept advancing as Ilyan restrained me, the members of the guard surrounding us again in an attempt to escape together.

  “Ryland. Ryland!” I screamed until my voice broke, my mouth filling with the taste of blood. “Let me go! Ryland!”

  Ilyan tightened his grip and I felt us take off into the air, the wind blowing against my skin as Ilyan took me away from the one person I wanted, the one person I needed.

  “Ryland.” I continued to fight, not caring if I fell. I needed him.

  I fought Ilyan, calling Ryland’s name in a desperate hope that he would change back, that he would see me and follow me. Our eyes locked as Ilyan flew me through a wide hole in the roof, the night sky swallowing us up and taking me away from him.

  Now, I knew it was too late. His eyes faded to blue just as we passed beyond the roof of the building, but Ryland only looked at me in confusion, no trace of recognition on his face.

  No matter if I came back, no matter how hard I would try, it was too late now. Edmund had erased every part of him.

  33

  I watched the fire that had embraced the building; I watched the purple and green flames lick the roof and reach their slinky arms up to the sky. I saw the red and blue flashing lights of the emergency vehicles that surrounded the mansion, the hordes of people who came, either to watch or to huddle around the ambulances in panic. I watched as the bodies became indiscriminate specks and the flames became tiny orbs of colored light. I watched as the building became nothing more than a colorless speck in the midst of the city lights. I watched as it all disappeared into the blackness of a starless, moonless, hopeless night.

  Through it all, I cried; my heart calling to Ryland as he disappeared from my life forever. I clung to Ilyan as my chest was wracked with sobs, my breathing ragged and broken. I drenched his shirt with my tears and any other gross secretions that joined my broken heart. He didn’t seem to care.

  Ilyan held me close to him as he flew us through the air, his arms holding me securely. In the back of my mind, I knew that he was singing to me. I could feel the rumble of his chest; hear his deep, comforting voice in my ear. But I didn’t know what was being said, though; I didn’t understand what the words meant.

  “Teď tiše, moje malá. Upokoj se, buď klidná. S novým úsvitem se svět změní. A když se změní, uvidíš, jaký bychom měli být, ty a já.” He sang it to me slowly, over and over.

  My tears slowed, but the pain didn’t go away. I had lost everything. My father had left me, only to disappear shortly after renewing contact. My beautiful mother had been murdered, a casualty of the war I had been thrust into. Moreover, my best friend, the new love who was so ruthlessly torn away from me—his mind had been erased and all memory of me had been stolen from him.

  I was only vaguely aware when Ilyan landed. His arms loosened as he attempted to lower me down, but I held onto him tightly, my heart terrified of losing one of the last things I had. I clung to him like a terrified child, locking my fingers together in a panic.

  “It’s okay, Silnỳ.” He tried to release my arms again, but I only held on tighter.

  “No!” I wailed into him, clinging to him. “Don’t leave me.”

  “I am not going anywhere. I will be right back.”

  I felt his magic surge through my blood stream, and my body instantly relaxed. I sank to the ground, my eyes only barely registering Ilyan’s retreating footsteps. I looked around myself, not really taking in the dirt, dried leaves and pine needles.

  I had barely registered where I was—the fire pit—before Wyn kneeled before me. Her pants were torn and covered in dirt, the brightly-colored ‘Queen’ t-shirt burned and ripped at the hem.

  “He’s gone.” My voice broke with my tears.

  “I know.” Wyn’s voice wasn’t condescending, or comforting, but my heart still rent open to hear it from someone else.

  “I failed him, Wyn.” I sank down further, my body falling forward into Wyn’s lap. She wrapped her arms around me, her head resting on my back. I felt her warm breath against my skin, her tears falling like dripping ice against me.

  “It’s all right, Joclyn. We will get him back.”

  I sat up, throwing Wyn off me, my blood heating to a sudden boil.

  “Get who back, Wyn? He’s gone! There is no more Ryland! He’s gone!” I screamed as loud as my sore and broken voice would let me. It was probably a good thing Wyn’s battle-worn face already looked like someone had punched her or I probably would have.

  “I was supposed to save him, and I failed. I was supposed to protect him from his father, and I couldn’t. He’s not there anymore!”

  “He has to be there, Jos. He loves you so much, he—”

  “Loved me. The Ryland who loved me doesn’t exist anymore. I lost my father because of a stupid mark! My mother was murdered because you people cursed me! And now I have lost Ryland, the one person who meant the most to me!” I felt that uncontrollable anger seeping into my soul again; the desire to fight and yell and scream hit much stronger than it should have been.

  “Enough, Joclyn.” I heard Ilyan’s commanding voice flow over me; Ilyan’s magical barrier freezing my emotions in place.

  I felt the anger vanish, leaving me with the soul-crushing sadness of my heartbreak. I sank into the ground, my body curling in on itself. I ran my fingers over the dirt as I looked to the tops of the trees I had climbed so many times.

  “It’s okay, Ilyan; she’s just hurt. She doesn’t mean what she’s saying.” Wyn’s voice was tiny; I could barely feel her hand against my shoulder.

  “I know, Wyn.” There was a pause and I heard Ilyan exhale deeply, his magical restraints peeling off me a bit. “It’s time to go. You and Talon are going to carry the tail of the western evacuation and go home through Los Angeles.”

  “And Joclyn?” Wyn’s voice was hesitant.

  “Joclyn will be going into hiding with me. Ryland marked her, the Zȇlství is complete. I am not sure if Edmund is going to use their connection to track her down or not. Until I know for sure, she is staying with me.”

  “Then I am staying with you, too.” Wyn’s voice was forceful, but sad; I couldn’t imagine what it had cost her to say that, to commit to leaving Talon. I unwound myself from my cocoon of pity to look at her, my heart melting.

  “You can’t leave Talon, Wyn.” My voice was soft and broken. “I left Ryland, and now he is gone. Please, for me, stay with Talon.”

  Our eyes locked as she reached forward to take my hands. A million thank yous, a million emotions passed between us before she stood, our hands extended between us in a last goodbye.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I whispered. She could only nod. The phrase “going into hiding” did not bode well for quick reunions.

  She
squeezed my hands before turning away from me and then she and Talon took off into the inky night sky.

  “It’s time to go, Silnỳ.” I looked up at Ilyan, surprised to see tears falling down his own cheeks.

  Ilyan didn’t expect me to stand; he leaned down and lifted me securely into his arms. He didn’t cradle me as he had before, but held me against him in a bone-crushing hug that took my breath away. He pressed me against him as we soared into the air, the wind whipping his hair and what was left of mine around us. My emotionally drained body sank into him, a few soothing lines of his calming melody sinking into me before I fell fast asleep.

  I woke up the next morning in a gray apartment. The walls were gray, the curtains were gray. It was an ugly gray palette that I had no interest in seeing. I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head, trying to block out the light. I breathed deeply, but it came out ragged and torn. I had cried all through the night.

  “Did you get everyone out?” Ilyan’s voice was calm and even. I could tell he was on the phone by the way he switched back and forth between Czech and English.

  “We made it to the third safe house. I made everyone go before us, so they all should be safe.”

  I rolled over to lie on my back, throwing the blanket away from me. As I moved, the necklace shifted onto my skin; I had almost forgotten about it.

  “Yes, get everyone to Prague. I will start the evacuation on my end. The more of a trickle we can form, the safer everyone will be.” He came around the corner, surprised to see me awake.

  “I am still keeping her with me, Ovailia; we have a lot of work to do and she is safer with me.” He snapped his phone shut and leaned against the wall.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, his voice tentative and quiet.

  I looked at him before turning away, fixing my eyes on the ceiling.

  “I’m sorry, Joclyn.” His voice was deep and soothing, but I brushed his condolences away. I just wanted to be mad. “Everything will be all right, Silnỳ.”

  I just nodded at him; I didn’t trust myself to say anything polite.