Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2) (10 page)

“I can fight, Ilyan
,” I said. I didn’t need him babysitting me. I had been pushing and preparing for this day for the last three months.

“Not well enough,
Silnỳ. Not well enough to face Edmund, not yet.” He turned toward me and wrapped his hands around my forearms. “Not. Yet.”

“But you said earlier...” I began, remembering the softness of his voice,
the strength of his earlier confidence in me. I felt like he was suddenly taking it all back. I didn’t disagree with him, but changing his mind still stung.

“I know
, I...”

“Stop treating me like a child!” I pulled my arms away from his touch and
tried to move away from him. I regretted it instantly. The simmering heat of the shield left, and within moments, Cail’s face turned up to the roof of the cantina where Ilyan and I stood.

Ilyan grabbed my hand and took off into the air, dragging me behind him. His magic swelled inside me as he shielded me again, flying us down the street to land near a large white statue that adorned the
façade of the main cathedral.

“I’m not treating you like a child, Joclyn
,” he hissed icily.

“Then why won’t you let me fight, Ilyan?” I wasn’t sure why I was fighting this
. I didn’t even think I was ready to face Ryland. I certainly didn’t know if I would be able to fight him.

“I need to protect you, Joclyn. I have to keep you safe and this is the only way I can do that.”

“By hiding me?” I asked, wishing I could move away from him.

“Yes, until you are strong enough to fight.”

“But you just said I was…” Ilyan cut me off with one look, the desperation in his eyes deepening the blue hue.

I didn’t
respond. I knew Ilyan was right. I couldn’t seek Ryland out. He would kill me. Even though I wanted to believe I was ready to fight, I was not sure I could, or if I was strong enough.

“Stay here
. Don’t do anything stupid, Silnỳ.”

“Why would I do anything...
?”

“
Please
.” Ilyan removed his hands and waved both over me once like he was framing my body. The heat of the shield stayed with me, even without his contact. I stared at him wide eyed. I didn’t know he could shield me without touching me.

“This shield is unmovable, Joclyn. If you move, even a step out of the way, it will shatter. It is strong
, like the one I placed around the apartment, but it is fickle. I can control it when I am away from you, but it is around you, not inside you. It cannot move like you can.” His eyes were a combination of fear and excitement. He kept glancing behind him, an eagerness to fight battling with his need to stay with me.

“So, if Ryland finds me?”

“It should hold, but if you move…”

“Then it’s gone,” I finished for him,
my heart beating wildly.

“And you fly right to me.”

I nodded once in understanding and Ilyan took a step away from me before moving back, his internal conflict still raging.

“Stay,” he commanded me like a dog and I fumed a bit, but pushed it away to nod at him.

Ilyan looked at me one last time before flying away, directly toward his father who stood in the middle of the busy street.

Ten

Ilya
n
shot through the air like a bullet to land gracefully a few steps away from Cail and who stood protectively around Edmund in the middle of the main road.

The three faced each other in anticipation
.  I could feel the pressure of the situation, even from a distance, their words flowing up to me much louder than I would have expected.

“Hello
, Son,” Edmund crooned, and I cringed at how happy and normal he sounded. The impending battle didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“Father.” Ilyan’s voice was tense and I could tell he was gaugi
ng what he should do. Part of me hoped he flew back to gather me up and fly away.

Cail silently pa
ced in front of Edmund, his body tense and ready, his eyes moving from Ilyan to the street around him as he searched for me. I instinctively held my breath and controlled my jitters.

“I hear
you stole something that belongs to your Brother,” Edmund continued as if Ilyan’s tense voice had been nothing but a casual greeting.

“I stole
nothing. I am simply holding it for safe keeping.” Ilyan ground his foot into the ground and for one ridiculous moment I was reminded of an old time gun fight. I shook my head at the thought. This was no ordinary gun fight, this was much more serious.

“Hmmm,
that is not what I hear,” I saw Ilyan flinch a bit at Edmund’s words, his back tensing. “Stop that, Cail, you’re going to wear me out.”

Edmund gave one casual swipe of his hand and Cail stopped pacing immediately
. Moving himself to stand in front of Edmund, he never let his dark eyes leave Ilyan as he moved.

“Yes, master.”

This time I flinched.

At the Rugby game
, and even in the ballroom of the mansion, I had never seen Cail respond that way to Edmund. It may have been that I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but he didn’t strike me as the subservient type. I had only seen Cail act that way around Edmund in my dreams, and the fact that my subconscious rendering of him could have been that precise made me uncomfortable.

“Don’t move,” I
said to myself, as if my own voice would be able to help me keep still.

“Well, job well done I’d say
. She’s safe. You’re safe. Everyone’s happy, and we are here to collect.” Even though his words were still upbeat, Edmund’s voice had begun to darken.

“I don’t think so,” Ilyan
said darkly, as if Edmund’s words had been some great joke. The sound reverberated up to me, making the whole street sound as if it was haunted.

“I was afraid of that,” Edmund sighed, his feet
stepping back as he moved himself out of the way.

“Cail.” Cail stepped forward at Edmund
’s words, his eyes not leaving Ilyan’s in sudden anticipation. “Restrain him.”

“With pleasure
.”

Ilyan bowed his back slightly in preparation for Cail’s
assault.

Cail
turned to face Ilyan with a stream of power and light shooting out of his fingers. Ilyan didn’t dodge. He simply stepped gracefully out of the way. The energy, however, continued on and slammed into a supporting beam of the cantina’s outdoor overhang.

The S
alsa music was replaced by screams as the roof to the patio collapsed. Ilyan lifted his hand and detached the entire roof, sending it flying toward Cail. The screams from the people in the cantina increased as the air seemed to explode around them.

The roof made contact
, sending Cail to the ground. The pile of wood, fabric, and fairy lights sat in a crumpled heap in the middle of the street.

Edmund clapped his hands
as if he was enjoying the show, and I knew why the second I looked down to the street.

With the roof to
the cantina gone, a stationary dark figure stood alone in the center of the once crowded restaurant.

My heart
beat was disconnected at seeing Ryland there. As Ilyan turned to face him, I took a step forward without thinking, the shield wavering at my movement. I hesitated. I didn’t know what I wanted. Did I want to be near him? Did I want to fight him? Or did I want to save him? What did I actually think I could do?

My whole body shook as I struggled through my options
. My mind called for one action and my heart for another.

“Ryland,” I whispered.

I stepped back, hoping my movement hadn’t broken Ilyan’s shield. My magic pulsed and flowed with more heat and power than I had ever felt, but still I knew it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t even mark Ilyan without playing dirty, and tricks like that with the possessed Ryland would get me killed. I clenched my fists and focused on Ilyan’s slow movements toward Ryland, trying to keep my thoughts off of my inability to help.

Before Ilyan could move
too far toward Ryland, the shattered remains of the cantina roof exploded into fragmented bits, leaving Cail standing in the rubble. Distracted by the commotion, my eyes flew back to where Ryland had stood a moment before. The now empty dining area was devoid of any dark haired men.

Raw fear rippled through me, taking my breath and logic away.
Ryland was coming to find me. I stood still, listening to the beat of my heart, expecting Ryland to come around a corner at any moment.

Ilyan
must have jumped to the same conclusion because he began to battle Cail, his eyes scanning around for Ryland while also keeping tabs on his Father, who seemed content to let Cail do his dirty work.

“Hello, little pony,
come to be broken?” I froze at the words, my whole body going rigid as my pulse skyrocketed. I felt Ryland’s hand trail down my scalp, his fingers running through my hair. I didn’t dare turn, I didn’t know if I could manage it.

“I like your
hair better this way, it’s beautiful. I think, seeing you like this, I
would
like to keep you as a pet.” Ryland came around to face me, his black eyes the only things I could look at. Not for the first time, I had to remind myself that his mind was gone.

He wasn’t there.

It isn’t him.

It i
sn’t him.
I reminded myself over and over, trying to ignore the heavy thump of my heart against my chest.

Ryland reached up and placed a cold hand against my skin
. I felt the warm buzzing of Ilyan’s shield evaporate. Ilyan must have felt his magic surge as his power returned, but I couldn’t look away from the black depths of Ryland’s eyes to see if Ilyan had noticed.

“What? Not going to say hello?”
My eyes ran down his face to his lips – the lips I only got to kiss once. Even though my face burned with happiness, I had to tell myself again: It wasn’t him.

It i
sn’t him.

M
y head was buzzing with internal yells, many prompting me to run.

It i
sn’t him

“Goodbye, Ry.” I whispered the words before slamming my hand into his stomach. I filled my hand with all the abnormal buzzing
I felt and lunged it at him, sending him spinning through the air, away from me, to land on the street twenty feet away.

I didn’t
dare look. I took off into the air, needing to get to Ilyan.

At some point in
my brief contact with Ryland, Ilyan had begun fighting with Edmund, Cail taking a supporting role; the scene before me was terrifying. I landed further away from Ilyan than I wanted to, scared to get too close.

Ilyan
’s and Edmund’s hands moved seamlessly as they fought. Tables, daggers, swords – objects both real and conjured – everything flew across the space between them. Physical weapons to magical attacks, they blended into one another. The energy fields and magic that they fought with sent flashes of color through the darkened street.

I watched for a moment
. I needed to get to Ilyan, but more importantly, I needed to help him.

My hand flexed
in preparation for an attack when I was struck across my back by a long strand of white-hot heat. I fell to the ground as the burning pain seeped into me before dissipating. I scrambled to flip around on the asphalt only to get tangled up in the remains of my hoodie, which had been shredded by the whip-like attack. I yelled as I pulled at it, frantic to remove it and get away. My efforts were halted by Ryland’s legs straddling me and holding me in place.

“Now, where were you going?” he sneered
. “I told you I need to break you.”

He
sat down on my legs, the pressure inverting my knees painfully. I moved to place my hands against his skin, ready to attack him, but Ryland grabbed my wrists before I could make contact. He transferred both of my wrists into one hand and leaned towards me, pushing my arms above my head. His searing magic moved into me and blended with my own, his negative energy stopping the flow of magic and blood to my arms. I attempted to pull my hands away, to kick him off of my legs, but he was too strong and his weight too much for me. I could feel my body weakening the more I fought him.

“Do you know how they
break a horse?” He increased the weight on my legs and against my wrists as I fought him. “You have to whip it.”

Ryland sliced his
free hand through the air in front of me sending the same burning sensation, this time through my chest. I screamed out at the centralized pain. He swiped his magic across me again and again, the pain surging with each new impact. I continued to fight him as I screamed and writhed, my hands still bound as he pinned me down.

I was desperate to escape
the agony, but I also knew I should be hurting more. With each painful swipe of his hand the pain grew, only to be swallowed up by my body as I absorbed his energy, his magic, the Zȇlství forming a loop between us.

I waited until his next strike and grabbed the
burning energy before my body dissipated it within me. I combined it with my own magical energy and shot it back at him through my hands, directly into his face.

Ryland yelled
in pain as he fell off me, freeing my legs. I scrambled up, the now shredded fabric of my hoodie falling to the ground. I didn’t wait to see if Ryland was still down. I did the only logical thing that I knew; I ran and hid.

I bolted into
a dark alley, the large adobe buildings towering over me and enclosing me in the dark space. A few steps in and the darkness had engulfed me, leaving me alone with my pounding heart as I felt my way along the rough wall, waiting until I was far enough into the alley not be seen. I jumped into the air. The wind caught me and hoisted me onto the nearest roof.

I knew it was pointless to run. I could
already feel my own magic pulse toward Ryland, the heavy weight of the pull increasing the closer he got. It was part of the magic of the Zȇlství, the bonding. The connection that was supposed to be such a joyous occasion had turned into my own personal hell. I was, at this moment, being hunted by my mate.

I ran and hid behind a large air conditioning
unit, knowing it was hopeless. I attempted to convince myself of my need to fight him, no matter how much I hurt at the thought. The pulse of my magic continued to grow as he moved closer. The sounds of Ilyan’s battle with Edmund and Cail from the street below echoed in my ears. The air was becoming thick with the smell of dust and burning wood. I vaguely wondered what had caught fire when Ryland suddenly pulled me up by my hair.