Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2) (19 page)

“
‘One seeks power, the other light.’” I mumbled to myself.

“I’m sorry?” Dramin asked, but I only shook my head at him.

I didn’t want to think of Ryland’s words on the roof. I didn’t want to think of the possibility of Ilyan thinking about me that way, or even Ryland using me that way.  The thought gave me a jittery butterfly feeling I wasn’t very appreciative of. Ilyan had saved me. He was my Protector and that was what he did.

“And, you are sure he is going to be alright?” I desperately wanted to run over to him and somehow help Thom. But I could still feel the tingling of magic in my toes
, and I wasn’t sure I could stand on my feet yet.

“Never doubt the word of a Drak
, child. He is resting. You will see him in a few days’ time.”

“After
my heart has broken twice,” I repeated. I turned to face him, unsurprised to see him staring at me. I shifted my weight in the chair, the look he was giving me making me uncomfortable.

“I am still very sorry about that, but don’t worry. It will be for a good cause.” He lifted his glass to me as if
to tap it with mine, but I stayed still.

“So, you are a Drak, then?”

“Yes,” he said. “Didn’t we establish this already? Oh wait, you are wondering how I can be alive, or even be here considering the position of your Father.”

“Yes
, but you promised answers.”

Dramin looked at me for a moment, his eyes making my insides squirm. His gaze made me feel like he was looking into my fu
ture, which given his magic he possibly could be. I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone looking into my future, so I shied away from him, squishing my back further into the chair.

“Are you going to drink that?” he asked, gesturing toward the still full mug of steaming
dark brown fluid he had given me. I swirled the mug around a bit, the thick fluid not moving around much.

“Probably not
. The smell is making me a bit sick.” I tried to move it away from me, but Dramin only smiled.

“It
tastes better then it smells, and it is the best thing for awakening magic. If you drink that I will tell you everything.”

I pulled the cup toward me before looking at him, one eyebrow raised in accusation, “I thought our deal was you
get to carry me here, and in return, you tell me everything.”

“This is a new deal
.” He smiled and I scowled back at him. I didn’t like being tricked.

I locked eyes with him for a moment, hoping to stare him down. He grinned at me and leaned
forward, giving me the same look he had before. My insides squirmed again and I shrunk away. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, the way he seemed to see through me. I pulled the mug to my lips, cringing at the smell of the fluid before the sweet honey flavor hit my tongue. The second I swallowed I could feel everything inside of me speed up. My magic warmed and moved faster. I hadn’t felt the current inside of me feel so alive since the morning after Ilyan had first centered me.

“Talk
,” I said, not willing to admit that the drink actually did taste good.

Dramin smiled widely before sitting back in his chair, his legs crossing to face the fire. The light flickered around the space, ricocheting off of the pieces of metal and glass that hung from the
ceiling and giving the whole space a glittery feeling.

“In the beginning the four
types of magic were born from the mud, the magical well of Imdalind that sits far below Prague: Rinax, the Vilỳ; Chyline the Trpaslíks; Helain the Skȓítek; and Sain the Drak. From the beginning they knew of their abilities, knew of the magic that flowed through their veins. They used it in the ways that their souls dictated of them – for good, for love, for assistance to others. Magic was good in the world. Three went into the world, were married and bonded, and carried on their seed. So the magic grew, each mate, each child, bringing their own magic into the world. But one, Sain, was alone. He walked the earth desperate to find someone that his soul would call to and bond with but none came.”

He paused, and I took another drink, worried he would stop if I didn’t.
Even though some of this I already knew, I had the distinct impression that this was how Dramin operated, from the beginning. He smiled at me, a look I didn’t return.

“In his loneliness
, Sain went to the mud and begged for companionship. He cried into the well and from a slice in his finger, added two drops of blood. The well blessed the world with another Drak, but still Sain’s soul did not sing. He took me from the mud, named me, and raised me as he would a son.”

“You?” I asked, confused.
I guess it made sense that he looked familiar.

“Yes, so you see. I am your uncle.” He smiled
brightly, and I almost choked on the dark liquid.

“Wouldn’t that make you my brother?” Dramin laughed at my question.

“I am a bit old to be your brother, child,” he said with a smirk.

“And Sain is a little too old to be my
Father,” I said, a little angry. Dramin chuckled and rested against the back of his chair, his feet lifting onto a large ottoman.

“
Touché.”

I ignored him and took another drink of whatever he had given me
. It was delightfully warming, and oddly enough the smell was growing on me.

“So if he was
all alone, how did he end up with Ovailia?” I cringed at my words. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. This was possibly the largest piece of my past, of my Father’s past, that I still couldn’t quite make myself believe.

“Sain wasn’t alone. He wasn’t complete, but he wasn’t alone. He thrived as the head of the Drak,
the race surviving through my progeny. It wasn’t until the day Ovailia was born, when he went to visit the newborn daughter of the King that his soul finally sang. He held that child in his arms, and before the day had ended, was telling everyone that he had found his mate, that he would bond himself to her when the time was right. Ovailia resisted him at first, but after sixty years she finally consented to a bonding. Everyone was so happy for Sain, for both of them, but after the bonding something changed. No one was sure what, until the day that Ovailia betrayed him.”

“Betrayed him?” I said, “But, I thought.
..” My voice faded off as Dramin shook his head, his eyes looking sadly away from me.

“That Edmund
almost tortured him to death? That Ovailia made a pact with her Father in an attempt to save him? It is all true, but her betrayal began before that.”

“
She delivered what little she knew about Sain’s sight about you to her Father. When Edmund heard it he demanded to know who had spoken it. Ovailia only knew that a girl would be born who could defeat an opposing power, nothing more. She didn’t know when, she didn’t even know who the opposing power was. Edmund needed the seeing Drak so he could glean more information, and Ovailia eagerly sacrificed her mate for what she believed to be a greater good. It wasn’t until Edmund began to torture him that she began to second guess her decision.”

“
It was too late.” A deep gruff voice spoke up from across the large space.

I looked up as Thom joined us, his long dreads swinging as he sat across the fire from me on a large brown couch.
I wouldn’t have even recognized him if it wasn’t for the dreads. He was short and stocky, his brown dreads looking out of place with his clean-shaven boyish face. He swung his mukluk covered feet onto the couch and looked away from me, closing his eyes.

I looked
toward the bunk where Ilyan laid, his body still, only his head visible from underneath the large amounts of furs. I went to move, but one grunt from Thom stopped my progression.

“He’s
fine. You can go fawn over him after your feet are better.” I turned hastily toward Thom, my forehead furled in a scowl.

“I wasn’t going to
fawn
over him,” I said a little too acidly, Thom only snorted at me.

“You sure she doesn’t know, Dramin?” Thom asked, his eyes still closed.

“I’m sure.” Dramin smiled and refilled his mug with a wave of his hand. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, Ovailia broke the bond.”

“How could
they survive?” I asked the question more to myself, than to him. I still remembered the pain, the way my body attempted to rot from inside out after my bond with Ryland was cracked, and the way it would now protest every time I stayed to long from the Tȍuha.

“
It is the one who breaks the bond that walks away unscathed, while the one who is broken will suffer and die. It was Sain who suffered to the point that he appeared dead. Ovailia was unscathed because she broke the bond, because she no longer loved him.”

I looked down in
to my glass, hurting for my Father, although I still struggled to think of Sain in that way. He had waited all his life to love, and the person he chose had somehow chosen not to love him back. I exhaled and drank deeply. At least my Mother loved him until the day she had been killed.

“
In his anger Edmund massacred all of my posterity, my sons and daughters, thousands of my grandchildren and beyond, all murdered. All while Edmund kept Sain imprisoned, hidden from Ovailia, trying to glean more information about the sight. But Sain never gave it to him no matter how much he was tortured. They never found out more than what Ovailia had told them. Which is why they never identified you until Ryland found your mark. For centuries Edmund used Sain’s abilities for his profit. He kept him under a Vymȁzat so strict that while it never completed, it was enough to keep control over him. He wouldn’t let him near the Black Water that the Drak rely on, and so he weakened further.” Dramin spoke quietly and I could tell how much he was affected by what he had said. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair, his hands still grasping his mug.

“For centuries he was only given
an opportunity to drink the Black Water when Edmund needed the use of his sight. He was as weak as a human, his ability becoming so reliant on the Black Water that he could no longer control the visions or interpret what he would see. Edmund had learned to do all that for him. Sain’s body slowly learned to rely more on human food than his own resources. In many ways, the Drak in him died.” Dramin spoke into his mug heavily, his knuckles white against the pottery in his hands. I couldn’t help but feel sick to my stomach at this new bit of information.

“How did he get out?” I asked quietly, my voice awed like I was
being told a bedtime story and not the history of my father.

“I got him out,” Thom said from across the fire, though his body did not deviate from its relaxed position.
“I grabbed him, knocked my Father unconscious, broke Timothy’s arm, and made a run for it. It took me quite some time to get any information out of Sain as to where we were supposed to go.”

Thom
scowled darkly and moved his hands behind his head, his eyes moving to look at me.

“Worst mistake of my life.” Thom said, “I should have left him the
re. Having to spend the next three hundred years in hiding, trying to get your best friend back from the mess your Father had created of him, only to see him end up captured with no memory, is not something I would like to repeat.”

“Tell me about it,” I groaned unhappily. I
wound my hands together in my lap, wishing that everyone would be okay. Wyn, Talon, Ryland, and now Ilyan were on top of that list. I sighed and slammed my back into the chair. Dramin reached over and patted my leg like a comforting grandfather, the action awakening something in me as I forced back a smile.

“So you were
in hiding?” I asked. After all, I could relate.

“I’m still in hiding,” Thom grumbled, “My existence
, and Sain’s, had to be kept as much of a secret as possible. If Ovailia found out about us, there is no telling what she would do. And while Ilyan has his suspicions, none of us want to find out what Edmund would do with us.”

“How did they find you?” I
asked, not wanting to dwell on all the negative that had happened in the past few hours.

“We wer
e in college, pretending to be Seniors. And we were bored out of our minds. And then, one day, we saw him – Cail.” I visibly froze and Thom stopped briefly. He turned toward me, his eyes narrowing a bit. “I hid Sain with a human family and erased his memory in case he was found. I pulled Cail off his trail. I was only able to return when I knew it was safe, about ten years later, but without a true memory of his past, he had married. I stayed nearby, but I couldn’t see any signs of magic from you, so I left. Content to give him a normal life and return when the time was right.”

I
was not sure what to say. I ran through the story, the fact that my life had been a giant sham becoming more of an irritating reality. I shook my head and tried to bring forward any amount of strength or confidence I could find. It wasn’t much.

“How did you know Edmund had found you simply because you saw Cail?”
I asked.

“When you see Cail
, Edmund and Timothy are not far behind. Even if you don’t see them, they are always there.”