Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2) (39 page)

I curled myself into him as he
lay beside me, his body wrapping around me tightly. I laid my head against his chest as the space around us filled with his song. Ilyan whispered the words roughly, the sound surrounding me in comfort.

I stayed stiff in his grip as he sang, his hand rubbing over my
back, his lips heavy against the skin on my temple. Deep inside I was still waiting, waiting for someone to attack, waiting for blood to come. Waiting for Ryland to hurt me; Ryland, who wasn’t even safe in the real world anymore. I knew that place was gone. I had made it out, right to where I wanted to be.

Where I wanted to be.

I was where I had held out hope that someday I would be again. It was the reason I never forgot his song. My heart had held onto him. And as he clung to me, as he soothed me and held me, I felt everything begin to relax.

My heart
opened me up, taking me away from the panic that still clung to my body and hid deep inside my muscle tissue. I could still feel the panic, fear, and anxiety deep inside of me. I knew it wasn’t gone, but somehow Ilyan made it better. He made my heart calm.

My heart
.

Love.

It was so strong. It filled me, consumed me. If I focused on it, I could almost feel normal. Normal. No twitches, no stutters, no rats scurrying through my brain. I could easily remember every moment of my life, every heartbreak, every joy, and every fear. Every moment I’ve shared with every person that ever meant anything to me. And I saw it all with perfect clarity, the emotions sharper than I ever remembered them. They weren’t as raw as the terrors I had escaped from, they were just me. And with just those thoughts inside of me, I could just be me.

Just a girl.
In Ilyan’s arms.

Slowly I uncoiled my body, my arms disentangling from against my chest
, to wrap them around Ilyan. My fingers dug into his shirt, wrapping the fabric around them. I pulled him close to me, and he wrapped his body around mine, keeping me close, keeping me safe.

Danger was everywhere
. Heck, danger was now tucked deep inside my brain. I knew without a doubt I would be haunted by it for the rest of my life. But right here, right now, I was bigger than it. Ilyan made me bigger than it, made me stronger than it.

Ilyan
made me stronger. And here, in his arms, I felt everything open. Every magical vein in my body was alive, surging with fire – with power.

I
wasn’t as scared anymore. I wasn’t as confused. I could do anything.

I
knew where I was going to start. I don’t know if it was based in fear, or pain, or revenge for what he had done to me. But one thing was clear.

I was
going to start by killing Ryland LaRue.

Join Wyn and Ilyan and find out what happened during the final Tȍuha in Scorched Treachery the next book in the Imdalind Series, which is out now

If you have Questions about the ending of Eyes of Ember, please read here

http://www.rebeccaethington.com/2013/04/23/rypov/

Who could have predicted the outpouring of love and support and kindness I have felt after Kiss of Fire made its debut. I certainly didn’t! I have been overwhelmed by everything that has happened, and continues to happen. I cannot thank you (yes you!) enough for being part of that.

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My fans have blown me away!

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Thank you to Kim who stepped in to edit at the last minute and saved the day. Thank you to Sarah whose endless vision creates one amazing cover after another. Thank you to Crystal for the neck rub, and the final edit gloss over – you perfected this piece!

Thank you to my beta readers and anyone who stepped up with a smile and supported me.

Truly, you amaze me.

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Rebecca Ethington has been telling stories since she was small. First, with writing crude scripts, and then in stage with years of theatrical performances. The Imdalind Series is her first stint into the world of literary writing. Rebecca is a mother to two, and wife to her best friend of 14 years. She was born and raised in the mountains of Salt Lake City, and hasn’t found the desire to leave yet. Her days are spent writing, running, and enjoying life with her amazing family.

Scorched Treachery
, the third book in The Imdalind Series is out now

Soul of Flame
, the fourth book in The Imdalind Series is due to be released December 2013

Rebecca will also be releasing
Through Glass
, book one in The Glass Series September 20
th
2013

And
Hit, a YA Contemporary,
in November 2013

Follow Rebecca on her blog at:

www.rebeccaethington.com

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RebEthington

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By

Rebecca Ethington

©
Rebecca Ethington

It was the same dream. Always the same dream. I had been having it since Cail first marked my skin with the curse, the night Ilyan saved me from my father.

The dream usual
ly featured a beautiful little girl dancing in a meadow. She danced through the tall grasses with flowers in her blonde hair. After about twenty years, I began wondering if it was some repressed memory, but I didn’t have blonde hair. My hair was dark; it always had been.

With time, it became clear that I was not the little girl. Instead, I sat and watched her with some guy sitting next to me. I would like to say the guy was handsome, but he wasn’t Talon. No guy could hold a candle to Talon. Talon was tall and built like a football player. This man was sinewy, his coloring lighter. Besides, the mystery guy from my dreams was dressed
like Henry the Eighth and there was nothing attractive about that. He looked like a peacock. It didn’t look good then, and it wouldn’t look good now. Not like anyone would dress like that now.

The dream had always started the same; I sat next to the man in my dreams as he talked, his lips moving, but no sound coming out. Then the dream would morph. The girl, the man, and I would move from the meadow to a village, then to a marble lined room, and then to the darkness. It was in the darkness that I would begin to hear sound. Th
e only sound the dream ever had was the screaming of the little girl as Edmund tortured her.

I would hear the screaming and see the man as he fought to save her, and in the back of my mind, I knew I was fighting too.

The dream was the reason I had never consented to try to have children with Talon. Not only was pregnancy a strange and uncomfortable prospect, but I was scared of what Edmund would do to a child. Everyone was. It was the same reason so few children were born. People had seen what Edmund had done to his own children. It was not worth it to risk him doing the same to their own.

Up until a few weeks ago, when we first heard the screams of the woman in the tunnels below
Prague, the screams of my dream had always ended in the dark room. The more the woman yelled, begged and screamed, the more the dream changed. It lengthened until I watched the girl succumb, her screams dwindling to nothing.

We could only listen as the woman pleaded to and fought against those who attempted to make her give away Ilyan and Joclyn’s location.

No matter how hard we looked, we could never find them. Our failure to find them, combined with Ovailia’s decision to keep the information from Ilyan, led to her removal as the další v příkazu and the replacement of Talon in the ruling position. Something I was not happy about.

Now, he was gone all the time, and the screams of the woman still echoed through the halls.

So, the new ending to my dreams stayed. The screaming moving from one person to another before I would wake up and scowl at the high ceiling of our room.

Except this morning
. This morning, I was rudely awoken by the blasting of Ilyan’s phone playing ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’.

Wait.

Ilyan’s phone.

His direct line.

I rolled over and kicked Talon, my magic surging through him. He jerked as I zapped him, my not-so-nice way of waking him up shooting him out of bed. He moved to get back into bed, grumbling at me for a moment, only to jump when the sound of the music hit his ears.

Talon’s fingers reached toward the phone as he sat down on his side of the bed. I chose to stay lying under the covers, my eyes focused on him.

Yes, it was the middle of the day where Ilyan was. Yes, he was free to call whenever he wanted. However, the fact that he would have known it was the middle of the night here, and he was calling the white phone that was a direct connection to Talon, set my nerves on fire.

Talon pressed the phone to his ear, the skin contact triggering the magic and completing the call.

“Ilyan?” Talon asked, his voice drowsy but still on edge, my mood mirrored in his clipped words.

I waited, reluctant to move, hoping for something exciting, but knowing, absolutely knowing that nothing positive was going to come out of this call.

“Princess Mudgy.” Talons voice was low, the statement making no sense to me. For all I knew it was a code word, and if it was a code word...

I watched Talon as he listened to Ilyan talk, his shoulders knitting together more and more, his body language spelling danger to me. Talon stayed silent as Ilyan spoke, his voice a mellow buzz that slipped through the air until the line went dead. Talon never said anything more after the code words, his silence only making me more nervous. He lowered the disconnected phone to his lap, his movements tense.

Talon didn’t turn to me; he didn’t say anything. He just sat with the phone in his hands, his knuckles white from clenching the small white box. I watched his broad shoulders flex, the tension never leaving, and found my own fears growing.

The silence was painful. I wanted to hear. I wanted to pry, but I knew it wouldn’t be right. I placed my hand on Talon’s back, willing him to turn and smile, but knowing it wasn’t going to happen.

“Meet you in my dreams,” Talon said tersely.  Not once did he look at me as he lay down and opened his arms for me.

I was seriously on edge now. Whatever had happened was monumental enough that neither he nor Ilyan wanted anyone else to know what had happened. I laid down next to Talon and closed my eyes, letting the magic of the
Tȍ
uha take me away to meet with him.

My mind pulled right into his, the large expanse of the
Münzenberg Castle
Courtyard surrounding us. Wispy projections of people walked around us as Talon’s memories fueled the
Tȍ
uha. The castle was whole and intact as it once was centuries ago, the cobbles of the road pristine. I was never alive in this castle’s time, but this was Talon’s mind, what he envisioned our
Tȍ
uha to be.

“Talon?” I asked as he wrapped his arms around me as we stood in the middle of the courtyard. His tense muscles strained against me as he held me, the movement not helping to ease my anxiety.

“They were attacked.” My body froze, my eyes flying open in shock. The tension that now flowed between both of us was too much to contain, and the people around us zapped into vapor, colors floating through the air as they disappeared, leaving us alone.

“Are they all right?” I asked. I didn’t want to hear the answer, I didn’t. I didn’t need to hear of injuries or brutal battles. I could already feel what hearing this had done to Talon.

He had reacted the same way a few years ago when Edmund’s men captured Ilyan. Talon had felt like a failure. He had been raised to guard Ilyan. It was his job, but Ilyan had dismissed him when he took me as his mate. No matter how much he tried, Talon could never move past what had been his entire life up until a hundred years ago. He still felt responsible for Ilyan, and blamed himself if anything went wrong. I knew he was doing it now, putting the words of guilt into his own head, even though there was nothing he could have done.

Ilyan was far more powerful than Talon. If Ilyan couldn’t protect himself, then nothing could be done. Except now, there was Joclyn too, and I had no idea if she was capable of protecting herself or not.

Talon shook his head no in response to my question, and I felt my stress intensify. His muscles tensed, his arms pressed uncomfortably into me as he lifted me off the ground to his eye height. I wasn’t surprised to see the sparkling sheen in his brown eyes, the tears threatening to escape from him.

“It’s not your fault,” I said before he had a chance to let the words he was painting himself with become more of a weight against him. He nodded once and held me against him again, his hold tight as his breathing slowed
. He lowered me back down to the ground, releasing me.

He pulled away, the wetness gone from his eyes, his composure back.  He didn’t show emotions like that very often, but when he did, it was my job to build him up and always love him. I would always do that.

“Does he know who betrayed him?” I asked as Talon moved away from me and toward the large, carved stone bench we always sat in. I followed him, my bare feet slipping against the slickness of the cobbles that lined the courtyard, before sinking into the hard, unrelenting seat next to his.

“No,” Talon answered simply.  His hands brought my feet onto his lap, and he began to trace the dark marks that graced my left foot, the jagged swirls matching the ones that ran along the entire left side of my body.

“He wants me to watch for signs that someone might know what happened before we announce it. It’s probably our best chance at tracking whoever it is down.”

I nodded, not knowing how to respond. Everything Talon had said only re-affirmed that someone was inside of our perfectly protected shelter
; someone who should not have been able to had gotten past Ilyan’s protective shield.

All it would take was one.

Get one of Edmund’s men inside, and then, like ants, the rest would follow. They would place themselves in dark corners and hide were no one else would go, waiting until the time was right. Then they would jump out and attack, and within moments, the last of the S
kȓ
íteks would be gone. I had seen it happen before. There was a reason there were so few of the S
kȓ
íteks left. It was probably the sole reason I still wasn’t fully accepted in these halls. I had marched against them once upon a time.

I shuddered at the thought, for once actually wishing I wasn’t so morbid.

“Are you okay?” Talon asked, his voice worried.

I ripped my eyes away from the blob of mud on the cobblestone path that I had been unwittingly staring at to smile at him, my smile more like a grimace. It seemed somewhat fitting, so I didn’t try to fix it.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked, avoiding his question and moving to snuggle into him. He welcomed me into him, his arms wrapping around me as he held me tightly to him.

“I don’t know,
Wynny.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t know how to phrase what I was feeling. I wished we could find the traitor, and fast. I wished I could tear their arms from their sockets and torture any of my kind they had let into the halls of
Prague. It was my sanctuary now too, my home after my father had exiled me and my brother had tried to kill me. I felt my magic increase in eagerness beneath my skin, my heart thumping erratically in either excitement or fear; I wasn’t quite sure which.

“I will keep you safe, Wynifred.”

I froze, my breathing caught in my chest, my heart lost between beats. Usually, I would have screamed at him and clocked him upside the face for insinuating that I couldn’t take care of myself, I didn’t need him to protect me. I heard what he said between the lines; I heard how much he cared, and so, my frantic heartbeat continued. I listened to the sound of my full name on his tongue, the promise of my safety heavy on the air.

“You promise?” I asked, not needing to hear the answer. I asked because I knew that he needed to know that I had heard him, that I had understood.

“I will protect you above all else.”

“Even Ilyan?” I asked, unable to help the question and the accompanying laugh from seeping out of my lips.

“Even Ilyan. I took a vow to protect him the day he was born, but that vow was broken the day I sealed myself to you. It is the vow I made with you that is the most important bond to me. I will honor and protect that before all else.” His voice was serious, his tone so true and honest. I felt it melt into me, and our magic surged with the feeling of love.

As our magic intertwined and seeped into our souls, everything inside of me caught fire. I felt a dulled version of this connection outside the
Tȍ
uha, but here, inside the
Tȍ
uha, everything was heightened. It was a feeling we could only get here.

I was not sure how long we spent in the shadow of the castle, but before either of us was ready, we were pulled away, only to find ourselves in each other’s arms in the flesh, the door already being banged off its hinges. I sighed as Talon left me, his
další v příkazu responsibilities already in full force, just as I assumed they would be.

He was gone most of the day, leaving me alone to attempt to clean the huge mess I had made when I had attempted to make dinner the night before, something I never do.

Talk about a nightmare. I had cut my finger off when trying to chop carrots. Yes,
off
. Luckily, I was magical, or I would have forever been walking around reverse flipping people off. As it was, I just reattached it. But, after the soup became inedible and more solid than it should have been, and I had burned the Galder – I remembered why I never heated food. It was better cold anyway.

The whole experience was a great reminder as to why I hated human food. It’s gross, and the texture is so off. I don’t know how or why, but humans can take a simple tomato and turn it into a slime-covered bit of
goo. I mean, just leave it alone. Don’t touch it. Just put it in your mouth and eat it.

Humans eat weird food.