Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4) (40 page)

I had only made it halfway around the hoard before I erupted into the air, my arms clinging to Ilyan as I took him with me. We soared away from the screams and the angry calls, only to land in the nearby courtyard of the abbey, the enemy I had hoped to escape only feet from us.

The heat from the fire I had created seeped into me as the screaming continued, the agony of those I had cursed to a slow death twisting my insides. I didn’t look back to see what I had done; I pushed the regret away, turned, and ran, my red shoes making a hollow sound against the stone as Ilyan followed me.

I pulled us into the closest entry I could find, the stone entry collapsing behind us as we entered the building, trapping us inside. The fire that had engulfed the building cast long shadows as we raced through the stone hallways, the heat from the fire growing the further into the belly of the building we moved.

Closer.

Closer.

Edmund was so close that I could hear his laugh echo in my head. My breathing picked up as his magic grew, the fear that had been misplaced for so long surging violently through me. I pushed the fear away, knowing I had no choice other than to continue, to face him and the insanity that he had controlled me with.

We ran up a small flight of stairs to emerge into what should have been another hallway, but instead was now only open air.

Happy laughter met my ears as a small group of Trpaslíks who had been destroying the space turned, the joy in their voices fading into a menacing growl as they caught sight of us.

I stepped forward, ready to fight my way past them just as more than a dozen came streaming in behind them, their eyes lit in hatred as they ran at us with the others, ready to destroy us.

I squared my shoulders, ready to attack, but Ilyan pulled me away, his muscles tense as we ran toward the pulse of Edmund’s magic, searching for a way to break through the lines of guards Edmund had set for us.

Ilyan pulled me down the elevated hallways as ash flowed around us, the waves of destroyed stone rising and falling beside us, letting pools of firelight cover the floor and the angry crackle of the flames fill my ears. Ilyan’s hand was tight around mine as Edmund’s magic grew the closer we got to him.

The icy chill of his magic ran down my spine, writhed through my stomach. My fear and anxiety grew the nearer we came. I fought my mania, my anxiety; I wasn’t sure how much longer I would last.

I tried to push beyond my broken emotions, I knew I needed to. It was my destiny to beat him, to defeat him. I just wasn’t sure I was strong enough to keep the terrors away. Even with Ilyan’s magic running through me, Edmund’s magic awakened something that was proving to be bigger than me.

I panted as we ran, my breath breaking as the flames seemed to grow, the red of the fire dripping over the stones in streaks of blood. Ilyan stopped abruptly as we came head on with at least ten of Edmund’s men. Their battle cries raged over the fire, sparking at the anxiety that was already threatening to drown me. They were ready for us, just as we were ready for them.

I pushed away my mania, a deep scream ripping from my lips as I rushed them, Ilyan by my side as flashes of fire and smoke and light and dark surrounded us. I fought from one to another, desperate to make it through, to fight just as Edmund’s magic flared, the power so strong I knew he was only a few steps away.

I screamed in terror as my insanity blended in my eyes, the few stone walls that surrounded us bleeding red rivers as my scream continued. Edmund’s magic pulsed into me like a hot knife that cut into me. It was pain and heat and agony and I screamed more, the pain rushing into me so quickly that I knew it wasn’t my insanity that brought the pain. It wasn’t my nightmares that caused the blood to flow over my stomach.

My body seized in agony as a Trpaslík’s sword that I hadn’t seen, a weapon I hadn’t expected, sliced through my stomach, an acidic magic plunging into me.

Ilyan spun as my scream rent the air, his eyes wide in fear as he watched the sword pull from my stomach, watched my blood spray over the man who had attacked me, and watched it flood out of me.

My scream grew as Ilyan disappeared from sight only to feel his magic pulse behind me, the life of the Trpaslík who had injured me leaving with only a pulse of Ilyan’s magic. I gasped as life left my attacker, my body falling as his did. I screamed as my bones split and shattered, my skin burned as I fell. I was falling, endlessly falling. I waited for the impact, for my back to break only to have Ilyan’s strong hands catch me, pulling me into him. I tried to reach to him, but everything was pain as my body tried to turn itself inside out. All I could focus on was my pain, on keeping my hands against me, desperate to stop the blood from flowing.

Ilyan’s magic pulsed into me as my own sped to my belly, my stomach attempting to knit itself back together before it was too late. My mind screamed in fear, telling me that it already was. I could feel the Trpaslík’s venomous magic burn off my magic’s attempts to heal me, the blood flow only increasing.

Ilyan’s magic grew in a pulse of tight, cold pressure as we moved between worlds, but all I could focus on was the pain.

“Ilyan?” I moaned as he began to run, his movement quick and smooth, the motion so similar to when he had found me behind the dumpster. When I had broken my back, when the flame of fire had crippled me, and when I had wanted to die. Everything about this was so similar except that, this time, I didn’t want to die.

“It’s all right, my love. You are going to be all right.” His words were desperate as his feet moved more quickly, the fear of what he had just done outweighing my healing injury.

Ilyan had Stuttered.

He hadn’t dared to go far from what the sight had shown, to put too much strain on the magic that was trying to heal me, and so we remained in the abbey, the smell of fire surrounding us. Trapped and unable to Stutter again.

Ilyan held me close to him as he ran, his magic trying to numb the agonizing pain that split through my bones. I clawed at the wound, pressing myself into Ilyan’s chest as his worry washed over me, his need to keep me alive screaming at him, trying to convince him that he shouldn’t follow the path that sight had given us. To defeat Edmund.

I could already feel him rushing toward us, Ilyan’s Stutter showing Edmund exactly where we were.

Everything tensed as I felt him move closer, and I gasped in pain. Ilyan’s magic enveloped me as I coughed, the warmth of my blood spreading over my chin, the taste of dirt and iron spreading over my tongue.

“He is coming,” I gasped, my voice deep and strained as Ilyan’s grip on me tightened.

I wanted to say that we could still fight—that we could get out of here alive—but I was no longer so sure, and judging by the internal war that raged through Ilyan, I knew he felt the same.

Ilyan’s feet slowed as we came to a small alcove, the light from the fire flickering against the rock as well as us. It illuminated the stormy dusk with eerie shadows, and dark slivers of fear.

Ilyan leaned me against a large portion of rubble, the slab of wall slanted just enough that it could support my weight. His hands were soft as he lowered me down, making sure I was stable before he released me.

His fingertips lifted the shards of the shirt and hoodie to reveal the deep gash. I cringed as I saw it, my blood seeping out of large gaping gash as my magic tried to knit it back together before my eyes.

“Oheň z pekla,” Ilyan said, his teeth grinding together as he ran his hand over the injury, coating his already burned palm in my blood. “A cursed blade, one that is meant to kill on contact. Your magic appears to be stronger than it, however. You should survive it.”

I shook my head, although I wasn’t quite sure I understood. A cursed blade sounded much more dangerous than Ilyan was making it sound, and the word ‘should’ was anything other than calming.

Especially given where we were.

I bit my lip as he carefully placed what was left of the hoodie back over my stomach, leaving his hand against the gash in my skin underneath.

“Can you stand?” he asked, his palm still flat against the open wound as he pushed his magic into it.

“Yeah.” I nodded my head as I let Ilyan pull me up. My stomach felt like it was being torn apart, the open wound pulsing angrily as I stretched it in ways I knew I shouldn’t be.

I wanted to lie down and sleep, not stand and fight, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

I could hear Ilyan tracking everyone’s movements in his own mind. I could feel Edmund as he ran right toward us. I could sense the fear in Ilyan’s mind, the desperation to end this. I could also hear his fear that I was injured, that I wasn’t strong enough to fight. I was little more than a sitting duck with my hunter steps away, his gun already drawn.

I leaned against the wall behind me as I tried to find my strength, Ilyan’s arm wrapping around my back as he supported me. I gasped at the pressure, the pain leaving as Ilyan held me. I looked into the golden blue of his eyes, the light so bright that I almost forgot that we were being pursued. I forgot that we were moments away from death.

I forgot that I had failed.

“I love you, my Joclyn,” Ilyan whispered, tears building in his eyes as he reached up to press against my face, his touch soft and gentle. I cried alongside him, my heartbeat racing.

I heard the words, knew of their truth, but I also felt the words behind them, heard the pained goodbye that screamed from Ilyan’s heart.

“I love you, my Ilyan,” I said, my voice breaking, and he smiled, his joy a bright light behind his pain.

He moved closer to me, his lips brushing against mine before he stopped, his heartbeat fluttering so fast that my own froze in confusion.

Ilyan moved away from me, the image of the sight flashing through his mind: the broken image of Ilyan holding me against the wall as the abbey burned and we cried in each other’s arms. I replayed the sight of the moment we had shared, letting it flash through me as he dwelled on it, as his fear peaked. I knew at once what he had seen; I knew what was wrong.

“This is the wrong wall,” I gasped. Ilyan’s head whipped around as he searched for the right wall, his mind moving fast as he tried to place sense against what had just happened.

“This is wrong. The sight… it’s wrong.” His deep voice affected me more than I would have assumed. My father’s warning was loud and angry in my ears. The sight had been broken, and now nothing was seen; nothing was guaranteed. My Drak magic heated me as it affirmed this, the power of the realization scaring me.

“I can’t beat him,” I said just as the screams of the Trpaslíks who descended on us reached my ears, Edmund’s roar of anger rippling through them.

They were coming, the sounds warning us of how little time we had left.

“I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what is going to happen now,” Ilyan said, his fear at his lack of knowledge startling.

This whole fight, all of Ilyan’s life, had relied on that one sight, and now we stood on the wrong wall with everything shattered before us.

I felt Ilyan’s determination—his readiness to die for me—but today was not my day to die, nor was it Ilyan’s. I would see to that.

“I’m going to get us out of here!”

“How, Jolcyn? A Stutter could kill you right now.”

“It’ll be okay.” I yelled the words over the rumble of fire and thunder that moved over us, the screams for blood mixing in with them until they broke through the thunder.

The vision from the sight I had a few minutes ago broke through me, my magic screaming at me, telling me what to do.

“Take the fire,” I repeated the words from my sight as I held Ilyan against me, my blood burning as the lightning shot through it in answer.

My spine straightened as my magic sped through me, the trapped energy ready to do what the earth had designed it for.

Destroy.

My eyes shot to Ilyan’s as he looked down at me in confusion, a wide smile spreading over my lips as I stretched onto the tips of my toes, my breath running over his lips as I extended up to meet them.

I could hear the screams of our pursuers and felt the rumble of the earth. I saw the battle as the others screamed, and I knew we needed to get there, knew I didn’t have another choice. I was perfectly aware that the destiny everyone had laid out for me was wrong.

I pressed my lips against Ilyan’s as the lightning inside of me sped up. The power was strong as Ilyan kissed me back, his touch desperate as his arm wound over my back, pressing me into him at the same time his tongue parted my lips. I let him into me, breathing him in as I felt his passion, the love growing without regret as the kiss deepened, my hands clawing at his sides in an attempt to bring him into me.

The fire in my stomach grew, my skin sealing itself together as Ilyan’s hand trailed up my back, his touch soft against my neck as his finger made contact with my mark.

I screamed at the contact, at the way the lightning fought its way through me. It was the first time he had touched the small brand since our bonding, and our magic reacted, rocking through us with an aggressive force more powerful than I had ever felt before. His scream joined mine, an eruption of power and lightning streaking through the air as the Trpaslíks who surrounded us evaporated into smoke and ash, as the building we stood in rumbled and rocked with the power until I was sure it could not stand.

I gasped for air as my eyes opened, Ilyan’s dark blue eyes staring into me as he tried to control his own breathing to regulate the power that still jolted through him. I looked into his eyes until the walls around us shifted, making it clear that the abbey was falling apart below us.

My eyes darted away as the wall moved, the silver of my eyes coming into contact with Edmund’s for the first time in months and I smiled. I smiled because I knew there was nothing he could do to stop us, and while I would not kill him today, his day was coming.

I continued to smile as I clung to Ilyan, my eyes locked with Edmund’s as my magic pulsed, as I sent the army that surrounded us away.

Fire ripped away from us as Ilyan’s magic pulsed alongside mine, my body tightening against Ilyan’s as he took us away.