Surprise flickers behind his electric gaze. Silence stretches between us. For a time he just enjoys the feel of his hand in mine and I find I enjoy it too. “Where will you go, when you leave here?” he finally asks.
It is such a simple answer that it surprises even me. “Home.”
“Back to Limacore?”
“Limacore’s not my home anymore, Keenan.”
“Oh.” The thought seems to make him pale and his hand flinches in mine. “You’re going to Llìria, to him.” We both know who he means.
“It’s not about Kol, Keenan. It’s about what I know I have to do now.” I squeeze his hand. “But we started this journey as enemies. When you and I left Limacore to come here I never imagined that we’d end up here.”
“Standing in the dungeons with a cell door between us?”
I laugh without humor. “No, I never thought I’d have you back. The boy I know you are. Not the boy Bastian turned you into.”
“We’ll see each other again, won’t we?” He sounds hopeful. I wish I had his hope.
“I hope so.” I reach out and cup his cheek in my hand. “I hope so.”
He reaches through the bars to kiss me and I let him. It’s the first warm thing I’ve felt in days apart from Uri’s blisteringly warm hands. I reach my hands into his hair, holding his head close so that when he breaks the kiss I can whisper into his ear. “You never needed Bastian Beaugrand to be a prince in my eyes. Remember that.” I press a final kiss to his cheek. “Make sure Haven is in her room. I’m coming for her first.”
Keenan nods and then pulls back to look at me. Our eyes meet in one more heavy burst of blue and then he’s gone. Slowly he pulls from my hands and my heart sinks. But it gives me the newfound adrenaline I need to get us all out of here.
I turn back to the others. “Alright. Now, I know this is going to be…unpleasant, but there are about fifty of us in here. That means there are fifty of us who will have twice the power as everybody else. It’s going to be up to us to carry the team.” I hold my hand out to Uri and he hands me the makeshift knife he’d carved from the leg of one of the cots. “Does everyone remember the plan?”
“It’s our job to free the other Borderlines while you make your way upstairs to find the Limacoran princess.” Cedrick says from my left.
“That’s right. You kill anyone who gets in your way. Hell, if you get the chance to kill the king killer, you take it. Spare the staff if you can. They’re only innocent bystanders. Once we escape the palace we are going to have to do things we don’t want to do. We’ll need a ship to get us to Llìria where we’ll all be safe. We may have to take some hostages, take some lives we don’t want to take. But I promise you that if you follow me I will make sure you all stay alive and most importantly, stay out of another one of these.” I gesture to the cell around us.
“How do you know we’ll be safe in Llìria?” Asks a young girl who’s name I’ve forgotten.
“Because I’m the lost Llìrian princess.” Murmurs of surprise spread through the room like wildfire, but I pay it no mind. I just speak louder. “Now, you only need a drop in order for this to work. I think. I haven’t actually seen what my blood does in action, but I have a feeling I’m about to.” I ready the blade for my wrist. “I’m pretty sure I am going to get all kinds of nasty infections from this thing so, Missy, it’s your job to make sure I don’t pass out. You’re gonna need my magic to get us out of here.”
“I’m on it.” Missy nods, determined.
I drag the blade across my wrist and quickly drip it into the small, empty metal cup Uri holds out in front of me. We’d made sure to swipe a few of them before the guards came back for the remnants of our meals. My blood fills the glass, but the blood loss affects me more than the initial cut to get to it. By the time I fill a third cup I really start to feel it.
“Uri,” I stammer and he runs up behind me, catching me before my body goes weak and buckles underneath me.
“I’ve got you, I’ve got you. No more. That’s plenty.” Uri moves me over to one of the cots and sits me down, handing me one of the other cups with water left in it. He makes me drink it all. “Maybe we should take some time before we try to bust through that door.” Uri suggests.
“No, we can’t. The longer we wait the quicker my blood is going to pass through their system and it’ll wear off. We can’t wait.”
“It’s your turn, Uri.” Finn says, coming over with one of the cups of my blood.
Uri looks up at Finn. “How do you feel?” he asks.
“Normal. Except that instead of ripping a tree out of the ground with my earth magic I feel like I could tear apart the whole damn forest.”
“So now what do we do?” Kaia asks.
“Now we get through that damn door.” I say, standing on shaky feet and moving to the center of the cell, facing the door there.
“Amara, are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” Uri asks nervously.
“Doesn’t matter, Uri. I want out.” I say and give him a look of determination that stops his protests. I call to my magic, but it rebels against me in my weakened state.
I. Am. Not. Weak.
I stretch my fingers out before me, reaching for my nether magic. At my side everyone does the same. Only they succeed, in spades. They blast the door. It doesn’t budge though. It wants for death. My death. My death magic. I reach again and this time it rises to meet me.
I strike out at the door, but the blast fails, glancing off the door harmlessly, shattered by the other magic it touches from all the others.
“Fuse together.” Uri shouts over the sound of twisting, angry magic and sparks. Outside the door the guards are shouting, but I can’t make out the words. All they know is something is happening. Something they cannot fight against. If they open the door they know we will charge. They may wear bracelets immune to our powers, but they can’t stop fifty teenagers with a magical boost.
I strike the door again and this time the door flinches under my nether magic. “Yes.” It regenerates me, whether physically or mentally I don’t know, but it’s enough to make me feel better, stronger. I strike and I strike and I strike, sending nether rippling through the room.
And then…
Blast! The door doesn’t just open. It tears off its hinges and goes flying into the cell on the other side of the hall. The Borderlines cheer as they rush from the room.
Outside the room, battle ensues.
I stand there for a moment, looking at Finn and Missy, the only ones left behind with me. “Are you ready to get out of here, Amara?” Finn asks me.
“More than ready.”
Missy smiles. “Then let’s go.”
“Come with me?” I ask her. “Help me find Haven.”
“I’m all yours.”
“Alright. Let’s go.”
We emerge from the cell to find half of the Borderlines fighting off the guards and the other half working on the doors to the other cells. To my left there’s a safe line to the door that leads to the stairs and out of the dungeons.
“Let’s go.”
Nether pulses through me as we march for the doors, ready and desperate to strike the first person that it can. Nether is not like the other elements. It is alive and thirsts for blood. I feel the bloodthirst crackle in my veins.
More guards pour down into the dungeons once they hear the commotion, but I’m not worried. It’s like my magic regenerated me. It almost feels as though my blood is augmenting my abilities as well. Not just the ones who partook in it.
The first guard that approaches me quickly regrets it. Missy is in front of me in seconds, letting her ice fly. The guard recoils. Tears spring to his eyes as he screams out, feeling the same death ice that I felt months ago. Only he will die from it. Not all of us can have an Echo to save them.
The next guard that comes after us is mine. The nether touches his skin and it takes on a life of its very own. It doesn’t just let him feel my death touch. It lights him up like a campfire. Dark b
lue magic pulses through his veins, making him scream in terror as his life drains away. I’ve never seen my magic do something like that before, but I’ve never felt this invincible either. It feels as if nothing can hurt me.
And no one tries. The guards that were coming our way bolt as soon as they see what I did to their friend.
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolls.
My Borderlines with water magic are having a little too much fun.
Missy and I move through the halls, like hunters in the forest, searching for one beautiful deer that’s been broken, misused more than me. When we get to her chambers there are two guards there who clearly have not been informed of their impending doom because they stand stone-faced at their post.
When they see us coming they take one look at us and know we’re out of place. “What are you doing out? The king gave the order. You’re not to leave—” His words break at the touch of my hand and so does he.
My magic sings through him, dark and blue as a bruise, snaking through his limbs. His partner screams before I even get to him. And I do get to him. Missy shoves him against the wall and I move in front of him so that he can’t run. “I’m giving the orders now.” I tell him, caressing his cheek gently at first. Then my nether ripples through his body, sending shock waves of ice and death through his veins. He lets out a strangled cry before his body falls at my feet.
When I open Haven’s door she’s cowered behind the bed, thinking the worst of whatever has come to kill her guards. She peeks over the bed and when she sees me she smiles. I smile back.
I hold my hand out to her. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
She beams when she rises from the bed, taking my hand into hers. Something dark falls over her when our hands touch and I wonder if it has something to do with what Bastian told me, of what he did to her.
When we get back out into the hall where Missy waits she gives Haven a smile and Haven smiles back. I haven’t seen her this happy in months.
To my surprise Kara’s fire never rises to meet me as we battle our way through the palace. Perhaps my nether magic outranks it.
We reach the end of the hall near an exit I hope will get us out of here when Bastian ambles into our path. Missy and Haven stand at my side and Haven flinches. I feel it ripple through her body and she squeezes my hand. How had I never noticed just how afraid she is of this man?
I gave the order. If you get the chance to kill the king killer, you take it. Well, here he is, ripe for the picking.
“How did you get out of your cage?” he asks, his lips pulling up at the sides, resembling something like a smile.
“Oh I just did what you brought me here to do.” I grin. “Donated some blood. Blasted your element-resistant doors off their hinges and walked right out. It was fairly easy actually.”
“And now what? You killed some of my guards so you think you’re just gonna walk right out of here, unharmed?”
“Unharmed?” I argue. “Look at these knees.” I say of my cut knees. “Not to mention I had to cut my wrist open with a blade Uri made out of the leg of those flimsy cots you got in those cells. I probably have every infection in the book right now. In fact, I feel a little queasy if we’re being honest.”
Bastian laughs darkly, shaking his head from side to side. “Oh, you think you’re funny now, don’t you? Sweetheart, you couldn’t use your powers on me for months. What makes you think you can use them now?”
“Couldn’t? No, more like wouldn’t. See, even if I had managed to incapacitate you I still had to find Haven and Missy and Finn before someone stopped me. I couldn’t do all of that on my own. But then I remembered all those poor Borderlines you hold captive in your dungeons and they hate you as much as I do.”
“You hate me, huh? That’s not what it felt like all those hours pouring over politics and whiskey.” He casually strolls towards me and Haven releases my hand to back up, but I don’t flinch. I don’t move a step. He may possess one of the more powerful elements, but nothing beats nether. Nothing.
“And then when we were done sipping whiskey? What did you do then?” He knows what I mean. He knows I mean Haven. I hope she doesn’t. I want to taunt him, not her.
“Thinking of you all the while.” He smirks.
I grab him by the back of the neck with both hands, sending a shock of nether through his body.
He flinches, but keeps his smile.
I send a more powerful shock of icy death through him.
He blows me a kiss.
His breathing twists and I gasp, sucking in a breath that won’t come. I grasp at my throat, choking. My throat burns with the desperate need to breathe, but Bastian won’t allow it.
“Stop it. You’re hurting her.” Missy shouts. Haven whips him back with her own air magic, distracting him long enough to lift his spell on my throat. I gasp as the air fills my lungs. Haven catches me from behind.
Once I recover I blast Bastian back with nether. I try something new and draw on the essence of my magic and push it out so that it comes together around his arm. I apply a little pressure and a snap rings out. Bastian screams in pain. I am momentarily surprised at what I just did. The things that nether is capable of is still surprising me.
Bastian growls as he gets back to his feet, cradling his wounded arm. He screams through gritted teeth as he pops his arm back into place. Then he blasts me back with air magic. He does it hard enough so I trip and twist my ankle. I hear the break and I scream out in blinding pain. The girls rush to me, but Bastian blasts them back away from me so he can sweep in. He clutches my throat and drags me up from the floor, pinning me between his body and the wall. He presses against me so hard I feel like my ribs might break.
“Ah,” I cry out. He’s clutching my throat in such a way that I can still talk. He wants me to. He wants to hear me beg for my life. “What now, huh? Are you gonna kill me? Go ahead, do it.” I sneer. “Kill me!”
Bastian barks out a monstrous laugh. “Oh my dear girl, have you no fight? No drive? Why would I kill you? You can fight and you can rage, but you are weak, Amara Boudelaire. Do you know why? Because of them.” He juts his chin out toward Missy and Haven who he’s still got pinned to the wall opposite me with his air. “As long as there is someone that you love you will always be able to be controlled. I love no one. I want for no one. That is what makes me a great king.”
“No.” I argue. “That is what makes you a monster.” I kick out a knee and Bastian collapses, grasping at the spot between his legs. While he’s incapacitated I rush over to the girls. “Run, run, run.” I hiss and the three of us run down the hall. Before I can turn the corner though—lagging behind on my wounded ankle—Bastian slams me back into the wall with his magic. “Ah,” I cry.
“Amara—”
“Run, Haven.” I hiss at her.
“I am not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are.” I stretch a hand out toward her and use my nether to blast her down the hall. Haven yelps in response, but takes the hint and grabs Missy’s arm, scrambling away.
I inch around the corner, opposite the direction they ran, and amble my way into the ballroom across the hall. I hide behind one of the open doors and when Bastian stumbles in, still smarting from taking a knee to the groin, I shove him to the floor. I blast him back into the wall and gun for the large balcony overlooking the back of the palace.
A scream rips from my throat when Bastian grabs my wounded ankle and yanks hard. I hit the marble floor, splitting my head open. Below my blood gushes out onto the pristine marble. I roll over onto my back, seeing spots. Bastian looms over me, but all I can make out are shapes. “Keenan,” I choke out. Tears spill over the sides of my cheeks.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” Bastian’s voice is in my ear. “He’s not coming to save you this time.” I feel his hands press my arms down onto the floor and his body moves over mine.
I want to cry because I know what he’s going to do, even with me bleeding out beneath him. He freezes for a moment and
then he’s gone, thrown across the room. I open my eyes to see Keenan standing there with a candelabra from the wall in his hand.
“Wrong, dick.” Keenan sneers. “I’ll always come to save her.” Keenan tosses the candelabra and then slowly, carefully, lifts me to my feet, one arm tightening around me to hold me upright. His other hand comes down to caress my cheek. His thumb moves over my bottom lip. “Amara, focus on me, sweetheart. Focus on me.” I lift my eyes to meet his and I keep them there, never wanting the image to fade. “That’s my girl. Just focus on me, okay? We gotta get you out of here.” I just nod.
Keenan looks at Bastian, bleeding from the head, trying to stand on his feet, but he uses his wounded arm and he collapses again. “Okay, baby. Come on.” Keenan goes for the most obvious exit.
Together we rush toward the balcony. Keenan lets me lean on him, supporting my broken ankle. We’re seconds away from freedom when suddenly Keenan’s arms are gone and I collapse to the floor, falling back against the stone railing. I whimper as I touch the back of my head. My hand comes away covered in my own blood. “Keenan,” I call, but he’s preoccupied with Bastian punching him in the face repeatedly.
I try to stand, to help him, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m fading fast and I know if I do it’s over. We’ll both be dead or in a cell by sunrise. Blood stains the white stone beneath my feet. It pools and Keenan is only feet from it, lying beaten and bruised on the floor by me. Bastian hits him, over and over and over again. Keenan can’t try for his magic now that he’s so weak and Bastian is content to use his fists to fight.
“The blood,” I choke out. My blood. Keenan’s hand falls flat on the balcony floor. My blood pulses toward him. Finally, it touches Keenan’s fingers. He brings it to his lips weakly and he swallows as if it is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.
He lies there for only a moment longer and then he is finally able to shove Bastian off of him. Keenan gets to his feet, weak and wobbling, but he’s there and he manages to punch Bastian back. “You were supposed to protect her!” he rages at Bastian. “That was your one job and you failed. And now, now you’re gonna pay with it with your life.” Keenan conjures his magic. Normally in this weakened state he wouldn’t be able to, but with my blood in his system he has just enough strength to do it.
Savage Reign Page 38
