Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery

by Ethington, Rebecca

  “I bet you thought you were free. Free of these nightly terrors.” I spun at the voice, my insides tensing at seeing Edmund standing at the edge of the tree line with Cail standing next to him protectively.

  Edmund moved out of the trees, Cail following, as the dark shapes materialized again; dozens of Trpaslíks emerging from the woods. Cail stood apart from those around him, his dark eyes dancing with menacing joy. I shrunk away from him instinctively, waiting for him to pounce at Edmund’s command.

  “Did you really think you were safe?” Edmund asked, my insides freezing over at the wicked sound. He didn’t sound as if he was enjoying himself anymore, he was simply angry now.

  “It’s a dream, Edmund. Of course, I am safe.” I pushed my voice out as strong as I could make it, the sound bouncing around us. Cail smiled at my response while Edmund fumed more, his large frame becoming even more menacing.

  “No. Not here, in Santa Fe. Did you think you were safe.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him, my heart rate accelerating. This was a dream…

  “Yes.” My voice was a squeak.

  “Safe with your Protector? Safe with Ilyan?” Edmund spoke his name like it was acid. It was the polar opposite to how he spoke to Ilyan. The two-faced nature of this man was unsurprising, but still unsettling.

  I didn’t challenge him with a response. I simply faced him, eyes digging into his.

  “He would rather hide you than face us,” Edmund sneered. “Hide like a coward. Is that what you are, a coward?”

  I straightened my shoulders and met him straight on. “No more of a coward than you are.”

  Edmund laughed, the sound deep and joyful, making the hairs on my neck prickle.

  “Really? How am I a coward, Joclyn; can you tell me that? I never hesitate and I fight when needed. Not like some newly awakened half-breed I know.”

  I flinched inwardly and stepped back. Those warning lights were just getting brighter.

  “At least I don’t kill people for sport.”

  “You’re right. You simply choose not to kill anyone.” Edmund’s eyes flashed and I took a step back. I had seen that look enough in these dreams to know when to be scared of it.

  This time my reaction was visible, and my movement did not go unnoticed. Cail stepped toward me, his body coming precariously close as he came between me and Edmund. I moved away only to find a wall of henchmen behind me.

  “You are scaring her, Cail.” I couldn’t miss the wicked joy in Edmund’s voice.

  “Let me do it now,” Cail said as his eyes dug into me.

  “Be gentle with her, Cail. I am enjoying this little game. I want to see how it pans out.”

  “Oh, but sir, she seems to think that her dear Protector is innocent,” Cail said, his eyes never leaving mine. My magic flared, but I kept it inside. If I was going to attack him, I needed to wait for the right time.

  “Even Ilyan has killed, Joclyn. He has killed hundreds of times. He even killed Wyn’s mother. Your best friend’s mother, and yet, you still trust him?”

  My hands flexed at Edmund’s words, strangely I didn’t doubt for a moment that they were true. It bothered me, but not as much as it should have.

  “Ilyan doesn’t kill for pleasure unlike you.” I tried to keep my jaw strong as I faced Edmund, but it was hard with how I was quivering.

  “You know this for a fact do you?” Edmund continued. “Ilyan sure does seem to enjoy a battle, doesn’t he, Cail? He just can’t walk away from a fight. From a possible kill.”

  When Edmund smiled—his blue eyes flashing—I froze; I knew what he was referring to and it scared me. It was the face of power Ilyan always got; the look of pure, crazy joy.

  “You’re wrong.” My voice caught as I spoke, causing Cail to laugh. The deep sounds made his youthful frame rattle. I turned my head to face Cail, my angry glare directed at his dark eyes.

  “Oh, really?” Cail said, his tone making me cringe. “You know this for a fact?”

  “Yes.”

  “Trust him, do you?” Cail moved closer.

  “Yes.” I kept my voice strong even though Cail’s responses felt like ice down my spine.

  “Trust him to keep you safe?” I nodded once and Cail’s wicked smile deepened. I attempted to move away from him again only to be stopped by the ever encroaching wall of people.

  “He can’t hide you from me forever.” Edmund said and Cail smiled evilly, a small laugh escaping at his joy for whatever was to come. His eyes moved from mine to a spot behind me, the wicked upturn on his lips growing.

  “Besides, I have something you want.” Edmund continued.

  Something told me not to look, but I couldn’t help myself.

  Ryland was there, but not the dark eyed monster. It was the boy that was being dragged into the clearing by his curls. Ryland fought and kicked, yelling at his captors in sharp Czech that I had never heard from him. Edmund turned to me with a joyful smirk, and I took a step back, careful to keep my emotions under control.

  This wasn’t right. I had felt it before, but now I knew it.

  The dreams had always been distorted bits of a memory or expanded portions of my worst fears. They had never deviated from my expectations. There were always memories of Ryland, enacted horrors of his death, torture, and visions of my own impending death. But this was different. This was something new.

  Nothing about Ryland being dragged into a forest was a memory. Cail’s and Edmund’s taunting of me, yes. But not this… Ryland looked up to me, his bright blue eyes pouring into mine, and I stopped breathing.

  “He remembers you, you know.” I hadn’t even noticed that Edmund had come up beside me. My whole existence had frozen at seeing Ryland, my Ryland, there. “After all of my hard work, he still remembers you.”

  “Jos…” Ryland gasped my name, his body barely strong enough to support himself when sitting. I breathed in a shaking breath, willing my feet to stay still.

  “There is only one thing to do now, sir…” Cail’s hand ran down my arm, but I barely noticed.

  “I leave it to you, Cail.”

  “Jos… Run.” Ryland whimpered and I took a step forward, only to have my progress instantly halted by Cail’s arms around my waist.

  The contact broke me out of my shocked reverie. I turned to Cail, my face hard, my magic flaring in preparation.

  “Let me go.” I snarled as I attacked him, letting my magic fly. It only seemed to bounce off his skin. He didn’t let go, he just leaned closer.

  “Oh, no, no, no,” Cail said, his face impossibly close to mine. “You see, I have a message from Edmund for you.” I spun to where Edmund had stood a moment before to find the space empty. Cail smiled and I felt my insides freeze. Everything seemed too raw, too real. I turned to Cail, my head held high, not wanting to give away that I was scared.

  “You see Ryland there? Alive? His memories returned? You have exactly one month to turn yourself in to us before we dispose of him.”

  “No!” I turned toward Ryland in a panic, but Cail’s arms held me securely in place. I fought against him, though his grip was too strong, his hold brutal against me.

  “Don’t listen to him, Jos. Just run!”

  “Panicked now I see. A little worried?” He pressed his cheek against mine, his body moving with me as I fought his grip. “Well you should be.”

  “Joclyn, run!” Ryland screamed at me as the large man behind him produced a glimmering blade. The man didn’t even hesitate, he just ran him through with the glowing red blade. Ryland screamed and fell to the ground, his body not even fighting its loss of life.

  “No!”

  “Now, now. Don’t worry. This dream is only a shadow of what’s to come after all. I’m sure you have realized by now that we can’t really hurt you, just like you can’t really hurt us. Magic doesn’t work here. We can only wake you up. The same has happened to him, although I would like to kill him.” He said condescendingly, the terrible tones snaking around my insides like slime.

>   “Let me go!” I screamed as Cail released me, and the extra force sent me hurling across the clearing toward Ryland’s body.

  I gasped his name, my heart breaking all over again as I held his lifeless body in my arms.

  We were all shadows in a dream world. None of this was real. I repeated the fact to myself, trying to stop the heavy waves of emotions from overwhelming me. I felt my lungs reaching for breath and my heart’s irregular beat speed up. I couldn’t look away from Ryland; his bright blue eyes still burned in my mind.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Cail said from behind me, “if you don’t come in one month, you can give up hope of ever seeing Wyn again, too. I will finish what I didn’t before.” He sliced his finger across his neck, his lips curled in a wicked sneer.

  “You’ll never find her.” I tried to sound strong, but I knew the panic had seeped into my voice.

  “Like I never found you? Ryland’s bond with you was so weak we could barely track you across one little city, and if we were already in the city, what does that say about how safe you are?” I opened my mouth to respond, but was silenced by his smile. “With or without Ryland, we can find you anywhere, Joclyn. It’s all about who you know.”

  “Who do you know?” My voice echoed around the otherwise empty clearing. Cail only laughed.

  “Really? You think I am going to give away information just because you ask? Tsk, tsk, that’s not how it works, missy.”

  My magic surged uncomfortably under my skin thanks to the raw anger that coursed through me. I pulled the power together and shot it at him in a stream of fire powerful enough to do some real damage. It bounced off the same as it did last time. Shock crossed Cail’s face for a second before the attack hit him square in the chest.

  Cail looked at the spot on his chest before he began to laugh, long and deep. “Oh, Edmund’s going to be sad he missed this.”

  I clenched my teeth and raised my hands, ready to fire something at him again.

  “Now you are going to fight me?” Cail said, “Sure why not! After all, magic doesn’t work here the way you are thinking, you can’t hurt a shadow.”

  I felt the blood leave my face, I sent another attack. He didn’t even flinch, but when his attack hit me it felt as though every muscle had been ripped from the tendons. I screamed, Cail’s laughter echoing over everything as I fell to the ground.

  “You’re no fun,” Cail pouted, kicking dirt in my face. “Kill her. I will tell my master it is done.”

  I didn’t have time to register what he had said before I felt the blade plunge into my back. I felt the cold metal separate my flesh and grind against bones as it moved deeper into me. I screamed in agony as my body fell on top of Ryland’s lifeless corpse.

  I woke up in a panic, my terrified screams bouncing around our tiny space.

  Ilyan’s arms were already wrapping around me, his hand moving to cover my mouth. I didn’t hear his comforting sounds, his song. I screamed into his hand, his warm skin muffling the sound.

  I couldn’t calm down. I couldn’t shake the feeling of the dream. My mind kept replaying what Edmund had done, what Cail had said, and the feeling of Ryland’s lifeless body beneath me.

  Eventually, my screams died down, but my cries remained. Howls of despair broke from my chest as my breathing caught and shuddered. Ilyan held me until my sobs had stopped; his song finally seeping into my mind as he sang it over and over.

  “It’s okay, Joclyn. I’m here. The dream is gone.” Ilyan’s hand ran over my back, the touch triggering something in me. I pulled away from him in fear, wiping away the last of my tears. I looked beyond him to the large scorch mark on the wall and my insides turned to ice.

  “They’re not dreams,” I gasped through the remnants of my sobs. “They are something far worse.”

  Eighty-Two

  Joclyn

  Ilyan pried the memory of the dream out of my head and replayed it twice before I made him stop. I couldn’t stand to see it anymore. I felt like my heart had been ripped open and filleted. Reliving every emotion with Ilyan had been brutal; he felt every pain, saw all of my reactions.

  The exertion from the dream mixed with Ilyan’s brain foraging had left me exhausted. I stared as Ilyan fidgeted in the small space, mumbling in Czech, his face twisted in anger and fear. I couldn’t even find it in me to ask what was going on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know anyway. His reaction had made one thing very clear, Ryland remembered me, and I had one month to save him.

  “Ilyan,” I spoke quietly, hoping he would hear me, but he kept speaking to himself. “Ilyan!”

  He stopped and turned, his long hair swirling over his face. He fixed me with a stare that scared me. Not because I was frightened of him, but because he was scared.

  “How is...” I stopped, I didn’t want to know. “How do I keep them out of my dreams?”

  “I’m not sure you can. I am not even sure how they are doing it. The only thing I can think of is that they are using Ryland somehow, but how...” he faded off, and I looked down to my feet. Great, my connection with Ryland was causing more misery.

  I loved Ryland. I loved the person Ryland used to be. The way he held me, sheltered me, protected me. After the last few months, whenever I thought of him there was fear. I had yet to see the positive side to our bonding.

  My pity party was cut short by Ilyan’s finger dragging along the chain around my neck. I looked up, unsurprised to see him kneeling right in front of me.

  “I need you to go to Ryland. See if the boy will tell you anything. If something is happening, he should know at least a part of it.”

  “But what if he doesn’t tell me? What if he pushes me out like last time?”

  Ilyan gathered my hands in his. “I need you to try, Silnỳ.”

  “Okay. But will you call Wyn while I am gone? Make sure she is okay? Tell her I will call her in a few hours.” I pulled the chain out from under my shirt, letting the ruby settle on my palm.

  “Of course. Tell Ryland his brother says hello.” Ilyan smiled, but it was strained. I nodded my head once and settled back down into the bed before closing my eyes and walking into the Tȍuha.

  I opened my eyes to the kitchen of the LaRues’ estate and gasped. It was the same kitchen my mother had worked in—the one I had first met Ryland in—except very little was recognizable about it. Yesterday’s deteriorating expanse had been replaced by the kitchen, or an echo of it. The same rot had taken over. The counters were dark and slimy. The sink was filled with dirty dishes and molding food. Chunks of marble flooring was missing. The once pristine cabinet fronts were burnt, or rotting, or worse; many were hanging off of their hinges. I jumped at the large rat that I glimpsed running from one food container to another.

  I wanted to scream. This felt like a trick or a cruel joke, being stuck in the place where everything had started. A place that reminded me so much of my mother and Ry.

  No one was in the kitchen, and I didn’t hear any sounds. I looked hopelessly toward the door that would eventually lead me to Ryland’s room. The front was grey and covered by what I could only explain as rotting marshmallow.

  “And I thought the dream was bad…” I brought my magic up, unsure if I would need it, or if it would do anything, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.

  I had been told that Ryland remembered me. I just needed the boy to remember me, too. I needed him to tell me what was going on. I walked across the kitchen and swung the marshmallow covered door open wide to reveal the little five year old boy I had grown to love on the other side. The hallway behind him was just as deteriorated and neglected as the space I stood in.

  He looked up at me with dark blue eyes and a hard set jaw. I had never seen any child look so angry.

  “You can’t have him,” he said, stronger than I would have expected him to.

  “Have who?”

  “Your friend. The one you are looking for. The man told me you knew he was here, but you can’t have him. I won’t let you.”

&
nbsp; “My friend,” I couldn’t ignore the overdrive my heart was experiencing right now. “He’s here?”

  “You can’t have him,” Ryland spat, his little voice laced with hate.

  “Why... why not? Ryland, you have to tell me...” I kneeled down to get close to him and froze, hate and anger were the only emotions that looked back at me.

  “You can’t have him. If I give him to you, then I die.” His eyes grew wide when he said the last word. It looked more like he enjoyed it than he was scared of it.

  “Who told you that?”

  “The man.”

  “What man?” My nerves jumped once, something inside triggering me to run.

  “The man with the black eyes. He told me you wanted me dead. That’s why you want your friend. Because you hate me.”

  “I don’t hate...”

  “LIAR!” His yell rocked the air and I lost my balance, toppling backward into the kitchen. “You hate me. And I hate you, too.”

  Ryland took one step forward and looked down at me. I cringed away from him, seeing what he was planning a second before he did it. His little hand made contact with my cheek, the strike hard against my skin. I closed my eyes and turned away from him, knowing instantly that Ryland had pushed me out of our Tȍuha.

  I opened my eyes to dim light seeping through the blackout curtain. I had only been gone a matter of minutes. Ilyan’s weight was firm on the bed behind me as he talked on the phone.

  “Tell no one where we are, Talon. You cannot tell Wyn or Ovailia. This information is for you alone.”

  I twisted on the bed to face Ilyan who sat with his back to me. He turned at my movement, his expression dropping at the look on my face, which I was certain told the story of what had happened.

  “We will be here a week, then we will be moving.” Ilyan’s eyes dug into me as he silently asked me what had happened. “I will tell you our next location when we get there, Talon. The less information you have the better.”

  Ilyan reached out with his free hand and moved some hair that had fallen over my face, his hand resting against my cheek for a moment before he turned back to his phone call.