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

by Ethington, Rebecca

  “I don’t care how much damage she causes, she is officially out of the loop, Talon. She cannot be Ochrana on this. Call me if you find anything out. I don’t care what time it is, just let me know.”

  Talon spoke for a few minutes before Ilyan clicked the phone shut and turned to face me. I stared at him, unsure of what I was going to say.

  “How bad was it?” he asked, softly.

  “Bad.” I pushed myself to sitting, cursing this tiny space when I hit my head on the windowsill. I looked away from Ilyan before I began to explain it to him, not trusting myself enough to look at him.

  By the end of it, Ilyan had frozen in place. I could feel the waves of his energy ripple around the room, the kinetic anger of it scaring me.

  “First my dreams, and now the Tȍuha? How is he doing it, Ilyan?”

  “I don’t think the question is how, I think the question is with who.”

  “Who?” I asked. I didn’t like how he had phrased that. “What do you mean?”

  “Ryland has made it quite clear he would rather die than hurt you, so I don’t see him letting them use the connection much. Cail made that clear in the dream. He believes Ryland’s bond is weak, but I have seen how strong it still is. Ryland is masking it somehow on his end, which means they would need a blood connection to increase its strength.”

  Ilyan paced as he spoke, his jittery movements making me feel more on edge than I already was.

  “What do you mean, ‘a blood connection’?” My stomach flipped. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know exactly what this could mean. Visions of severed hands filled my mind and I cringed.

  “You’re an only child, right?”

  “Yes,” I said, my eyebrows rising in confusion.

  “And you are sure your mother is dead?”

  My insides froze at his question; I brushed away the pit of loss before answering him.

  “She was crushed by a refrigerator and didn’t flinch, Ilyan. I’m positive that she’s gone.” Ilyan sat down next to me on the bed, his hand reaching to rest on my knee. His eyes were apologetic, but not for what he had said, it was also for what was to come. My insides seized.

  “What?”

  “They have your father.” I narrowed my eyes at Ilyan, waiting for something worse, but there was nothing. My father. The man had barely been part of my life.

  “My father? But how…” I stopped and exhaled, trying to find the right words to fit my confusion. “He disappeared before they even knew about my mark. How could they have him?”

  “I am afraid they have him for a completely different reason, Joclyn. How they found out he was your father, though, I have no idea. I worried about what had happened after he disappeared, but I never imagined…”

  “What are you talking about?” I interrupted his rambling. “What would Edmund want with my Dad?” Ilyan’s eyes locked with mine for a moment before looking away, his hand moving to drag through his hair. I reached out instinctively and grabbed his wrist, stopping him before he avoided me.

  “No, Ilyan. You have to tell me now. I don’t care if you don’t tell me everything, but you have to tell me about my dad. You have to tell me this.”

  The pause between us was deafening. It dragged on and on as Ilyan and I locked eyes. The blue of his was shocking. I could see each fleck of gold move as he contemplated what to tell me. I kept my hand firm on his wrist, my resolve strengthening.

  “Please, Ilyan.” I was surprised when my voice broke. Ilyan nodded once before turning away from me, his phone moving to his ear. He hadn’t even dialed. I saw the screen flick white as a call was connected, the system being overridden by Ilyan’s magic.

  “Thom.” Where had I heard that name before? “They have Sain. I need to tell the Silnỳ. Tell Dramin of our arrival. We will be there in two days.”

  Ilyan dropped the phone without even waiting for a response, the screen flashed white before returning to its screen saver. I looked from the phone to Ilyan, more confused than before. My body froze at the look Ilyan was giving me—bright and fearful—and the strength that was radiating off of him.

  “Thom?” I asked, still trying to place the name in my memory.

  “Thomas. He is my brother.”

  My jaw must have dropped a visible inch. Wyn had told me of him, of how he went missing years ago.

  “But I thought he was missing, I thought…”

  “I hid Thom after Cail found out where he was hiding. I couldn’t trust anyone with the knowledge of his survival, it was easier to have them believe he was dead.”

  The explanation of Thom made sense, however it still left me confused, “What does Thom have to do with my father?”

  “Thom had been your father’s bodyguard for four hundred years until twenty-five years ago when they were found at a University in Ohio. Thom was able to wipe your father’s memory and put him into hiding before he, himself had to run in order to pull Edmund off of your father’s trail. We never thought your father would fall in love, let alone have a child. So when he found me in Prague with no memory of who he was, you can imagine my surprise. I almost told him of his past right then, but I could already see bits of the magic breaking away; parts of his memories seeping through. It was how he knew to find me; how he knew that something was wrong with your mark. I needed to break the truth of his past to him gently, and right then we didn’t have the time. I needed to get to you first.”

  Ilyan ran his hand heavily through his hair in agitation. I couldn’t piece any of it together in my mind. I tried to sit and listen, waiting for Ilyan to finish, but my disjointed questions kept flowing of their own accord.

  “Wipe his memories?” I repeated, “Why would Thom do that?”

  “It was necessary. Thom knew he could get Edmund’s men to follow him, but your father had to stay behind. Your father’s memories are more of a curse. It was essential to displace them in the chance that Thom failed and your father was found.”

  “But he…” I tried to form a question, but it didn’t come. After all, I didn’t want to hear this. What he was saying couldn’t be true. There wasn’t any way it could be.

  “You’re wrong, Ilyan. You have to be. I mean, I have grandparents, and uncles, and cousins!”

  “The Despain’s lost a son, Jeffrey, in a car accident. Thom put your father in his place, replacing their grief with a surrogate.” My mouth dropped open in horror. So much of my life was a mystery, a lie. I felt so empty.

  “But why…” I broke off, not sure what I wanted to know.

  “I will not tell you everything, Joclyn, because not all of it needs to come from me. I will tell you this, however, by blending the blood of your father with the magic of your mate, Edmund has found a way to torture you, to infiltrate you from a distance. To try to stop you from what destiny has planned for you.” Ilyan’s strong voice ricocheted around the space, the power behind it seeping into me uncomfortably.

  “But… my father?” I asked, still waiting for clarity. Everything was a jumbled mess in my head.

  “His name is not Jeffery, it’s Sain. He was bred from the mud to be one of the first of the carriers of magic. He was the first of the Drak.”

  I gasped, the quick intake of breath trapped inside of me as I froze in place. The Drak. That name I knew.

  The Drak were beings who possessed the gift of sight. The magical creatures who had been massacred at the hands of Edmund LaRue. Well, not completely; my father was still alive. The last one.

  My head reeled like I was inside an old cartoon, my eyes bugging out of my head unnaturally. I knew this was huge, and scary, but I didn’t quite understand how it had happened or even what it all meant.

  “So, if my father was the first of the Drak, does that mean I am a Drak, too?”

  “No, you bear the kiss of a Vilỳ. You are one of The Chosen, nothing more.” Ilyan placed his hand softly on my neck, his whole hand covering my mark. I looked up to him, my wide eyes reflected back at me through his own.

  “Then why d
oes Edmund want him so much? What was so important that he had to have his memories erased?”

  “He is not just any Drak, Joclyn. Not only is he the first of his kind, he is the one who saw a child come forth to defeat an opposing power. He was also tortured at the hands of my father so that he could convince his own daughter to work for him.”

  “You’re not saying…” I stopped as his meaning caught up with me. I wasn’t panicked. I wasn’t scared. I was in shock.

  Ilyan nodded as I pieced the last of it together. I remembered this story. Edmund had tortured Ovailia’s mate to get her to work for him. Sain, my father. My father had been Ovailia’s mate. He was the one she had double-crossed in her rise to a supposed power. No wonder he wanted his memories erased.

  “But I thought he was dead.”

  “Edmund weakened their Zȇlství to convince her of that. Ovailia, believing him to be dead, broke their bond. Then for hundreds of years my father kept Sain hidden as he forced information of the future out of him until the day that Sain escaped with his memory mostly gone and his powers greatly weakened. I stopped Edmund’s Vymȁzat and put him into hiding. He was too hurt—too ashamed—to ever see my sister again. Ovailia still believes him dead and I will do everything in my power to keep the truth from her.”

  “So Ovailia doesn’t know?” My stress lessened a bit, though not a lot. I knew I should be reacting more—crying, yelling, screaming—but nothing came. What Ilyan had said hadn’t sunk in yet.

  “No. She doesn’t know he is alive. It is best kept that way.”

  “So, what my father saw… about the child… It’s about me, isn’t it?” My pulse thumped in my ears in fear of the answer I knew was coming.

  “Joclyn, it is not my place to say…”

  “Then don’t tell me everything, Ilyan. Don’t tell me what he saw. Don’t tell me how, or why. Just say yes or no!” I moved to stand in front of him, making it clear I wasn’t going to let him off the hook. He hesitated for a moment before answering, his eyes large and softer than usual.

  “Yes.”

  I hung my head, my jaw tightening.

  “I cannot tell you all, Joclyn, not yet. But soon. We are going to see Thom and Dramin in two days, and then you will know everything. And when they tell you… Joclyn, when they do, please do not hate me.”

  “Ilyan?”

  “Know I am here to protect you as I was born to do; as I have promised you.” He reached up and softly traced my skin from my jaw to the mark and back again, his eyes never leaving mine. I couldn’t move. I didn’t register the shiver that moved through me at his touch, either. I merely stood still, waiting for everything I had been told to settle into an understanding.

  “I will do whatever I must to keep you safe.” He smiled and my breath caught, which only seemed to increase his happiness. Ilyan inhaled before he stepped to the window, the pane opening as he approached it.

  “Ilyan?” I wasn’t sure what was happening.

  “I am going to go get some food. I won’t be long. Promise me you will stay inside these walls.”

  I nodded and he began to move, however I knew I couldn’t let him leave without knowing one last thing. He wouldn’t tell me everything, but I knew this one thing he could.

  “Ilyan?” I asked again. This time he turned, hesitant.

  “What does Silnỳ really mean?”

  His answer came without hesitation; two words spoken before he exited the space, leaving me alone with a bit of his warm magic shielding me from the inside.

  “Most powerful.”

  Eighty-Three

  Joclyn

  Most powerful.

  I stared at the window where the last light of day was seeping in. My body was exhausted, but all the new information had left me feeling jittery and wide awake. I plopped down onto the bed, Ilyan’s cell phone bouncing around next to me.

  I grabbed it without thinking, flipping it open and staring at the screen saver. I missed my phone. I missed all the pictures of Ryland and me. I ran my fingers over the screen, repeating his number in my head as I traced it.

  What I wouldn’t give to be able to call him, to hear his goofy voice as he taunted me, or to feel his hand against my skin as he comforted me. I closed my eyes, willing an imaginary phone call; bringing his voice so strongly to the forefront of my mind that I could almost hear it. I could feel the leather seats of his Lotus as we talked about everything… anything. We could talk about my father, about what I...

  “So, Dad,” I sighed aloud to the empty space. “You cursed me, and you didn’t even know it. You keep getting better and better.”

  The stress at what Ilyan had said was growing, but so was my irritation at continuously not being told everything. I couldn’t talk to Ryland, but I could talk to Wyn. If anything she could help me get my mind off everything. I held down the number three and waited impatiently for Wyn to pick up the phone.

  “Jos!” She yelled the second she picked up. “Oh, please tell me you are okay! I’ve been so worried since Talon told me what happened, and then you didn’t call me at all yesterday. I knew I should have gone with you! This never would have happened if I had—”

  “It would have happened either way, Wyn.” I cut her off, worried she would run out to find us right now. “If you were here you would have gotten hurt, too.”

  “Too? You got hurt?” She sounded like she was going to bust through the phone and seek revenge for my hand. I rolled my eyes.

  “Nothing a little magic can’t fix.” I heard her exhale through the line.

  “I can still come out if you want; an extra pair of hands doesn’t hurt.”

  “No!” I sat upright, nearly bonking my head on the windowsill again. “Stay where you are. You’ll only get hurt if you get too close to me.”

  “Stop being dramatic,” she scolded with a laugh, I rolled my eyes and fell back on the bed again. At least someone was calling me out on my crap. “Is Ilyan okay?”

  “He’s fine,” I felt his magic pulse in my shoulder, as though he could sense us talk about him.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come out?” she asked again, her voice gaining back some of its normal, playful quality.

  “I’m sure, but can you do something for me?” It was a silly idea, but I needed some of Wyn’s silliness right now.

  “Sure! What’s up?”

  “Sing me a Styx song.” I smiled as she laughed, her voice echoing through the phone.

  “You’re a dork,” she giggled.

  “I can’t help it, you’ve got me addicted.”

  “Addicted to Styx?” I could hear her disbelief, and I only smiled more.

  “Yep.” I rolled onto my side, bringing the blanket with me

  “Alright then, when was their first album released?” I paused, leave it to Wyn to see through my little lie.

  “1840.” I said as confidently as I could, causing her to laugh harder at me.

  “Liar.” She obviously wasn’t going to sing anything for me.

  “Come on, Wyn, just sing me one of their stupid songs.” Her loud gasp came through the line. I could almost see her offended face, dark scars and all.

  “I thought you said you liked them?” Her voice was hard. Leave it to me to piss her off by offending her precious Styx.

  “Please, Wyn.” I let a little bit of whine seep into my voice. I didn’t want to have to explain.

  “I’m sailing away,” she sang, “I’ve got to be free…” I smiled. Her choice of song seemed a little bit too perfect given the current situation.

  She sang and sang, and I let the lyrics wash over me, their meaning becoming deeper the more I heard.

  Her song faded away, although I knew it wasn’t over, somehow the words had helped; the edge of my anxiety had dulled and I felt a bit more relieved. I was glad I had Wyn, I just wished she was closer.

  “Thanks, Wyn.”

  “No problem. I’ve gotta go find my husband now, okay? I’ll call you in a few hours.”

&nb
sp; “Sounds good, Wyn.” The phone clicked off and I shut Ilyan’s and placed it in my pocket before turning to the window.

  I knew Ilyan had asked me to stay in the room, but I needed fresh air. I had been trapped inside for two days, stuck in the same clothes I had been attacked in. My hair was gross, and I was beginning to stink. Besides, I had his shield around me, not around the room. I could go anywhere. I shuffled my feet as I rationalized, hoping this wasn’t going to end up being one of my stupidest decisions ever.

  Although, I was starting to get a collection of those.

  The crisp air of dusk filtered into the room as I opened the window, and I breathed it in, letting its heavy energy fill me. The chill undertone of it reminded me of home. I opened the window more and stuck my head out, a slight evening breeze tugging at my hair.

  The steady warmth of Ilyan’s magic surged through me. I focused on it as I pulled my body out of the window, moving to sit on the small eave right next to the casement.

  The main street of the small town was directly below me. Most of it was occupied by houses and small businesses. I could see a small restaurant and a gas station, and I thought I could make out about three hardware stores.

  I curled my legs into my chest, cursing the breeze and my lack of hoodie for giving me goosebumps up and down my arms. Even with the chill, though, it still felt nice.

  I could already feel myself relaxing, even with what was going on, and all I hadn’t been told. I was going to remedy that immediately. It was my destiny, after all.

  “I thought I told you to stay inside?” Ilyan’s voice wasn’t mad; he was more amused than anything.

  I didn’t even open my eyes.

  “I knew you would keep me safe,” I said, patting my shoulder.

  “Well, I am glad you have so much trust in me,” Ilyan said as he sat down next to me, “but next time wait until I get back. You are lucky I was paying attention or someone would have seen you.”

  I blushed and looked at him. I was glad he wasn’t mad at me, but I had a tiny bit of guilt for not listening to him.