“But she loves you, Ilyan.” Dramin’s voice was deep, almost as if he was trying to convince me I was making a wrong decision, but I could only laugh at him.
“I know, Dramin. She told me so,” I whispered, my fingers moving to run over the soft skin of her face. “And those words flow through my head every night as I keep her safe in my arms, holding her until the right arms can take my place.”
She sighed as I held her, almost as if she heard me. I smoothed my hand over her hair and the soft skin of her face. Her deep breathing seeped into me, relaxing me as well. The heady beating of my heart slowed, the uncharacteristic relaxation making me feel more in love with her than before, if that was possible.
“It will be harder than you think, handing her over to him.”
“I know. Trust me when I say I have already been warned.” I couldn’t help it, my muscles tightened around her, bringing her against me tightly. I knew Dramin was right, but no matter how hard, I still would not interfere. Even though there was a very loud voice in my head that cursed me for not doing it before.
“You are a better man than I thought you to be, Ilyan.” Dramin sat up slowly, his back leaning against the cold wall beside me.
I looked at him curiously, not sure if his words were that of a compliment or not. He just looked at me with pride and knowledge lining his handsome face.
“All those years ago,” Dramin explained, “when I first saw the fate of what was to come for you, I was happy for you, so šťastný. But the heartbreak at her being with another… I thought you would purposefully tear them apart to get what was rightfully yours. I am sorry I ever thought badly about you. You are a man beyond words.”
I smiled, but chose to say nothing. For years I had thought the exact way that Dramin had. I had been possessive, needy. She was mine, and no one was going to take her away from me. After all, I had waited for hundreds of years, what could one mortal do to stop me? He wasn’t a mortal, however; he was my brother.
My brother who had stood up to our father and refused to torture me; who had fought him to give me a chance to escape. Ryland who had been poisoned at such a young age, a mere science experiment to our father. A boy who had known no love in his entire life had found that love, that sanctuary, in a girl I had been waiting for the majority of my life. I could not take that away from him, from either of them.
Once that realization had occurred, my heart no longer ached for her. It still longed, but it no longer ached.
“Sain’s going to love you, Ilyan,” Thom’s voice came out of nowhere, and we both jumped. “Of course, he had no idea it was his own daughter he was showing you when the sight was first delivered. Noble Ilyan, so kind to his only daughter.”
“Am I detecting a touch of resentment in your voice, Thom?” I asked as he came to sit across from me, the light in the cave increasing.
“Oh, always, Ilyan. As my perfect, older brother, I will always resent you.” We both smiled, but it was strained. The bonds of family were always tense between us, between all of our father’s children.
“Well,” Thom began, leaning back on the palms of his hands, “I’m tired, bolák, hungry, and dying of thirst. What do you say we get out of here today?”
Dramin and I turned toward him, confused. And yet, I couldn’t stop the fire of hope that ignited. We had been shifting rock at the mouth of the cave since the collapse first happened. We had almost made it out yesterday, but another small collapse had hindered the process.
I knew why Thom wanted to get out. We all needed food and drink; I could already feel my skin prickle with dehydration. Acting rashly wasn’t going to get us out of here any faster; it was just going to get us killed.
“Brzy, Thom,” I said, hoping to convey that a rush was not needed.
“Dnes, Ilyan,” he countered, his inflection so modern it brought a smile to my face. “I don’t want to wait anymore. We almost made it through last night. If we had used all three of us, we might have been able to do it.”
“What are you saying?” Dramin asked, leaning toward him. He wasn’t actually going to give Thom’s idea his support, was he?
“If we all work together, we can make a hole big enough for us to escape through. Ilyan can carry the Silnỳ, and we can all be in Rioseco by nightfall.” He paused, and we just looked at him. I had to admit, part of what he was saying made sense. The small collapse from last night made me worry, however; the rocks might not have had a chance to settle.
“Just think about it,” Thom prompted, “Skutečné postele, food and mugs for Dramin’s poison…”
The silence stretched through the cave; it stretched between us until Joclyn moaned, her voice soft. Everyone’s attention pulled to her as she twitched, blood seeping through the shirt over her shoulder. A quick check revealed that besides the scratches, she had a small skull fracture. I winced. I needed to help her, and being stuck in this cave was not going to give me that opportunity.
“Who knows, maybe feeding the Silnỳ some of that poison will cure her.” Thom let his words linger in the air, no one saying anything as Dramin and I exchanged a look.
It was the one thing we hadn’t tried. The one thing we couldn’t here. The pool in the hall of sight had drained with the collapse of the cave, leaving Dramin as starved as everyone else. I couldn’t ignore the desperate need I felt. I needed to try it. I would try anything for her.
I leaned down to encompass her with my arms, my cheek pressing against hers as I mended and braced the new break in her skull. Her body was so broken. So many of her bones were covered with magical casings, so many tendons were still trying to join back together. If we were in the mortal world, she would be in a full body cast by now.
As I sat there, I felt my magic shift. My power swell and scream. It took me a second to realize what it was. The bind that Cail and I had placed on Wynifred had broken.
Edmund had control of her magic. We couldn't wait here any longer.
I only nodded once, knowing they were waiting for my approval, knowing there was no way I could say no. It might not have been the best decision, but for the people around me, it was the right one, and I couldn’t lead them astray. Those were the requirements of my position.
My inheritance.
One Hundred Seventeen
Ilyan
We walked down the stone tunnel slowly, my ears attentive toward any sound. My fear of another cave-in was strong, much higher than it should be to attempt something like this. This area wasn’t like the training room; this small, claustrophobic space could collapse at any time. We could be crushed to death in an instant.
I straightened my back, Joclyn held in my arms like an infant, my magic peeking into the rock with each step. Although I couldn’t do much with such a weak connection, I could at least give us warning if something was coming.
The light from the glowing orb that Dramin held in his hand flickered around the walls of the tunnel, the shadows moving and swaying like living hands coming to tear the rock down around us.
“I heard what you said back there,” Thom said from beside me, his voice calm. I looked toward him, but he wasn’t looking at me, obviously uncomfortable about what he was going to say.
I waited for him to continue. Knowing Thom, he was going to be overstepping with what he was going to say, but I wasn’t going to pull out any haughty orders, not right now.
“You really aren’t going to force Ryland and the Silnỳ apart?”
“No.” I kept my answer short, my voice making it clear I wasn’t going to elaborate. He had already heard what I said. I saw no reason to continue.
“I always wondered why you didn’t after you discovered Cail was controlling her nightmares,” Thom stated, and I tensed.
“I would never break her bond with another without her permission.” I raised my voice a bit, letting my tone set the end of the conversation. If only Thom had picked up on it.
“Did you even ask?”
I tried not to fume at his off-hand com
ment. I kept my eyes ahead, and my fingers curled around Joclyn as my magic pulsed through her.
No, I had not asked. I was afraid to hear what she would say, afraid that she would get the wrong idea and think my intentions impure. Asking her to break the bond was the equivalent of sentencing Ryland to death. I could not ask that of her. I could not ask that of myself.
I chose not to respond to Thom, instead hoping—once again in vain—that he would understand that our conversation had ended.
“What if the bond is what is keeping her in the Tȍuha?” he asked and I felt my muscles tighten. This wasn’t a new thought. I had felt this line of thinking crossover my mind several times before.
“What if by breaking the bond, you would release her?” Thom continued when I didn’t respond. “She couldn’t be hurt anymore. You could save her.”
“I have thought of it,” I said, holding Joclyn closer to me. “But what happens if you break the bond and her mind is still trapped… Co se stane potom?”
He hadn’t experienced a bonding, as I had not, not that neither of us had not desired one. Both of our loves were just out of reach.
“She would be gone.” Thom sighed after a moment, his own desperation showing in his voice.
Dramin’s light bounced off the rock, casting flickering shadows on the boulders that had begun to obstruct our path. We weaved our way around them, the path becoming more of a single file labyrinth full of jagged stones and loose rocks.
We had been working in this tunnel for the past few days. Thom and I had shifted, melted and moved the rock to make the narrow path we now traveled down, but it wasn’t enough.
“There,” Thom announced when we had reached the solid wall of rock that covered the exit. He pointed toward a small space between two large boulders near the upper left side where a small gap could be seen between them. The space was large enough for no more than a mouse to go through, but big enough to let in some of the fresh air from outside.
“Tight fit,” Dramin observed with a chuckle.
I looked at him curiously, only to see him smiling widely. Leave it to Dramin to find humor and joy in any situation.
“We aren’t going to crawl through there, Dramin,” Thom sighed. “The crack is a start. If we work from there out, we should be able to shift the rock enough to escape.”
I could smell the snow and feel a million different energies carried on the wind from that small crack. My muscles tensed, stretching tight over my chest. I could sense the crack through my connection with the mountain, but what I was sure Thom could not feel was the instability of the large boulder above it.
As large as a house, the mass rested on the crack, but the majority of its weight covered the roof above us. One wrong move and the rock would shift, crushing us in an instant.
“I am beginning to doubt if this is a good idea.” I kept my voice low, suddenly aware of the danger this cave had now become to us. Chances were high that we would never make it out of here, not with the instability of the boulder directly over our heads.
Only Thom had returned yesterday after the collapse to assess the damage. If I had known the instability of this space was so bad, I would have never consented to bring us back here. I held Joclyn’s body against mine, terrified we would have to run at any time.
“It’s the only idea, Ilyan,” Thom said quietly. “What would you have us do, sit in a cave until we all waste away?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, watching him as he pleaded with me. I didn’t know what to say.
“What other option do we have? This is our chance; if we don’t take it, then you have doomed us to death already,” Dramin whispered. I knew what he was feeling. I felt it, too. Thom was right, as much as I hated to admit it.
I said nothing as I laid Joclyn’s body down against the smooth rock next to me, her body settling into an unnatural position. I moved past them, their focus on me as I approached the opening.
They watched as I placed my hands against the stone. I held my kouzlo there, ignoring my heartbeat that was racing in a desperate plea for me to stop.
The energies of the three bodies behind me thrummed through my bloodstream. This decision, to move the final rock, was dangerous. The selfish part of me begged to just stay, to find another way, but the leader I had been raised to become could not deny the needs of those with me and all those who still lived on the other side of our stone prison, few though they might be.
I needed to do right by them as well.
My magic surged into the rock, the powerful energy flowing away from me as I surveyed the rock more carefully. I tried to formulate a plan for the highest chance of success. The rock shifted and moved at my touch, the living elements within the stone responding to my very thoughts.
The shifting mass felt like a part of me, an extension of my own mind as it obeyed my commands, as it yielded to my power. Then I felt it, the tiny shift, the start of what I had feared, what I had known was going to happen.
The mountain was coming down on top of us.
The large rock just above our heads, the one I had been fearful of since the beginning, began to shift away from the larger mass of the mountain. I grunted as I released more of my energy into the rock, hoping that I could shift it enough to fuse it more securely to the mountain it nestled against.
A large groan echoed through the cave, the sound loud enough to drown out the loud profanity that had spewed unbidden from my mouth.
Thom and Dramin raced from where they had been standing to either side of the cave, their hands flying to the rock as they, too, moved to assess the damage. Now that the rock had shifted, it only took a moment for them to find the weakness and for their magic to move alongside mine as the three of us heaved the giant boulder back into position.
My voice echoed around the cave as I yelled out, my strained magic weakening my body enough to cause me physical pain. I could feel the muscles in my shoulders knit together as I pressed against the rock. I pushed as if I alone was holding it up, attempting to make it move, my heart thundering in my chest in fear and panic.
I glanced to Joclyn, she looked so peaceful. For one moment, her body didn’t twitch, and her shoulder didn’t bleed. Although I was sure the horrors she was trapped within were still a terrifying prison, right then, she was peaceful, beautiful. Just looking at her set the beat of my heart into a steadier rhythm.
I needed to get her out of here.
I knew what needed to be done. I always did, from the moment I sensed the boulder above our heads, I knew. As with all right decisions, there was a sacrifice to be made, wrong steps to take first. There always was. Making the right choice was never easy, but making it was required, and it was what I was raised to be.
A king, a leader to my people.
“I am going to blow the rest of the cave open,” I announced, my voice loud above the incessant growling of the cave. I could see Thom and Dramin’s heads turn to me in a panic, but I didn’t acknowledge them. “I will be able to hold the ceiling for enough time for us to get out of the jeskyně.”
“Ilyan... I—” I stopped Dramin’s words with one stern look.
I knew what Dramin was going to say. I could hear the words on his tongue; feel the doubt in him. Doubt wasn’t going to help us. I had run all other options through my head, each one enacted within my mind’s eye as I watched Joclyn’s sleeping body curled up against the rock.
“When I say go, vypadni odsud, and don’t stop until you get to Rioseco. No matter what happens, do not stop.” I kept my voice deep, the tones laced with the magic I always attempted to restrain within me.
Each man nodded in agreement, fear lining their faces.
“And, Joclyn?” Thom asked, his voice soft.
“I will carry her. She is my responsibility.” I turned to her, sending one small strand of magic toward her, lifting her body into the air and bringing her right into my arms. What would normally only take less than a thought, drained me. So much of my concentration and magic was focuse
d on keeping the boulder, and in turn the mountain, off our backs that even the smallest magic used could be felt deep in my bones.
I shook my head, sending my blonde hair swinging as I focused back on the rock in front of me. I forced my mind off the people I was surrounded by, the people who were now fully relying on me to save their lives. I let the feeling of Joclyn’s skin on mine move into me, the power of her touch lighting my soul on fire as it had always done. The contact increased my energy, the fire within me burning bright enough to take away the aches I had begun to feel.
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face at the sensation. The light of the fire spread through my soul, igniting the rest of me, and I couldn’t wait. I replaced one hand on the wall, wrapping the other carefully around Joclyn’s head as I cradled her against me. I hovered my hand over her mark, the dark dragon shape staring at me through the dim light of the cave.
“Teď!” I yelled at them to go a second before I let my finger touch the raised skin on her neck, the magical connection between us supercharging what remained of my magic.
I took the surge of power and sent it out in an explosion so great that I felt the floor underneath us rock with the energy.
The rock that had lined the exit exploded out in front of us, white snow suddenly visible only a few hundred feet out. Our feet moved before the smoke had begun to clear. I could hear the grunts and pants of Thom and Dramin as we stumbled and slipped on rubble in our desperate attempt to escape.
The cave filled with loud, resonating groans as my magic left the rock above us, the sound extending beyond the blast. The rumble grew as the rock shifted, the sound of our footsteps lost in the sounds of falling rocks and the groan of death that was coming down on top of us.
Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery Page 87
