Scorched Treachery (Imdalind #3)

by Rebecca Ethington

  “You know I only fear our father,” he said, the wavering in his voice surprising.

  “Vím, že.” I suddenly felt bad for bringing it up. “I do too, which is why I am still alive and why I can’t bring myself to look past the terror that Joclyn is trapped in.”

  My muscles tensed in anxiety the second I finished talking. I had spoken too plainly, opened myself up too much to him. The words had come unbidden from my mouth, and now I was to face the consequences.

  “Do you remember Rosy?”

  Thom’s quiet voice caught me off guard, the subject matter startling. Rosy was never spoken about, least of all by Thom. I had never met her, but I heard the story, saw the terrors from Thom’s memories. Unsurprisingly, Thom was now looking intently at the crude carving in the stone before us.

  “Ano,” I said.

  “When she was three, Wynifred and I used to take her to visit the serfs in the country side.” Thom’s voice was distant, his mind lost in his memories. I could feel my heart tense at what was coming. I may not know the whole story, but I did know the outcome.

  “It probably wasn’t the best day trip for a child,” he laughed, “but she enjoyed playing with the other small children. I could watch that smile on her face for days. She looked so much like Wynifred. Those crazy dark eyes – they would shine more than you would ever think possible.”

  I cringed, but stayed silent. Edmund had not allowed Thom to bond himself to Wynifred, and they were left separated for much of the time. She had been the most powerful of the Trpaslíks, chosen specifically for Edmund’s first experiment.

  “I loved to watch her dance. She was so graceful – we all thought so, even Edmund. His first grandchild, he was so proud. Except...”

  Thom’s words faded as the memory grew darker. I could see everything in my head, everything Thom had told me when he arrived under my protection. Rosy was the way he had to explain his allegiance for me; the pain over the torture and murder of his small daughter the reason for his defection. But, in coming to me for help, he had also given me something more, a link to Rosy’s mother. I knew she would stop at nothing to get her revenge. I still remembered my anxiety at meeting face to face with Wynifred. I sighed heavily, the reason for Rosy’s death almost too simple to even comprehend.

  “She didn’t have his blue eyes,” I finished for him. The blue eyes. The sign of royalty. The sign of Edmund’s lineage. So many of my siblings had never had a chance to live simply because they were born without his eyes. His obsession was over something that meant nothing, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

  “I was so lost in what our father was doing to her, to my child that I couldn’t see beyond it. I couldn’t focus. It became just another way for him to control me, but I didn’t see it before it was too late. Suddenly she was gone, my willpower tied to her life. When she was gone, all I had left was my anger, and it covered me. If it weren’t for Sain, I would have been killed too. The way...”

  I knew he was about to mention Wynifred, how he had left her behind. She couldn’t leave Rosy’s memory behind. Her soul had been tied to what Edmund had done. I reached up and clapped him hard on the back, needing to comfort him as a brother, not as a leader.

  “He’s doing the same to you, Ilyan,” Thom said, looking straight at me.

  “I know bratr.” I couldn’t say much more than that, the tight restriction in my chest wouldn’t let me.

  “Don’t let him.”

  “You are a wise man, Thom,” I said, feeling humbled by the strangely perfect lesson I had just been taught by my younger brother.

  “I’ve had a lot of years to perfect it.”

  I could only nod. After all my years on this earth, after all my lessons, studying, and worshiping, my younger brother had become wiser than me. He saw the world in the way I always wanted to.

  “Well, you’ve done well.”

  “Not really,” he said, surprising me with a rare laugh. “Sometimes the things you need to hear have to come from others. You can’t give yourself good advice, after all.”

  I turned to him, stunned. He looked at me for only a moment before looking away, obviously embarrassed.

  “You’ve done it again, Thom.”

  “Whatever,” he said grumpily, the modern word sounding odd in Czech.

  He stood quickly, his stalky frame unraveling awkwardly. I looked back toward the crudely carved heart as Thom’s ebbing magic signaled his departure, his direction making it clear he would sit with Joclyn until my return.

  He left without another word from either of us, neither knowing what to say. Someday I would thank him for everything. I would find a way to let him seek his revenge, to let him find a way to fill the hole in his heart.

  He deserved that, we all did.

  Wyn

  Chapter Twenty

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Sain?” They were the first words I had spoken since waking up, since Edmund had left with the last piece of the puzzle, the thing he needed to prompt Cail to kill Joclyn faster and give him even more power over my brother.

  I had sat in silence, the dull green glow of Sain’s light keeping me company as I thought through the experiences I now possessed and let who I was blend with who I had become in a mashed up jumble of personalities and experiences.

  I couldn’t even bring myself to touch Talon. It wasn’t because he had lied to me about my past, it was because I had murdered his family, and the guilt was eating me up inside. I didn’t understand how he could have forgiven me for something like that.

  So I sat with my back against the cold wall as I let everything wash over me. I tried to find balance.

  “Would you have believed me if I did?” Sain whispered from across the prison.

  The answer to his question was clear; no, I would not. I was an assassin, a whore, a keeper of magic, stronger than many, who had become a fun-loving friend. Fun-loving, Thom had taught me that and Talon had perfected it.

  “Who am I?”

  I asked the question more to myself than to Sain, but he laughed nonetheless, his answer coming quickly.

  “You are Wyn.”

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes, to groan, to yell, to threaten, or seduce. Every single emotion was there, every desire, and they blended together so seamlessly that it wasn’t confusing, but somehow, Sain’s response made sense.

  I am Wyn.

  I smiled at the thought, the wicked sneer I had long forgotten sprouting on my lips as I looked at Sain from beneath my eyelashes. He was right, I was Wyn, and I would not just sit here and take this.

  Sain returned my smile, his own power shining from beneath his eyes, the silent conviction we both shared strong and defiant.

  Then Talon groaned.

  I heard him and my heart called out, my guilt forgotten. I was at his side in an instant, my hand wrapped around his. His burning flesh scorched my skin, but I held on anyway, pressing his hands between mine as his eyes slowly fluttered open.

  “Talon?” I whispered as his eyes stayed unfocused on the ceiling. I heard Sain’s chains rattle as he attempted to move himself closer, desperate to see.

  “Talon? Baby?” His eyes were still unfocused, but his lips had begun to move, the limp movement subtle.

  “W…Wyn…” he said, finally able to get my name out after several false starts.

  “I’m here. I’m here.” Slowly, his eyes turned toward me, the color of them clouded over, as he seemed to look through me.

  “I thought… I hoped you’d gone,” he gasped, his voice wheezing as his chest struggled to give him enough air.

  “No, baby, I would never leave you. I’m here,” I whispered, my hand clinging to his.

  He coughed a bit, small drops of blood lining his lips. My eyes widened at seeing them there, my heart clunking at the thought of what they could mean. What they did mean. I squeezed his hand between mine, the warmth painful, and yet, somehow comforting.

  “It’s going to be okay.” It was an empty promise. I knew it. I
had heard Sain’s proclamation as clear as day, and now, with my memory returned, there was no way I could deny the words. I couldn’t pretend they hadn’t been released into the air between us.

  I looked toward Sain unwillingly, my subconscious mind begging him to shake his head, to somehow promise that his words were false. But, he only looked at me with his bright green eyes, the lines on his face sad.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I said again as I turned back to Talon, trying desperately to ignore the tightness in my chest. Talon said nothing; he only looked at the air behind me as if he was seeing my face there, his eyes drifting in and out of focus.

  “Wyn?” he asked, his voice faltering after only one word.

  I breathed in slowly, my emotions causing my chest to shake. The burning in my eyes signaled tears that would never fall. I grabbed his hand and placed it against the filthy skin of my cheek, needing to feel him, to be close to him. His skin was fire against mine, his palm flat and strong for only a moment before it went limp again.

  I clung to him, watching his eyes drift before they finally came to rest on me, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips.

  “Wynifred…” Talon began, his eyes coming into focus. This time, the clouded irises met up with mine, his limp gaze looking right into me.

  “I love you, so much.” No. I couldn’t let him say this. Not now.

  “Don’t start, Talon. Please,” I said, but he didn’t even hear me. He plowed on.

  “I never thought I could love you…”

  “Talon, no.”

  “I want you to always be happy.”

  “Talon,” my voice was lost in a sob, my hands shaking around the palm of his hand that I held against my face.

  “I want you to laugh every day. I want you to find a reason to…to…”

  I tried to speak. I tried to talk. I tried to control the sobs that racked my body. But nothing could escape the shaking that had taken control of my lungs. Nothing could escape the panic that held me together.

  I clung to him, holding on to his hands as tightly as my frail body would let me. I pushed myself against the bars, desperate to be closer to him, to hold him.

  “Clara.” His voice broke as he said his sister’s name. His vision moving beyond me, his eyes on something that no one else could see.

  His sister. She had come to take him home.

  “No, Talon. No.” I pressed my shaking hand to his, my words distorted through my sobs.

  “Be safe, Wyn,” He gasped. “Be happy.”

  He paused as he wheezed, his breathing stopping before picking back up, my hand shaky against his.

  “You’ve done so well, Wynifred. You amaze me.”

  I sucked in breath, my voice shaking as the sob released it in an almost inaudible burst.

  He smiled. “You know when I first loved you, when I knew?”

  I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t try. I just sat and cried.

  “When you gave up your magic to save your brother, I had seen the good in you for years, but that’s when I knew.”

  I gasped at the knowledge, my sobs racking through me as I tried to get the three words out. The three words that were most important ones I could say, the ones I wanted him to hear before it was too late.

  “I love you. I love you, Talon.”

  “Clara.”

  His voice faded to nothing, his eyes drifting out of focus for the last time, and the heat of his flesh left me as his hand dropped to the ground. The air was silent, my sobs forgotten, the wheezing in my husband’s chest gone.

  He was gone.

  “No!” I cried, suddenly able to let it all out. I sobbed as I yelled. I clawed at him through the bars, trying to pull him toward me. But his body wouldn’t come. I couldn’t reach him. The bars of the prison that had killed him still kept me from him.

  “Talon! No!” I shook the bars, hitting myself against them in vain, willing myself closer, to be strong enough to reach him, but it was useless. I clung to Talon’s hand. I held it to my face, but no life came back into him.

  Talon lay lifeless in front of me.

  The thought gashed open my heart and poured out the loss and grief that had been sheltered within me. I felt everything, raw and fresh as if for the first time. The loss of Talon and Rosaline burst together in a mixture of sorrow so deep it threatened to incapacitate me.

  I didn’t care if someone heard. I didn’t care if they came. I didn’t care if this was the end. I screamed out my pain in a keening moan that ripped open my throat and rattled my vision.

  Edmund had taken them away from me. My father had taken them away from me. They had taken everything from me.

  Everything.

  No. Not everything.

  I could already feel the boil of my magic as Talon’s soul left him and his magic released from his body. Free from the omezující stone, his magic found its mate for the last time, the strength of him rumbling through me. A new emotion roared within me, a new power, a new strength.

  Talon’s magic.

  My sobs stopped as a warmth, the heat as strong as his fever, moved into me. It filled me from my toes to the tips of my fingers. The feeling was so foreign, so forgotten, that my body almost rebelled against it.

  I keeled over onto my hands and knees as my stomach heaved. My throat lunged and my body was racked with spasms as I vomited, the vomiting turning to dry heaving, as a steady stream of pain ran through me, my body fighting against the magic, against the pain.

  I opened my eyes to a pile of sick on the floor in front of me only to gasp at the small black stone that rested amongst the disgusting mess.

  Talon’s last gift to me.

  I felt Talon’s magic settle into my blood. Taking its rightful place as my own came back full strength, the rush of it knocking me to the ground, the power that rippled under my skin strong and painful. I hadn’t felt power this strong since Ilyan had bound it inside me. I had almost forgotten how powerful I felt, how powerful I was.

  Edmund had made one giant mistake. When he had unbound my memories, he had also unbound my power.

  He had unleashed me.

  I gasped as the sobs left me. My anger squashed my pain and turned it into something violent. Something that normal people would rebel against, but not me. I was ready for it. I needed it.

  “I love you, Talon,” I whispered against the skin of his hand, the last contact I would ever have with my mate, the only closure I could ever hope to see.

  Talon’s hand fell to the floor as I stood, my fingers wrapping around the small stone on the floor, clenching the slippery surface in between my gritty fingers. I felt my body heal as I stood, my magic knitting muscles, bones, and skin back together. I felt bruises disappear. I flexed my fingers as my determination took over.

  I didn’t care who came.

  Let them come.

  I opened the doors to each of the cells, the shackles that still bound Sain’s wrists falling to the ground with a clatter as I released him. I watched him stand in my peripheral vision, his feet bringing him straight to Talon.

  He kneeled down next to him, closing his eyes, and then he kissed his forehead. Any thought of my doing the same was forgotten as the footsteps that had begun thundering above us came nearer.

  “You ready?” I asked, surprised at the deep timbre of confidence that had come back to my voice.

  “We will need to get to the Rioseco Abbey,” Sain said as he came to stand by me.

  “I don’t suppose you know where that is?” I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.

  “It is in Spain.” Great.

  Spain. Half a continent away.

  I didn’t look toward him. I just stood still, unwilling to move, as the footsteps thundered down the stairs.

  I could feel the strength of the earth flow through me, my control of the fire magic stronger then I could ever remember it being. I let it pulse through me, building to a flame. When the guard appeared at the foot of the stairs, his eyes wide and
confused as to what had happened, I didn’t move. I just let the magic surge, turning the man into ash.

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I had forgotten how addicting taking a life could be.

  “Was that really necessary?” Sain asked, his voice torn between disgust and humor.

  “He would have done the same to us,” I said as I began to move forward, Sain following right on my tail. “If you don’t like it, don’t travel with a trained killer.”

  “As long as that assassin doesn’t turn her skill on me, I think I will be happy.” He wasn’t worried. His voice was light and airy, and I could tell at once that he had seen something.

  I took one last look at Talon, at the body of the man I loved, the only one who was strong enough to love me back. My heart beat once in silent farewell, the heavy pulse thick against the fragile skin of my chest.

  It was one last goodbye.

  I ignored the sadness and let my anger fuel me. I lead us up the staircase and into the thankfully empty guards’ room. The room looked the same as it had the day I washed the sheet, the eerie light bouncing off the jagged edges of the stone.

  I let my magic surge outward, searching for anyone nearby. No one else was close, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

  “We should move,” Sain spoke from behind me, and I didn’t challenge it. I walked out of the room and into the first of many dimly lit halls, Sain on my heels. I kept my magic alert, each step of my bare feet against the rock on the floor giving me a clear map of where we were in relation to everyone else within the mountain.

  There was a clear path laid out, a direct path, right to the exit – to freedom. As it stood, we wouldn’t run into anyone, we would simply leave.

  I began moving us in that direction before I felt it, the gentle tug of a magic that I knew all too well. It surged through my feet as it called to me, the magic of the earth making its presence known. Cail and my father were tucked away somewhere deep in the caves.