Everyone was on their backs, and my ears were ringing.
Dirt and grass fell around me.
I heard voices yelling, but nothing would listen to me. I couldn’t move. But I managed a smile, laughing as my hand brushed against a broken bit of the shield that had helped trap me in my own mind.
Everything was muffled and fuzzy, but then someone was leaning over my face.
I squinted, trying to see, but couldn’t make anything out.
My back hurt from landing on the sword sheathed there, and I was pretty sure something warm and wet dripped down my face.
Two gentle hands cupped my cheeks, but whoever it was, I still couldn’t tell. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a croak before I was hoisted over the person’s shoulder and then we were moving.
Another figure was running behind us, and I saw more starting to get to their feet as others circled around us.
A deep voice grumbled, the person who held me, and I heard a horn blow.
“Kate! Can you hear me?”
I was maneuvered off his shoulder and into his arms, touching ground.
“Kate!”
“Craig?” I whispered, finally seeing the edges of his face come into focus. “Where’s… where’s Forrest?”
A hand reached out and squeezed mine, a touch I’d know anywhere.
“What’s… what’s happening? Cassius, the army?”
“We’re retreating,” Craig said shortly.
I shook my head, wanting to stay and fight against them, but I was being carried again, and there were more voices, flurry of movement and then someone I didn’t know stood in front of us, talking about portals and getting everyone to the river lands.
I had no idea what that meant, or where it was, but my mouth wouldn’t work again.
The man’s eyes flared yellow, and for a second, I swore it was a wolf looking at me.
Then Craig and Forrest were speaking as more horns blared.
I couldn’t keep up with what was happening, but was too weak to do anything about it.
“Get them out! Get them all out!” Craig yelled.
“Sire, we’re abandoning Boshen?” another voice asked.
“I will not risk any more lives,” Craig said firmly. “It’s just a place. We will regroup with the others and come back to fight, hopefully with enough numbers to win. Let’s move!”
I curled my head against his chest as light suddenly surrounded us.
Somewhere in the distance, Cassius shrieked my name, and I scrunched my eyes shut, trying to tune him out and pretend this was nothing, but a bad dream.
All of it.
When I opened my eyes again, we were in an unfamiliar corridor, and I was being laid down on a bed.
My sword was gone, and it wasn’t Craig speaking to me now.
“Mama Lucy?” I whispered confused at her gentle touch on my forehead.
“Right here, Kate, we’re all right here,” she promised and kissed my cheek. “You just get some rest now, alright? You’re safe.”
“The others… what happened? I don’t… I can’t remember.”
Tears burned in my eyes, but why? What happened? I wanted to get out of bed and go look for myself, but my limbs were too weak to do anything except lay there.
“Why does everything hurt?” I whimpered as throbbing pains started in my back and head.
They spread all over my body, and my grunt of pain turned into a scream.
It was too much! I couldn’t take it anymore.
And Cassius, his laughter raced through my mind like knives, stabbing me and killing me slowly.
I tried to tell Mama Lucy, but then wondered if this was all an illusion. If I’d actually broken the shield or not.
Nothing made sense and then there was were people in the room. Voices I should’ve recognized, but couldn’t through the haze in my mind.
Hands held my shoulders down, and my ankles and something cold as ice slipped down my throat.
I was forced to swallow, and then there was blissful silence and true darkness.
13
Craig
I brushed hair back from Kate’s bruised and bloodied face. “What’s happening?”
Lucy sat back in her wooden chair by the bed. “She’s still fighting the darkness,” she said quietly. “What’s left of it anyway. Most of it was destroyed when she shattered the shield.”
“But she’s going to be fine, right?” I growled. “Lucy?”
“She needs rest,” she said by way of answering and not answering my question. “I have given her a heavy sedative that will keep her calm as she continues to fight. Right now, the best thing for her is you two being here.”
“Can she hear us?” Forrest asked, moving to the other side of the bed to hold Kate’s hand.
“It’s possible, wouldn’t hurt certainly.” Lucy kissed Kate’s forehead after she stood, and nodded to us both. “I am needed to help seal the rest of the realm from Cassius. Send word for me, when she wakes?”
Forrest answered for us both, and she left.
Silence fell heavy in the room, aside from Kate’s sharp intake of breath every few moments.
I wanted to bust through her mind and drag whatever was tormenting her out and get rid of it for good, but all I could do was stand there and hold her hand.
Forrest moved around the room, started a small fire in the hearth. The room had grown chilly as the sun set outside, over the rolling hills and green landscape before reaching the rushing waters of the massive river that ran through the shifters’ realm. Torolf. I always liked it here far better than Boshen. It was peaceful and calm.
Which part of me always found ironic, since the dragon shifters were one of the fiercest races ever known to us, aside from the orcs, apparently.
The weather here was on the colder side, and when the flames burst to life in the hearth, I felt myself relax, slightly.
“She’ll wake up,” Forrest promised me when he reached my side.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Out there on that field? She chose to break that shield, she broke through the plague that held her trapped. She’s stronger, much stronger than I think either of us ever give her credit for.”
His words were rough, and I sensed he was still angry with her, though his worry overrode those emotions, for now.
I squeezed Kate’s hand, willing her eyes to open, but they remained firmly closed. I talked to her quietly, telling her all about what happened with Forrest and me when we were with the sorcerers, while he kept a close watch at the window.
I caught him grinning a few times and kept going. I told her about my father and how I was the king now. But when a flicker of anger shot across Forrest’s face, I changed the subject.
When I ran out of things to say, I ran my thumb over the back of her hand, praying to whatever gods would listen that we needed her to live.
Hours passed, and Forrest dragged over another chair to sit at her side. We both held her hand, and I dozed.
Tristan stopped by sometime during the night, offering us encouraging smiles, and whispering that the realm, for the time being, was secure. He restoked the fire, then left us alone again.
I passed in and out of sleep, worry eating away at me that we’d failed Kate after all, but then as the sun’s first rays fell through the window, my eyes shot open, and I stared intently at her hand in mine.
Forrest was awake, too and we both watched her, anxiously waiting.
When it happened again, we both were on our feet.
“Kate,” I whispered softly. “Kate, can you hear me? Open your eyes, love.”
She winced, but slowly, one eye opened, followed by the other and her eyes were clear. Not a hint of plague in them.
I hung my head in relief and kissed her forehead as Forrest squeezed her hand.
“Craig? Forrest? What… what happened? Where are am I?”
She tried to sit up, but I gently shoved her shoulders back down.
“Ju
st hold on a second. You’re weak right now. Give yourself some time,” I growled.
She looked like she wanted to argue, but then she shifted her gaze to Forrest.
He tried to keep a smile on his face, but the second she remembered, the entire atmosphere in the room changed.
She sucked in a breath and scooted back to the headboard, yanking her hands free of our grips.
“No… no that’s not right,” she whispered harshly. “Forrest? Your dad… I’m so… I’m so sorry.”
He clenched his jaw and nodded, struggling to keep it together.
I watched him closely, but there was no sign he was going to lose it. “I know, it wasn’t you, Kate.”
“But I let it in,” she argued, voice shaking. “I did this… I did all of this.”
Her face paled, and she looked like she was going to be sick. Before I could stop her, she shoved past me, leapt off the bed, and sprinted out of the room.
I had no idea where she was going, and took off after her, leaving Forrest behind. I found her, shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself, staring out a window in the corridor at an unfamiliar landscape.
“Kate,” I whispered softly and reached out for her, but she flinched away. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”
“Yes, I damned well can,” she shot back furiously, her voice cracking with emotion.
“No. Cassius manipulated you, he used you for the power that was inside of you, that’s all.”
“You can’t just use that as an excuse!” she yelled, and the few people in the corridor nearby stopped what they were doing to listen.
Her eyes darted over my shoulder, and when tears shimmered in her eyes, I knew Forrest was there.
“I left you both because I thought… I thought I could save you and look what happened!”
“It doesn’t matter now. You’re here, and we’re safe.”
“For how long?” she said on a breath. “I’m sorry I just… I don’t think I can do this.”
I tried to reach for her again, but she slipped past me, stopping when she reached Forrest.
I heard her whisper to him, and his face tightened before she kept going and a door slammed a moment later.
“What did she say?” I asked Forrest.
He ran a hand down his face and shrugged. “That she’ll understand if I hate her for what happened. That’s it.”
I made to go to her again, but he caught my arm. “What?”
“She needs time. Give her that.”
“What for?” The last thing I wanted to do was leave Kate alone while she as in such a depressed and confused state.
I saw her locked away, hurting herself, and tried to go after her, but Forrest didn’t let go of my arm.
“She has to come to grips with what happened. You pushing the issue could make things worse,” he argued, but not angrily. Instead, he sounded sad, and his hand fell back to his side. “Give her time.”
I growled in annoyance, but prevented myself from rushing to her.
He was right, deep down I knew that, but it didn’t mean I had to like it right then. I considered going and sitting outside her door in case she emerged and wanted to talk, or I heard her screaming again, but then Tristan was there, hurrying toward us.
“Please tell me there’s nothing wrong?” I asked.
“Not yet, but we’re working on our defenses, and I figured you two could use a distraction.” His glance slipped to Kate’s closed door. “And Lucy will want to know she’s awake.”
Forrest nodded and said to lead.
I followed, pausing for just a moment outside Kate’s door.
When I leaned in closer, I heard her crying, and my heart ached to go to her. But she would push me away. I saw it in her eyes when she’d rushed past me.
She wanted nothing to do with us right now.
I could only hope those feelings wouldn’t last forever.
14
Craig
Four days passed, and each one only made my ire grow worse.
I snapped at everyone and was constantly apologizing for walking around, growling without even realizing I was doing it.
There was no sign of Cassius yet on the horizon, no sign of any plagued within Torolf.
I should’ve been happy that we had more time to prepare our defenses.
The council had even met and after realizing Kate had been saved, didn’t hold it against us for not following through with their decision.
“When will the Vindicar be ready to fight?” Drake asked that morning, and I gripped the arms of my chair so hard they cracked. “Is she not recovering well?”
I hung my head, unable to answer without snarling, leaving Forrest or Lucy to answer for me.
“Physically, her wounds have healed,” Lucy explained slowly, “but her mind is still in turmoil. Cassius did a number on her, and she’s having trouble separating what was real and what was an illusion.”
There was more to it than that, but Lucy said nothing else on the matter.
Drake sighed heavily. “We are going to need her if we are to beat this darkness. Isn’t that what the prophecy states? Only the Vindicar and you two can defeat Cassius for good?”
My hands tightened more, and the arms of the chair did snap this time.
I blinked furiously as Tristan’s brow arched.
“Glad I never liked these chairs,” he murmured.
“Sorry.” I dropped the broken arms to the floor and paced around the meeting room.
We had caught the council up on everything Celandine told us, especially with how the darkness even came about.
Forrest reminded them again that Cassius might not be the only thing we had to worry about.
Hell, for all we knew this prophecy could be a bunch of nonsense. Nothing we’d managed to do so far had worked to combat the evil spreading through the realms. With each one he took control of, his strength would grow, using the power of our races to feed that darkness. And we knew he’d taken prisoners, those unable to escape. They would be used as soldiers in his army, or worse, human sacrifices.
And all we could do was sit here and twiddle our thumbs, waiting.
I hated it. Hated everything about our current predicament, but worse because we weren’t complete. Kate had locked herself in her room and had not come out. Not once.
I tried to check on her, but she refused to see me or Forrest.
Lucy was the only one who was allowed in her room, and every time she left, she would shake her head sadly, even as she told me to have hope.
But my hope was quickly being crushed with each passing hour I didn’t know what was happening inside Kate’s head.
Forrest, despite his anger over the death of his father still, was worried, too. But nothing we said reached her.
He told me a few times, all he sensed from her was guilt and sorrow, and a fierce anger he couldn’t tell who it was meant to be directed at. She needed us to help her get through this, but she blocked us out instead.
“Craig?” Tristan asked loudly, and I whirled around to see the entire council staring at me.
“What?”
“You’re snarling to yourself, quite loudly,” he informed me. “If you need to leave, we’ll understand.”
I meant to say no, I was supposed to be here, but my feet were already moving toward the door.
I stormed out of it and stalked through the castle.
Kate was not going to spend another damn day locked in that bloody room alone. Whatever haunted her, whatever fight she was still fighting, she was going to get through it with me by her side. I didn’t care what she wanted anymore. This was what she needed.
I pounded my fist on her door when I reached it, startling the few guards close by. “Kate! Open this door, right now, damn it!”
“Go away!” she yelled.
“Not until we talk!”
“There’s nothing I want to say to you, just please, leave me alone, alright?”
I heard her mutter som
ething else, but couldn’t hear through the door.
I pounded again, and she yelled in aggravation.
You can yell all you want at me, but we are going to talk, and I’m not leaving until we do!”
The door opened a crack, but that wasn’t good enough.
I pushed it open all the way and stomped inside, slamming it behind me.
I was ready to scold her when I finally turned to see her face and the words died in my mouth.
There were heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair was lank and dirty.
Her face was pale and just standing there, she was shivering as if she was cold. She even looked gaunt, as if she hadn’t eaten in a week.
I reached out, ready to tuck her in my arms, but she stepped backward, and my anger flared back to life.
“What are you doing?” I snapped.
“Nothing that concerns you,” she mumbled, marching to stand in front of the fire.
“You do realize what’s going on out there, right? This isn’t over, Kate! The war is just getting started, and we need you to remember that!”
She hung her head and sniffed hard, wiping at her eyes. “What do you want from me, huh? What?”
“I want our Kate back,” I insisted. “The Kate that was ready to fight!”
She didn’t say anything and only wrapped her arms tighter around herself.
“I know what you went through is hard to understand, but you can’t wallow in your misery day and day out! It’s going to eat you alive if you let it and honestly, we don’t have time for this. You should be planning with us, working with us to figure out a way to make those shards work, so we can destroy this darkness for good! Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that important to you still? Or have you forgotten everything that matters? You’re just going to be selfish and pretend the world isn’t falling apart around you?”
My words were harsh, and the second I said them, I wished I could take them all back.
Her eyes narrowed, but what I expected to happen didn’t. There was no flare of power in her eyes, and the runes on her body didn’t pulse with light.
“That’s what you think, really?” she snapped sharply. “You think I’m hiding up here because… because I don’t care?”
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