by Lia Davis
His two-tone gaze was clear and sincere, telling me he believed in what he said. It renewed my own hope for a future. “I’ll do it.”
“No.”
“Don’t do this.”
Landon and Nate spoke at once, making it hard to tell who said what. But it was clear they were against this test. They were scared. So was I. Yet, if there was a small hope that the changeling virus could be extracted, I wanted to try.
A slow, relieved smile formed, making Cyron even more handsome. “We’ll start in the morning. For now, you need to rest.” He moved closer and I froze, anticipating what he would do. A moment later, he pressed his lips to my forehead, and then said, “Night, Roshia.”
My heart fluttered as did the butterflies in my belly as he turned and walked out of my room.
“Goodnight,” I whispered.
Landon tugged me down to lie between him and Nate. I could sense them wanting to convince me not to go through with it. I let out a sigh and spoke before they could. “I have to try. I almost killed Soora. I don’t want to be a danger to the people around me.”
Landon hugged me from behind and kissed my shoulder. “I know. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Nate kissed my lips. “Same.”
I relaxed a little. But only a little. “For the record, I’m scared, too. Of everything.”
They scooted closer to me, sandwiching me between them. Landon kissed my ear while Nate kissed my nose. Nate said, “Get some sleep. We’ll be there during the whole thing.”
Nodding, I closed my eyes and drifted off.
The lab seemed cooler this morning than when I was here a couple days ago. It had a lot to do with nerves because I never felt the cold like others did.
I swung my legs in circles as I sat on the gurney, waiting for Cyron to come back. Nate and Landon leaned against the wall next to the door. While I waited, I played with ice crystals I formed, suspending them in the air. I wiggled my fingers to direct them in the motions I wanted. The memory of my Ameria’s laugh echoed in my thoughts. At any moment, I expected Tae to come by and blow them away with his wind magic.
But it would never happen. They were gone.
I left the ice particles fall to the ground and blinked back my tears as Cyron entered the room. He stared at me as he closed the distance, his brows drawn and lips dipped into a frown. “Are you all right?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice or that I wouldn’t start crying at the mention of my family. Someway, somehow, I’d get them back.
He didn’t look convinced but didn’t comment on my nervousness. “Lie back and relax. I can’t give you anything for pain because it would interfere with the process. The machine would try to extract the pain meds instead.”
Again, I nodded. “Let’s get it over with.”
After a brief hesitation, he clamped the cuffs over my wrists and ankles. He’d explained everything at breakfast, telling me he had to restrain me so I couldn’t jerk out of the machine before it was done. Or before he could pull me out safely. He also said he’d be monitoring my vitals for signs of stress on my organs.
The whole conversation should have been enough to scare the shit out of me, but I was determined to be free from the serum so we could move forward with finding a way to stop Crystal.
“Ready? The machine makes a humming sound. You can use that to focus on to keep your mind off the pain.” I met his gaze with my brows raised. He dropped his shoulders and offered a small smile. “Right.”
He wheeled the gurney into the dome-shaped machine, then hit a button. Glass rolled shut at my head and feet. The humming began a moment later and I focused on my breathing.
When I felt the first of whatever the machine was doing, I relaxed. There was a pull on my psyche and a slight burning throughout by body but nothing too bad. I could do this. It had to work.
After a few moments, the burning in my veins intensified. I gasped and jerked against my restraints. Cyron’s voice came over a speaker I didn’t know was there. “You’re doing great. It’s working.”
The hope in his tone calmed me a little. If it was working, then I needed to stick it out. “Keep talking to me. Distract me.” I winced as another fiery blast of pain rolled through me.
“Um. Okay.” He paused before asking, “What’s your favorite color?”
“White. I know it’s not a true color. It’s the absence of color and I think that’s why I like. Plus, snow is always the prettiest when it first falls. It’s pure white, untouched and peaceful.” I smiled. “When I get out of here I’ll make it snow so the kids can play.”
“That would be great. They would love it.”
There was another pause and pain shot up my spine. I arched my back off the table and hissed out a groan while holding in a scream. Focus, Ro. “What’s your favorite color?”
He chuckled. “Blue.”
“That would be my second favorite.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Another brief pause. “I’m upping the settings. It’ll get more intense. How are you holding up?”
I rolled my eyes and instantly regretted it. A piercing pain arched across my skull. Taking deep breaths, I waited until the headache eased. “Just peachy.”
As soon as the words slipped through my lips, the burning in my blood increased to a searing wildfire, growing hotter by the moment. I swore I heard my blood boil. “Cyron, something is wrong.”
“Relax, your vitals are good.”
No. I shouldn’t be that hot. Not from the inside. I jerked on the restraints, unable to break them. I called to my magic, and for a brief moment, the heat eased. When it came back, it was scorching and felt like it was seeping through my skin. “Cyron! Shut it off!”
Panic rose, fueling the pain of being burnt alive. I was an ice fae. I should never get this hot. It’d kill me!
Still he hesitated. “It’s working and almost complete. Please, hang in there a little longer.”
Hang in there? I was dying. Didn’t he understand? I coughed and gagged on the coopery taste of blood in my mouth. “I’m dying! I can’t–”
I coughed again. I needed to cool off. Focusing within, I dug deep into my soul and called everything I had. The ice and cold that made up my being. I let it flow to every part of my body. The cuffs at my hands froze over and I was able to break them with a quick yank. My ankles were next. Suddenly, the power became too much, too consuming. I lost control and a blast of snow and ice shot out from me in a circular wave, exploding through the room.
The machine splintered and I fell with the table as it dropped to the floor.
When everything settled, I breathed a sigh of relief. My breath coming out as frosty air.
Cyron sat against the far wall staring at me, his chest rising and falling. Landon and Nate knelt beside him; their gazes also fixed on me. Dread slammed into me. Had I hurt him? I started to crawl to him. He shook his head, pushed himself to his feet, and left. Running from me.
Tears overflowed my lashes and streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t stay here. I’d proven to be too dangerous twice now. What would happen next?
Scrambling to my feet, I stumbled out of the room and ran until I found the way to the surface. I was on my own now. Where I couldn’t hurt anyone else.
15
I broke into the daylight. The bright sun blinded me, but I continued to run. Out into an opening in the trees. The rough terrain of the mountainside made it harder to stay up right, considering it was covered in ice.
Ice! I never hated it so much in my life. My power was out of control, just like Crystal’s. Was that her plan? Turn me so I’d help her with freezing the Hollow. To control what few people were left?
Then what? Did she have a plan after everyone was dead?
My legs burned from running and the sobs came in hiccups now. I tripped on something and tumbled to the ground. Not bothering to get back up, I lay there and stared up through the trees to the sky. Dark-grey clouds masked all the blue.
I shou
ld give up. Turn myself in and not care. I was alone and it wouldn’t be too long before I’d be just like her.
Coldhearted and insane.
No. I wasn’t like her. And I wasn’t a quitter. I could figure out how to stop her myself. Maybe use the darkness and turn it against her.
The crunch of ice jerked me upright. I scanned the area until my eyes fell on a shadowed figure in the distance. My heart pounded a little faster. The guys? Had one of them come for me? What if it wasn’t one of them? What if a malum had come to finish me off?
I rose to my feet and stared at the person. Not taking chances, I turned to walk in the opposite direction. If it were familiars, they would’ve already attacked me. Maybe.
I couldn’t let them take me back to the castle until I was ready. I needed to find a place to test my power. Push my limits.
“Ro, stop.”
My body seized at the sound of Tae’s voice. A lump formed in my throat and I glanced over my shoulder. The man was closing the distance between us. The closer he got, the more I recognized him. It was Taegen. I started to jog toward him, tears filling my gaze, making it hard to see.
Then a growl echoed around us. I stopped and watched him. The sound came from him. Dread made me want to weep all over again. “Tae?”
His crimson glare snapped in my direction. Crimson? Familiars had the red eyes, yet, Tae didn’t seem fully like the princess’s minions. Nor did he have that lost, crazy stare that Mom had. Then his eyes shifted to black and one hand turned into a claw. What the hell?
I stepped back cautiously. “Tae. It’s me, Ro.”
He turned his head to the side and studied me. “Ro.” He whispered as if unsure. Hope bloomed in my chest.
“Yes. It’s Roshia. Your sister.” Please, please remember.
He stared for another moment, then shook his head. His eyes narrowed and his jaw hardened. “I have no sister.”
No. I stepped back and stumbled, landing on my ass. He took that moment to stir up the wind around us and formed a small cyclone. With a wave of his hand, the twister moved straight for me. I shot out a hand and froze it solid, then crawled-ran to my feet. That was not my brother, anymore.
My heart ached, but I was also pissed. Crystal would not take my family away and turn them against me!
I ran and Tae chased. Glancing over my shoulder, I gasped. He lifted both arms and thrust them forward. Wind much too powerful for me to defend slammed into me, lifting me into the air and knocking me to the ground.
A scream ripped from my throat right before all the breath whooshed out of my lungs. Pain shot down my spine to my hip where I landed. I tried to get up, but my body refused to heed my commands.
Fear froze my insides. “Tae, please.”
My words came out breathy and pleading. His step faltered. However, I wasn’t naive enough to think I could actually talk him down from killing me. I just needed to distract him until I was able to move again.
Why the hell wasn’t I moving?
I tried again. Finally, my legs moved, but they seemed to be stuck into the ice-covered ground. I touched the ice and forced it to move around me, loosening its hold on me. When I glanced up, Tae was creating another mini windstorm.
This time I watched his hands move and the wind twisted, picking up the ice from the ground. Holy crap. He was using my gift. I hadn’t thought of it before. We taught each how to use our gifts to manipulate the other elements.
I threw an eight-foot wall of ice up and ran.
A loud crash told me he broke through…a lot faster than he ever had before in our training. Fear gripped my chest and my heart pounded in my throat and head.
“Roshia. Stop.”
I slowed at the sound of my brother’s plea. Confused, I glanced over my shoulder to see him on his knees, his head hung. It could be a trap. I ignored the voice in my head and stopped. Slowly, I turned to face him.
When he lifted his gaze to me, his eyes were clear and had changed back to his normal golden-brown. “Please. You have to kill me. End this. I can’t work for her. I can’t kill for her.”
My heart was breaking. He was changing into whatever Crystal wanted. Was she making a new breed of assassins?
One thing was for sure. I couldn’t kill him while he was normal. Okay, so he wasn’t normal, but he looked it.
“Ro, please. She doesn’t know about your powers. You could stop her. Your magic is the same, but you are so much warmer.” He lifted a hand to me and his eyes held tears yet to spill over his eyelids.
My nose tingled as my own tears filled my eyes. I stepped closer, desperate to touch him, to know for sure he was alive. Cyron could fix him. Couldn’t he?
I fell to my knees in front of him. “Everyone is gone. Mom. Dad. Ameria.”
“I know.” A tear slid down his cheek. Shaking his head, he appeared to battle something inside himself. The serum. He focused on me again. His brows drew together. Then he whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
Confused clouded my mind for a moment. He expression didn’t change but his eyes did. Changed from blue to crimson. Then he thrust his hand forward, hitting me in the chest. Stabs of pain cut through me. I gasped and fell back. Ice covered me, but it wasn’t my magic. This was darker, stronger, all consuming.
I felt my heart grow colder and my organs slowed. Where Cyron’s machine tried to burn me from the inside, this spell was freezing my insides. It reacted with my own ice magic.
Taegan stood over me, a large sword made from ice in his hands. He lifted it over his head, the blade pointing straight down at my heart. I cried and pleaded with him. “Tae. Please, fight it. This isn’t you. Don’t let her control you.”
He was lost to me again. Taking a shaky breath, I closed my eyes and waited.
I prepared to die.
By my brother’s hand.
16
After a moment, the strike never came. Tae grunted and the sword of ice clanked to the ground beside my head. I flung my eyes open and Tae was gone. Still unable to move because of the spell he hit me with, I turned my head to the left and whimpered.
Cyron was rolling on the snow and ice covered ground with Tae. Cyron got a hit in, bloodying Tae’s lip. My brother kicked Cyron off him. Once freed from his hold, Tae glanced at me then Cyron before he took off into the woods.
Sorrow filled me, but I refused to cry anymore. I was dying after all. Cyron was too late.
“Roshia.” Cyron breathed as he dropped to his knees beside me. His eyes shone with unshed tears and pain etched into his handsome face. He cupped my cheek only to jerk his hand away. “You’re so cold.”
I heard other voices in the distance. Nate and Landon, maybe.
“He…betrayed me.” A sob escaped me. Damn, I didn’t want to break down again. “He hit me with some kind of spell that’s turning my own magic against me. I’m dying.”
Cyron shook his head. “I’m not letting you.” He scooped me up in his arms. Once he had me pressed to his chest, he ran faster than I knew he could.
He was a custos. He was faster than the normal human or fae.
We entered the cavern and people came rushing forward asking questions. Some looked concerned while others sneered in my direction. Did they think I was infected and would turn on them? Maybe they were right.
I turned my face into Cyron’s chest. I was about to tell him to take me out of there, let me die in the forest, but he barked out orders to everyone around him. “Back to work. Send word to the healer to meet me in the lab.”
About two minutes later, he laid me on a bed in the lab—the one I woke in the day before. Without Cyron’s warmth, I shivered violently. The cold seeped into my bones. It was harder to breathe.
“Roshia, hang in there.”
Cyron’s words made me focus on him. His aura changed. The natural blue shifted to an orange. He raised his hands over my heart and they glowed. The heat from them intensified.
Yes, he was a fire fae.
He didn’t say anything. Instead
, he placed his hands on me—one above my breast and one below. A gasped escaped me as he flooded me with fire magic. I gripped the sheet under me and fought the urge to fight back. Everything in me said to attack. Fire was my enemy, it could kill me. But I was already dying from my own power.
The ice melted from around my heart and lungs. Breathing became easier. I stared at Cyron, who wouldn’t meet me gaze. After another moment, he removed his hands from me, sagged into himself, and gave me his back.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Martha entered the room with Nate and Landon behind her. When she reached Cyron, she wrapped an arm around him. He shrugged off her touch and pointed to me. “She needs her magic balanced.”
Then Cyron turned to me and moved closer. He brushed the hair from my face, his forehead wrinkled with worry. “I’m so sorry.”
I glanced at her, not really focusing on anything. My head hurt. I could sense my guys nearby, muttering something. Maybe they were arguing. I couldn’t tell.
Martha smiled and went right into healer mood. Hovering her hands over me, she closed her eyes. Then a mix of cold and hot rippled through me.
The contracting elements felt like they were zigzagging under my skin searching for the balance. After a few moments, the cold won and settled back into my soul. My body stabilized and my energy equalized.
Relief flowed through me and I was suddenly tired. “Thank you.”
Martha gave my hand a gentle squeeze before kissing my forehead and leaving the room.
Alone with Cyron, Nate, and Landon, I didn’t know what to say. After several moments of an awkward silence, I pushed off the bed. I destroyed Cyron’s machine and his lab. Why would he want me there?
Yet, he saved my life, healing me. So many questions tumbled in my brain. I didn’t deserve to have one answered.
When I reached the door, Landon blocked my path. His eyes narrowed. “Where are you going?”
“I’m leaving.”
Landon lunged for me, drawing me into a tight hug and buried his nose into my neck. “I almost lost you. I can’t lose you.”
