Burnt Devotion (39 page)

Not since Angela.

But now…?

I can see you, Sain.

The voice came, the same as it had for centuries before I had tricked Thom into providing my escape, the sacrifice of his child necessary to use his abilities to break me out of Edmund’s control. I had heard the sound all through my imprisonment and for decades after until it had finally faded into nothing. Until my memories returned and the bastard daughter I had seen hundreds of years before put my entire plan in jeopardy.

It had started to return when Edmund had found me, days after delivering the birth stone to the Silnỳ. Then, when my memories hadn’t fully returned, the whispers had begun, piecing together my past before my mind could put everything together on its own.

It was nothing like it was now, the consistency only increasing with the first step I took back into the city.

Instructions, commands, orders.

All delivered straight into my mind.

Just as they had been for so long.

As I now knew they would until the end.

Even Edmund was playing into my plan in a way.

The courtyard glimmered with the shadows of red and black, the hot breeze moving through the open space and pulling at the tree’s trash and forgotten belongings from the massacre rolling and moving through the wide-open space.

My sight pulled at me as it tried to show me visions of future and past and things I didn’t really care about right then. I pushed it away as the bell from the high tower of the cathedral rang loud and clear, the sound awakening the ravenous Vilỳs that were left wanting, the nasty things taking flight and zooming around the open space.

I cringed at their existence, the sound of their illness grating in my ears and on the memory of what they used to be. They had once been so beautiful, so treasured. Now they were destroyed.

I stood still as one of the vile things flew at me, my body not so much as tensing as it continued on its path, ready to devour me.

“Zdechnout.” I spoke the word aloud as it rattled in my head, and the Vilỳ dropped to the ground with the thunk of stone on stone.

“One down, ten million to go.” Her voice was as smooth and sweet as it had always been, the sweet tones sending my heart into a rage and my magic into a frenzy.

I looked up to her as she approached me with her hair swinging behind her, the tap of her high heeled shoes loud and hypnotic. My heart rate accelerated at the sound, the deep need for her growing out of nowhere.

“Ovi,” I sighed, fully aware of the longing that had seeped into the word.

She smiled at the nickname that had always been hers, her face lighting up with a joy I had missed from her.

The clicking of her shoes stopped as she came right up to meet me, her eyes a white hot heat as she stared into me.

“Hello, Sain.”

My magic boiled at the honey in her voice, her body bending toward mine as her arm trapped me against the gold inlaid stone of the archway.

We stood, staring at each other as the Vilỳs began to calm down, my magic moving in a desperate attempt to reach hers.

“So, Sain,” she began, the whispers of the voice picking up in my ears, “tell me what Ilyan has decided.”

I knew I shouldn’t have come here, but I didn’t have a choice, just as I didn’t have a choice about whether or not I was going to tell her.

Although, not for the reasons she would assume.

With one gentle press of her lips against mine, all the secrets that Ilyan had trusted me with came free.

He had trusted the wrong person from the very beginning.

Both Edmund and Ilyan. I had learned from the moment Dramin crawled out of the mud that this world was mine for the taking, mine to mold, mine to create.

And I would.

The next, book in the Imdalind Series
. . .

Dawn of Ash

Expected Release Mid 2015

Other Books by Rebecca Ethington

Kiss of Fire, Imdalind #1

Eyes of Ember, Imdalind #2

Scorched Treachery, Imdalind #3

Soul of Flame, Imdalind #4

Burnt Devotion, Imdalind #5

Dawn of Ash, Imdalind #6

The Through Glass Novella Series

Episode One: The Beginning

Episode Two: The Darkness

Episode Three: The Blue

Visit
www.KissofFireMovie.com
for more information

This book was written in one of the darkest times in my life – and without the loving support of my dearest of friends, and the understanding from the most amazing fans – it may not have happened. So I thank you. I thank you for holding my hand, for cheering me on, for watching my videos, for crying with me, and for understanding as my life fell apart, that the story could still live on.

This book would not be without the amazing support of each of you.

So I thank you.

And a very special thanks to those who were there through it all.

Jen, Lila, Ricky, Spencer, Shaina, and Kris

You have saved me.

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Rebecca Ethington is an internationally bestselling author with almost 700,000 books sold. Her breakout debut, The Imdalind Series, has been featured on bestseller lists since its debut in 2012, reaching thousands of adoring fans worldwide and cited as “Interesting and Intense” by
USA Today’s Happily Ever After Blog
.

From writing horror to romance and creating every sort of magical creature in between, Rebecca’s imagination weaves vibrant worlds that transport readers into the pages of her books. Her writing has been described as fresh, original, and groundbreaking with stories that bend genres and create fantastical worlds.

Born and raised under the lights of a stage, Rebecca has written stories by the ghost light, told them in whispers in dark corridors and never stopped creating within the pages of a notebook. 

Coming Soon From Rebecca Ethington

Of River and Raynn – The Catalyst

Of River and Raynn – The Sypher

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Dawn of Ash, Book Six in The Imdalind Series

Through Glass Novella Series – Episodes 4-12

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Please enjoy an excerpt from Shelly Crane’s
SIGNIFICANCE
, which is FREE on all sites where books are sold. The new book in the series,
UNDENIABLY CHOSEN
, comes out March 31
st
, 2015! Follow Maggie and Caleb as she pulls him back from being hit by a truck, saving his life. They realize they are soulmates and live happily ever after…after a few snags. Quite a few…

I waited for this day, for this one thing to complete me. To wrap up seventeen and three quarter years of my life and set a pretty bow on it in the form of a graduation cap. I waited for this one sheet of paper to tell me that I had done something right.

I sat in my assigned seat, along with my classmates, in alphabetical order in front of the gym. The ones up front were in order by achievements, their faces lit with the relief of scholarships and graduation parties with gifts and family and friends...and getting out of this town.

I was numb. I had waited for this moment, but now, I didn’t feel good inside. I didn’t feel complete, didn’t feel achieved. I felt like I’d slid by and barely made it, which was exactly what I’d done. I despised school. I was in the early release program for students who work after school, so we got out at 1:00 instead of 3:00 like everyone else. I was barely here and when I was I didn’t want to be.

I know I sound bitter. Believe me, I know. But I was seventeen, graduating a year early, and on the fast track to being valedictorian or whatever else, but things happened to me that I just couldn’t handle. And so, there I was, sullen, slightly unhappy and skidding by.

The ‘things’ I speak of, well, number one was that my mom left. She was an upstanding, stay at home mom, PTA loving, frugal grocery shopping, coupon clipping guru of the community. And she just left us, just like that. She decided out of nowhere that my dad had been holding her back all these years. She didn’t love him and she needed time to start a new life, without me there to pester her. So she did.

She moved to California along with every cent in my dad’s checking account and the one supposed to be for my college fund. I wanted to laugh at the Cali cliché, but I guess it didn’t suit her for long. She moved somewhere else, but I refused to speak to her anymore when she called. All she ever talked about was how sorry she was, that she just couldn’t do it anymore, that she was happy now, that I didn’t know what it was like to live with my dad. Yeah right. I’d counter that I was the only one
still
living with him and she’d hang up.

I was sure her newest boyfriend, who was ten years younger than her, could console her.   

So here we are, present day, graduation day. I was waiting patiently for the m’s to roll around so I could grab my diploma and hear the one person that’ll be in the stands clap for me, my dad.

I glanced up in front of me to see Kyle looking back. He smiled. “You look like you’re in your own little world back there. You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just ready to be done with this.”

He turned more fully in his chair, putting his arms on the back of it. “Come on. It’s graduation day. Shouldn’t you be happy?” he reasoned. I just shrugged. “You wanna do something tonight? My parents are throwing this lousy party for me, but I’m looking for an excuse to leave early.”

“I don’t want to be your excuse, Kyle.”

He paled, his brow bunched together. “Ah, Mags, I didn’t mean it like that.” He sighed. “My party is from five to seven.  I’ll have plenty of time to do something with you, I just didn’t want it to seem so much like a date, you know,” he explained and looked at me bashfully. “In case you said no, again.”

“Oh.” I felt an inch and a half tall. “Kyle, I…” I was this close to telling him no, once more but I thought about it. I had always told him no. I hadn’t been on a date in a year, ever since my life fell under my mom’s pointy heels. He was always sweet to me and he was probably leaving soon anyway for college. What could it hurt? “Ok. Yeah, we can do something.”

“Really?” he said shocked.

“Yeah.  What time do you want to go?”

“Is your dad throwing you a party or something?”

“No.” Ha. Yeah right.

“Oh. Uh, how about I text you? I’m sure it’s fine, but I've gotta ask my dad for the car. Mine’s in the shop.”

“Ok, let me give you my number,” I said and started to pull up my gown to reach my pocket.

“I have it.” I looked at him curiously and he grinned. “I asked Rebecca for it a couple weeks ago. I was going to call you, but I never, uh, got up the nerve.”

He looked a little embarrassed and I couldn’t help but giggle a little at his obvious hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression. He was nice looking. No movie star stud, just a normal, light brown hair, brown eyed nice guy. We’d hung out a lot over the years in our group of friends, but never alone.

“Well, maybe you should have.”

“Would you have talked to me?”

I didn’t want to lie and I didn’t want to give him false hope, so I just smiled and shrugged, hoping to pull off a little flirt. It must have worked; he grinned wider. “Ok, I’ll text you tonight.”

“Great,” my mouth said, but my head was already dreading it.

Then I saw the people ahead of him start to stand one by one as their names were called.

“Kyle Jacobson.” He looked back and grinned at me once more as he made his way on stage. There were still about eight people before me. I watched him make his way to the stage and saw his parents and a large group of others stand and applaud loudly for him, a couple whooping and hooting. He grabbed his diploma and then made a show of muscles. Everyone laughed as he bounded down the stairs. He was a crack up. Everyone liked him and voted him class clown in superlatives. He was popular, but never really dated anyone. He was always nice to me though. I used to hang out with that crowd, before everything happened.

After my mom left, my dad was lost. He went a little ‘nuts’. He quit going to work and got fired from a job he’d had for over fifteen years at the school board and now works at the wood mill for a quarter of what he made before. So, I had to get into the work release program and get a job because we had no extra money for anything other than food that I needed or wanted.

When I told my mom all this, when I explained how I had to get a job to help and how Dad was so destroyed by what she’d done, she said it was good for us to experience a little bit of heartache and hard work for a change. That was it. That was the last straw.

That was the day I decided to never speak to her again.

“Maggie Masters.”

I heard my name and looked up. Everyone was looking and I realized that my name had been called more than once. I blushed and giggled nervously as I made my way up to the stage. I chuckled under my breath as I half expected the announcer to call out Mags or Magster or Maggsie. No one called me by my real name, hardly ever. 

I took my diploma and turned to look for Dad. He was sitting there. Just
sitting there
, not taking pictures, not clapping, not smiling, just watching stoically.

I frowned and made my way down to the end of the platform and was lifted into warm arms.
Familiar
warm arms.

“Congratulations,” he whispered into my hair.

“Chad, don’t.”

“Mags, come on.” He put me down, but didn’t let me go as he looked at me pleadingly. “We graduated. Let’s celebrate! Can’t you let go of the past, just for today?”

I looked up to his black hair. The dark, short locks that any girl would love to run her fingers through. His tan skin and brown eyes with his lean Friday night football arms that always held me like I mattered. Oh, how I missed him, but he was the one who left me. 

“You certainly know how to let go of things,” I countered.

“Maggie.” He sighed exasperatingly, like I was being unreasonable and it made me fume even more. “Look. That was almost a year ago. And you know I wouldn’t have broken up with you if you’d told me what was going on with your mom and all.”

“Oh. That makes me feel so much better,” I said and let the sarcasm drip.

“You know what I mean. We’d had that talk, a lot. I’m leaving, we both knew it when we started seeing each other. I thought we agreed it’d be easier if we calmed down a little and just were friends the last year of school. I didn’t date anyone else, you know that. It wasn’t because I didn’t want you.”

It was true. He hadn’t been on one date this whole school year that I’d known about. He and his friends even made a pact to go to prom together as a group. There were a lot of angry girls over this pact as it appeared it caught on and almost the whole football team went stag.

“I know that. But you haven’t talked to me all year,” I said softly.

“Maggie. You wouldn’t return my phone calls. You avoided me at lunch and then started working after school. What else could I do?”

He was right. The only time I talked to him was to yell at him one month after he broke up with me and my mom left. Coincidentally, it was three days after she left that he decided to make the decision for the both of us; the decision that we’d talked about but not come to a conclusion to.

I told him he sucked for deciding that right then was the time to dump me. He said he was sorry, he was there for me. He tried to take it back, even tried to kiss me and hold me but I would have none of it.

I missed him. He was such a nice guy but his timing was just terrible and I was angry at him for it. I was angry that he still wanted to leave me here and go through with his plans. Everyone left me. I tried to summon a semblance of calm.

“You’re right,” I admitted. “I just needed you and I wanted you to want to be there, but not for you to come back because I begged you to.”

“You didn’t beg me, silly girl,” he crooned and pulled me closer for another hug. He spoke into my hair. “I’m so sorry, Mags. I thought I was making things easier for you, for both of us by just trying to be friends instead. I knew how hard it was going to be to leave you. Look at me.” He waited for me to look up, which I did with a sigh. “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I’ve missed you.”

“Chad, you’re still leaving. Don’t, ok? I’m sorry for how I acted, but it doesn’t change anything does it? You’re still leaving, University of Florida football.”

“I know. I just hate that this year was wasted like this. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.” I pulled from his embrace and boy, was it painful. “I’ve gotta go.”

“Please write me. Or call me, text, something. I miss you. I never intended for us to just never speak to each other again. I want to know how you’re doing.”

“I will. I promise. Congrats on the UF scholarship. I always knew you’d get it.”

“Thanks, Mags. I still love you, you know,” he whispered and kissed my cheek, so close to my lips and I fought for composure. 

Then he was gone.

I turned to look at him once more and he was walking backwards, watching me, his black grad gown flapping at his sides and his diploma in hand. He waved sadly and then took off towards his truck. If possible, I felt worse than I already had.

“It still boggles my mind how you can eat those things,” my dad said, as he’d said a hundred times before, but this time he sneered it instead of joking with me. “I mean, it’s pure sugar.  Sugar and starch and bad for you carbs.”

“Are you saying I need to lose some weight, Dad?”

We sat at the kitchen dinette. I say dinette because it barely fits two people. This was where we’d been ever since that ride home from graduation.  It was an utterly silent ride except for one ‘congratulations’ muttered from Dad, nothing more. I had been sitting there for almost an hour now, checking my phone and waiting for Kyle to text me. I never thought I’d ever be waiting for Kyle, but I would have done anything to get out of that house tonight.

I did, however, have a text from Bish.

Congrats, kid. I’m really sorry I couldn’t come, but the boss is on me and interns can’t really negotiate, you know. But I love you and can’t wait to see you. I’ll come home soon for a visit, I promise
.

“No.” Dad cut through my moment of happiness with more grumbling. “I’m not saying that, stop being dramatic. I’m saying they’re not good for you.”

“Dad, I’ve eaten honey buns almost every day since birth, along with thousands of other Americans. I’m sure they’re not lethal.”