Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2) (11 page)

I controlled my breathing, squaring my jaw to face him.
His eyes were so full of hatred that my stomach tightened and churned in warning. I fought against his hold, my arms swinging wildly at him when it became obvious he wasn’t going to let me go.

“If whipping doesn’t work, make
the horse submit.” he stated blandly, as if reciting the words in a book.

His hand flew through the air
and made contact with my stomach. I gasped as the air left my lungs and was replaced with the pain of the punch’s impact.

I reached up and cupped my hands around his face, letting my magic flow into him in a
boiling heat. He should have screamed in pain, but instead he smiled before slapping me hard across the face. Ryland released the hold on my hair, sending me tumbling to the roof’s surface. I reached up and touched my swelling face, unsurprised by the trickle of blood flowing from my nose.

I moved myself onto hands and knees as his leg swung
forward, his heavy shoe making contact with my stomach. Pain jolted up my spine and stayed there, centering in the tender bones and tissues of my back.

I fell to the ground, my stomach landing hard on the gravel of the roof. I tried to
sit up but was stopped as Ryland once again came to sit on my legs. I cringed in pain as he leaned over me, the weight of his body adding to my agony.

“Stupid girl,” he said
, pushing me further into the gravel, the large ruby of his necklace pushing hard and cold into my skin. “Haven’t you noticed? Our magic doesn’t have any effect on each other. If I wish to break you, I’ll have to do so literally. One. Bone. At. A. Time.” With each word he ground my wrist into the gravel, pressing the delicate bones into a dangerously compacted state. I felt the snap as my bones broke, the turquoise bracelet Ilyan had given me also snapping under the pressure. I screamed at the pain that shot up my arms as each bone cracked.

My magic puls
ed, attempting to heal me even as he broke me. And then I realized, magic didn’t work on him, but it could still work against him. I pressed my hand into the gravel beneath me and pulsed the panicked flow of my magic into it, sending thousands of pieces of gravel off the roof and into Ryland’s face. He jumped away from me, unable to breathe or see through the arsenal that I shot at him. I spun around, ignoring the pain that still shot through my body, to magically reach for the air unit and rip it off the roof and right into Ryland.

The large metal bo
x smashed into him and sent him flying into the street below. I crawled to the edge of the roof and peeked over. Ryland had landed with the air conditioner on top of him, right in the middle of the brutal battle that Ilyan had been fighting.

At first all I saw was
his hand sticking out from underneath the large unit. It was like the Wizard of Oz. I expected the fingers to curl away into a lifeless form, but instead they flexed and moved with strength. We didn’t have much time.

The whole area
lay in ruins. Most of the cantina was on fire, the street was ripped apart and full of giant pot holes, and pieces of asphalt were littered around like odd pieces of modern art. Ilyan stood straight and tall, his braid still sleek and falling down his back. Cail was gasping and clutching his side, while Edmund stood next to him laughing. When the air conditioning unit hit the ground the fighting had stopped and Cail had fallen to the ground, thankful for the chance to heal. Edmund, however, seemed uninterested in the interruption and squared his shoulders, his hands moving swiftly through the air.

I could see the air quiver
. Color and energy built as he gathered his magic together. It was obviously meant to be a death blow.

Ilyan seemed to sense that as well, and without even a word, he took off into the air
. Edmund’s explosion lit up the air behind us as Ilyan scooped me up and continued his flight. I felt his magic grow fast and strong inside of me, the shield stronger again thanks to our physical contact.

Almost immediately
, the glow of Edmund’s useless attack faded, and I could hear him yelling angrily at his apparent loss.

Ilyan
soared through the night sky, the hot wind whipping at our clothes. I looked back to the destroyed city street, relieved to see Ryland standing, but thumping all the more at the possibility of being followed. They had proven once already how quickly they could find me.

“Are you alright?” Ilyan
’s panicked voice broke through my thoughts and I turned to face him.

“A little beat up, but what
’s new?” I tried to laugh but my lungs ached from the large bruises I was sure I had.

“I’m sorry
,” he said.

I didn’t give him a response
. I wasn’t sure what needed to be said.

Ilyan
’s magic flowed stronger through me as he checked for more injuries, his face growing hard at what he found. Part of me wanted to push him away, but I was grateful for the comfort his warmth provided me. His arms around me a reminder that at least here I was safe.

I leaned into him as he held me, healed me, and flew us away
from the man I loved.

T
he man who hunted me.

Eleven

W
e
flew in silence for almost an hour. I drifted in and out of sleep while Ilyan held me, and each time I awoke my body felt better. The bones in my wrist had begun to fuse themselves together when I woke the last time, the pain masked by Ilyan’s magic. I was still very tired, but the temperature was dropping the longer we flew, and without my hoodie, my teeth had begun to chatter a bit.

“We are almost there, Silnỳ.” Ilyan pressed me closer to his warm torso,
my magic surging in an effort to keep me warm.

I placed my head against his chest and listen
ed to his heart thump for a minute. The rhythm never changed, the comforting beat steady and strong as it echoed through my head. I felt myself falling asleep again but shook it off. It was too cold for me to sleep without risking hypothermia.

“I’m sorry, Ilyan
,” I whispered into him, sure he could hear me.

“For what?”

“For ruining our noncommittal night out to dinner.” Ilyan laughed and I couldn’t help but smile a little. “I wish Ryland couldn’t track me so easily. I wish he...”

I stopped myself
. We had been over this before.

Ilyan sighed heavily and ran his hand over my bare arm
.

“At least we know how fast he can track you now.”

“Which is?” I didn’t want to hear the answer, but my curiosity won me over.

“Too fast for me to be comfortable.
” He said and I knit my shoulders together, that didn’t sound promising. I was going to be locked away in hiding forever.

“
I am sorry you got hurt. I should be there to protect you at all times. I shouldn’t have to fight them every time they come after you. I didn’t know how many there would be, or how well Ryland could track you. I failed you.” He ran his fingertips over the tender skin of my wrist, his magic flowing through my skin to check the healing bones.

“Does it hurt much?” Ilyan
asked.

“No.” I watched as he traced over the bones, his touch soft against my skin.

Ilyan didn’t respond, he only wrapped his hand around my wrist as his magic surged. I watched as the surges of his power began turning into something tangible. A sturdy cast formed over the broken bones, immobilizing my wrist.

“You should heal faster
than before, now that your own magic flows through your veins, but this will help to speed up the process.”

I looked at the cast Ilyan had placed over my wrist, the heavy plaster still pulsing with Ilyan’s magic. It was odd
to think that something so simple and rudimentary was still needed, even with the magical possibilities that were available to us.

“Thank you.”

“Why did he do this to you anyway?”

I looked at my
wrist, his long fingers were running over the skin of my fingers that peeked out above the cast. It didn’t hurt anymore, but just like when Ryland dug the knife into my chest, I wasn’t sure I would ever forget it. Every time Ryland hurt me physically, he scarred me internally too.

“His magic didn’t work against me,” I said. “I
only absorbed it. He never actually did any damage.”

“What
?” His voice was alarmed, putting me on edge.

“I felt the pain
initially, but it would disappear. The same thing happened at the... the... party.” I struggled to say the word, surprised at the fresh wounds the memories still held. “Every time he attacked me, nothing happened.”

“And what about him, does the same thing happen to him?”
Ilyan asked, his words hard and controlled.

“
Yes. In the end he didn’t even react, that’s why I pushed him off the roof with the air conditioner.”

“This is bad,” he said, his arms tightening around me.

“What? Why?” I tried to twist around to look at him, but his arms held me in place.

“First and foremost, it is limiting you. Ryland will always go after you
. He will never choose to fight me. He will seek you out until he kills you, and if your magic will not work against each other you are even more limited in your ability to fight him. Ryland would gladly enclose you in a fiery building or drop a semi-truck on your head. But would you do the same to him?”

“I threw an air conditioner at him
. Isn’t that enough?” I was offended, I had pushed myself way beyond my comfort level, and he didn’t even see it.

“And the second you did, you worried for him.” His statement was a little
too true to life. I felt my chest stiffen against it. “I can guarantee you, he did not do the same for you. If I had not taken you away, he would have crumbled the building underneath you, hurled a fiery car toward you, or flung your body into a telephone pole. What would you have done in return?”

I didn’t know what to say, I knew every word
that Ilyan had said was true. I had worried about Ryland every time I attacked him. I had watched for signs of life after I had launched him off the roof. If we had not escaped, I would have done the same thing I had always done – acted in desperation to save him, even as he attempted to kill me.

I needed to be stronger, but I didn’t know how
to be. Saving him is one thing, fighting him is another one entirely

“I can’t do this
,”

“You can, Joclyn.” Ilyan gently moved my head up to look at him, my body still tight against his as we cut through the air. “We just have to change our game plan.”

“And, how do you suggest we do that?”

“Oh, I have ideas.” Ilyan smiled th
e powerful grin that was so natural for him and I fought a shiver from moving up my spine. I don’t know if it was from the icy air or worry about what he had planned, but either way, I was uncomfortable.

I pulled away from his gaze to move back against his chest. I fought to keep the ‘ideas’ that Ilyan had floating around inside his head from occupying my
thoughts. Ilyan stayed silent, which helped me to keep my mind clear.

We flew until I could see the
sliver of dawn’s first light peek over the horizon. The dim light crept into my brain and I yawned, hating the reminder of how little sleep I had been able to sneak in. I was glad for Ilyan’s supportive arms, without them I am not sure I would have been able to keep myself airborne.

Just as a sliver of sun pee
ked out over a river that lay down to our right, Ilyan began a quick descent to a small community surrounded by farmland.

“Are we going to be far
mers, Ilyan?” I asked my voice stretched out as I yawned again.

“No, I have had more than enough of that to last me a lifetime,” he
said.

I couldn’t think of why Ilyan would choose to be a farmer. The work seemed far too slow and monotonous, but then he had
also lived in at least three churches that I knew of. They were both odd choices.

“Do you see that house in the middle of the main street, the one with a green roof?”

I looked eagerly toward the center of the town, easily picking out the green roof amongst the brightening buildings. The house was huge. Daydreams of my own bed and bathroom filled my mind. I had lived in close proximity to Ilyan for far too long.

“It’s not much,” Ilyan said
, but I scoffed at him.

“As long as there is a giant bed, in my own bedroom that I can sleep in for the next two days I will be happy.” I grinned and bobbed happily a little bit, careful to keep Ilyan’s hands against my skin, and the shield Ilyan was protecting me with intact.

“There is a
bed, of that much you can be sure.”

“A bed?” I asked, terrified. “What do you mean
a
bed?” I wiggled around in his arms, craning my head to look at him.

Ilyan looked down on me for a minute, his lips turned up at the corners, before looking away.

“I mean, there is one bed where we are going.” I didn’t miss the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Not two?”

“Not two.” He didn’t seem too torn up about this.

“But the house is huge...” I looked toward it aimlessly, my excitement dashed.

“We call it the haunted house. We haven’t used this safe house for decades, so I am hoping that if there is a spy they won’t be able to find us here.”

“The haunted house? Why would you call it a haunted...
?” We were close enough to the house now that I could see large portrait windows, and the family inside having breakfast.

“Someone lives here?” I yelled in a panic.

Ilyan clasped his hand over my mouth. We landed on the roof right against a window that obviously led to the attic. The glass was so old and grungy I couldn’t see inside. Ilyan’s hand moved down my arm to wrap tightly around my unbroken hand, keeping contact with my skin. The motion reminded me that we were nowhere near safe.

“Someone lives here?” I asked in a whisper the second Ilyan had removed his hand.

He looked to me with an exasperated face that I knew all too well, our feet securing us precariously on the steep roof.

“Yes, Silnỳ, someone lives here. The safe house is in the attic
. We will be confined to a very small space for a week – and only a week,” he added hastily as my mouth fell open in panic. “We call it the haunted house because while they can’t see us, they will be able to hear us moving around and talking.”

“So we are like, ghosts?” My panic was steadily increasing.

“Ano, and thanks to your nightmares, we are going to be very loud, scary ghosts.” I blushed and turned away.

My nightmares. I still needed Ilyan every night when I woke up from my tormented dreams.
No wonder he hadn’t been worried by the one bed thing. He was turning into an over-protective older brother. I shook my head and turned to Ilyan who had opened the window to pull me inside.

‘We stay in the attic’ had been an exaggeration. Ilyan pulled me into a tiny alcove
that was partitioned off from the attic by wood paneled walls. Each wall had a window that looked into the family’s cluttered attic. I could see the windows having been installed for security purposes, but my guess would be that they were actually to prevent someone from going crazy in the eight by eight box I had been led into. The windows mirrored the one we had come from, magic shimmering over the glass to keep the family from knowing we were here.

I plopped down onto the bed that took up the whole room
, and a plume of dust filled the air around me. I pulled Ilyan’s hand that was still wrapped firmly around mine and forced him to sit next to me, causing more dust to fly into the air.

“Please tell me this is a nightmare, Ilyan.
Tell me I am going to wake up any minute.” I couldn’t keep the whine out of my voice. I had gone from a studio apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom to a room with a bed in the attic of someone else’s house.

“It’s only for a week, Silnỳ.” He squeezed my hand and I fought the desperate urge to pull away.

“And then where, a Murphy bed in a bowling alley?” I was mad, and Ilyan’s laughter at my comment only made me more upset.

“
No, somewhere much better than this. I promise you.”