Feel the Burn (44 page)

‘If Alek is dead by your hand I’ll pose a lethal fucking threat to you!’

It didn’t deter him and the awkwardness of my grip meant I couldn’t keep him down. With a hard boot he sent me sliding across the stone floor. Making the retrieve motion for the blades I jumped to my feet, snatching the blades up the instant they hit the sleeve and hurled them at Ignatius. Already seeing my intent he’d twisted at the right moment, catching a blade in the arm and thigh but that’s all. My sword lay on the ground, perhaps four meters from me and the same distance from him. I looked to Alek, seeing he struggled to fight on the other side of the room, the chains restricting his movement, but managed to hold his ground. Yakov wasn’t proficient in using his energy yet and wielded it slowly, so had drawn his own sword.

The glance to check Alek cost me, Ignatius covering the distance and kicking my sword aside, out of reach. I stooped, pulling out the long daggers sheathed on either calf then ran at him while he pulled back into a defensive position, eyes wary but ready.

‘Cat, don’t.’

The quiet plea made me halt and my stomach knotted while I stared at Ignatius. I felt off, fingers stiff and ungainly all of a sudden.

‘I don’t want to attack you,’ my voice sounded high and tight. ‘But I can’t let you hurt Alek.’

‘I have my orders.’

‘I’m giving you orders.’

‘The orders were from the regent, Cat. She outranks you.’

That floored me—Elena wants Alek dead? I gaped at Ignatius feeling a spread of horror. Moving closer, within arms reach, Ignatius continued to explain in that quiet, regretful voice.

‘You are the most valuable. You have to be protected. If Alek is alive it is because Jenviet can’t extract his energy so needs him. You know how powerful your gifts are together.’

I knew it technically made sense but that didn’t change it a jot. And that meant one thing.

I averted my eyes, looking over at Alek while Ignatius approached so he wouldn’t see my intent, and focused hard on not throwing up. I cared for Ignatius. I didn’t want to harm him. But I would. My palms grew damp while I stared unseeingly, focused on the options at hand and waited for him to make a move.

I felt his touch at the left of my neck, his thick fingers gently squeezing my shoulder in apology, and reacted. Grabbing his wrist with my right hand I twisted and pulled, moving my arm out in a circular motion toward my right hip; one of the first defense moves I’d ever learned and deceptively simple. Bringing my left hand to the back of his elbow while still pulling down with my right hand I had full control over his weight and sent him sprawling across the floor when I let go and dove for my sword.

Having personally trained Cat, Ignatius knew she’d held back. Had she performed the move fully, she would have made a more deliberate twist of the wrist before dealing a blow to his elbow, shattering the joint. Not wasting the opportunity, he shoved to his feet, pulling his sword from its sheath and grabbed the axe from the floor. Cat stood between him and Alek, and beyond Alek stood Yakov, the traitor’s eyes on the prize while he fought Alek with care, no offensive strokes, confirming Elena’s suspicions to Ignatius.

A bit of a pity, he thought, it’d be so much simpler if Yakov killed Alek. Not that Ignatius wouldn’t enjoy the task but it would probably take a while to get Cat to warm to him again.

Now, how to deal with Cat?

Ignatius considered the situation while pacing, watching her mirror his moves. Something obviously prevented her using her gift, perhaps that tile, he mused to himself. That meant Cat only had her fighting skills to rely on. Thinking more on that, he slid the sword back in its sheath and turned the axe. With a quick rap of the blunt side she’d be unconscious—at least for a few minutes—which would be all the time needed to deal to Alek, so focused on Yakov. With a plan in place he advanced on Cat.

Alek saw the deliberate twist of the axe and went to shout when Yakov hit him with a bolt of lightning. The silver fire shredded his chest but with energy flowing just below the surface of his skin he healed swiftly. Yakov watched with an expression of intense fascination and Alek made a swing. The bloody chains linking his wrists made what should have been a fairly simple task damn difficult. They prevented any subtle moves, each movement causing the links to chime against each other. Yakov wasn’t unskilled with a sword but under normal circumstances Alek knew he could beat him. The advisor blocked his moves with ease, each motion allowing him to draw closer to Cat, whose full focus was on Ignatius. Alek lunged, forcing the advisor to leap aside. It put him within the Lieutenant’s reach.

‘NO!’ I screamed when Ignatius flicked the axe again and swung it high, aiming for Alek. I glimpsed a blur of motion behind him when I sprang for his arm then heard a strange solid ‘thunk’. Ignatius’ face stiffened and the axe dropped from his grasp, hitting the floor behind with a loud clang. The air hitched in my throat when his eyes locked on mine.

‘Ig-na-tius?’

It came out jerky, shocked and I grabbed for him, heart in mouth when I saw the bloodied tip of a weapon poking out of his chest. He grimaced then staggered and fell to his knees, swaying while I clutched at his shoulders feeling an awful sense of guilt and betrayal, though I’d done nothing. His eyes still held mine and for an instant the pain smoothed away, and he looked like he had the first time he’d smiled at me, then his face grayed and the light in his eyes faded before he slumped to the floor.

Regarding the dead man with a flat expression, Leseach reached over and pulled the bandi sword from his body before meeting my astonished eyes.

‘I owed him.’

The sound of footsteps made me spin around and my stomach felt like it hit the floor when the others charged into the room.

Oh god. Too late.

*~*~*

Chapter Thirty Seven

The entrance of the other girls proved too much for Yakov to resist and he made the fatal mistake of glancing their way, then back. The bare second of inattention gave Alek the moment he needed. As Yakov looked back he stepped forward, holding the sword firmly with both hands and angled the blade up with a strong thrust. The steel scraped between the ribs and the tip plunged into Yakov’s heart, a single beat reverberating through the sword.

Time seemed to move slowly then, when the man he’d loved like a father shuddered and slumped to his knees, body twitching in shock while the life within drained away. Grief, sorrow, and a strange sense of relief intermingled as Alek caught the dying man and lowered to his knees.

‘It isn’t sweet, Yakov,’ he spoke quietly in the advisor’s ear, remembering their conversation the morning they were taken. ‘But it will do.’

Laying the body down, a faint tinkle caught his attention and Alek spotted the silver chain glinting around Yakov’s neck. Dragging it out from under the embroidered tunic he undid the clasp and stood, finding Cat right behind him staring at the body.

‘Here.’

Alek slipped the necklace over her head. Cat didn’t glance at the crystal that hung low around her neck, instead reaching for his hands. Using the elendite blade she wrenched open one of the links in the chain, freeing his wrists.

They all stood at the beginning of the room, their faces showing astonishment, shock, and horror while they divided glances between the corpses, and Alek and Leseach. Sabyn’s mouth worked, his eyes locked on his cousin and I saw the glimmer of hope in the girls’ eyes. Gredel, at the front of the group, shook his head in amazement and flashed a smile at Alek.

‘Good to see you, Al.’

I felt numb while I stared down the room at them, the solid, heavy, beat of my heart feeling like the toll of a warning bell.

All four of us are here…

‘Leseach!’ Loi gave a choked gasp of delight, a watery smile spreading, and she pulled away from the group, jogging toward us. She took perhaps three long strides, topaz eyes shiny with tears, looking enormous under her hood when it appeared that something struck her and she staggered, landing on that tile.

The energy trap flared bright and wrenched Loi high between the floor and ceiling. Arms and legs outstretched, her hair whipped free of the hood beating the air and an awful noise shrieked through the room. The sound and sensation of the trap ripping the Elemental energy from Loi’s body tore at the part of me linked to her and I screamed in agony, hearing Sian and Kassie’s screams too. Loi’s life light glowed blindingly bright yet no longer resided within her, caught in a dark spot in the trap and in that darkness a pair of white eyes glowed in ecstasy. The dark spot grew, a black life flame like none I’d seen before and consumed Loi’s beautiful green light. Another awful cry left my throat and I lunged for her, before Alek’s arms locked around me, dragging me to the floor. I erupted with fire, the crystal he’d put around my neck allowing my energy to release.

Sian and Kassie had no such relief. I lay pinned to the floor watching them with anguished eyes while the two girls writhed in pain, bodies contorting with the torture of the change that couldn’t release.

The energy trap shut off.

Loi’s body dropped to the floor and I moaned in pain, the horror reverberating through my mind.

Too late. Far, far too late.

Cat wept beneath him, her body shaking with sobs and he heard the thought echoing in her mind.

Too late, I was too late.

Sabyn reached Loi and gathered her limp body in his arms, face blank with shock while he sat holding her. Leseach joined him a moment later, carefully checking the girl and Alek found himself tensing with irrational hope. Gredel helped Sabyn to his feet, face grim, and Sabyn cradled Loi’s body, chin resting against her head. Awful moans and cries filled the air, the other two girls thrashing on the floor, their eyes rolled back and bodies jerking. Daron and Rumal looked pasty as they crouched beside them, at a loss for what to do.

The air near the energy trap started to crackle and Alek sensed her approach. Snatching Cat’s face between his hands he whispered urgently to her.

‘Cat, we need to get them out of here. She’s coming.’

Cat’s eyes opened, the green startling against the bloodshot whites and she squinted, her voice thick with pain.

‘What?’

‘Now! You need to get them out,’ Alek groped for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers.

‘Come on! You can do this, we can see them safe. You have to do it now!’

The urgent whisper broke through the anguish reverberating through her link and she started to sit up. The crackle turned to a swirl and he felt Cat hiss in anger a moment before she focused, stretching her arm toward the group while she reached out in her mind, the words clear through their link.

‘Loushka, catch!’

A wave of fire erupted round their friends and Alek felt Cat thicken the shield around the group, a moment before the fire went blindingly white, and the furthest wall exploded, the energy rushing out, dragging their friends from the room and into the open air in an instant. His own energy swelled excessively large when Cat utilized it to shoot them as far away as possible. Sunlight streamed into the room, blinding him but he felt a sense of relief at the sounds of the griffon cries, knowing they raced to catch them.

The sunlight vanished, dark energy swirling in a mass around them, blocking the light and an awful sound like metal dragging against metal filled the air, reaching such a pitch his eardrums felt ready to burst. She always made that sound when she appeared and the touch of fear in the pit of his gut made him clench his muscles tight, fury running through his veins, igniting his energy and Cat’s.

Alek shifted off me, crouching protectively in front while Jenviet stared out the ripped open wall then looked back to us. The sorceress looked exactly like I remembered that night of the ball. Tall and slim with a touch of curves and the thick blond hair that curled into partial ringlets. Technically a beautiful woman, the full lips and strong brows all very striking, and she dressed with care, a long delicate lace dress in soft rose that clung perfectly, allowing a hint of cleavage while the sleeves highlighted her slender arms. The deep slit of a neckline, through which showed the glint of collarbone and the heavy detailing over her wrists created a strange illusion of vulnerability; shattered by her expression. The wide, white eyes regarded us thoughtfully, a dimple appearing in one cheek while she quirked a smile before walking toward us.

‘One down, little princess. Will you be next? Before I hunt the others down? Very sweet of you to try to save them, but you forget,’ she spoke in a light conversational tone and I felt Alek stiffen, his energy shielding within just when she flicked her fingers at him. The solid blow of energy slammed us back against the wall and I felt the after effects of Loi’s energy reverberating through mine an instant before her voice echoed in my mind.

We are linked now. I know exactly where they are.

I shrieked in horror at the sensation of her in my head, mindlessly scrabbling at my hood and wrenched it off, nails digging at my scalp in a senseless attempt to get rid of the malevolent energy that rung delightedly inside.

‘Cat! Stop it!’

Alek’s gold light flowed in when he grabbed my wrists, and it shielded my mind from her. I panted, keeping my eyes on his and felt the awful spread of her touch retreat at his. My heart pounded so fast I thought it might explode and he pulled me to sitting, both arms locked around me. Casting a look sideways, I watched Jenviet. She paused beside Yakov’s body, reaching down and ran an affectionate hand over his head.

‘Silly man,’ she murmured with the barest hint of regret. ‘I told you to wait. You had to say goodbye, didn’t you. Always a stickler for protocol.’

My heart wouldn’t stop racing while I watched her and I couldn’t hold Alek tight enough. His hand held the back of my head, fingertips unintentionally pressing against the gouges I’d put in my scalp. A bloodied lock of hair stuck to my cheek and I shivered, pressing closer to Al, my face in the crook of his neck while I fought against crying.

It wasn’t meant to be like this, I thought miserably. I was meant to have nothing to lose. I tightened my arms around him, the tears slipping out.

‘Enough of that.’

We received no more warning than that. Jenviet turned from Yakov’s body and studied us with a look of dark hatred, then the floor beneath us erupted with spear-like stalagmites. Neither of us got a chance to move and I cried out in pain when one ripped up between us, gouging the side of my face, the mail preventing it from penetrating my chest. Alek, clad in only the running shorts from the day he was taken, wasn’t so lucky and it pierced his upper chest lifting him higher, growing to the ceiling. I could feel his energy trying to repair him but it couldn’t, not when the stalagmite still impaled him. He gave a hoarse cry of pain as he started to slip down the stone. My energy ripped outward and I focused hard on the base of the stone, his pain spurring me on. I snatched my sword, flowing fire into it and swung hard at the base of the stalagmite, releasing energy at it. The stone splintered then broke and Alek fell. I lunged to grab him, using my energy to catch and lower him to the floor.

‘Al!’ my voice cracked.

Long segments of stone stuck right through his body and I could see his collarbone. Feeling ill, I started to drag the pieces out, trying to shield the stone to prevent any pain but it didn’t work. He screamed and my hands shook as I gritted my teeth and wrenched the final pieces out. Alek slumped back, his heart beating erratically while I worked on raising his energy to heal him.

‘I didn’t say you could do that.’

A blast of silver lightning hit center back and threw me across the room. Yakov’s shots had been pitiful in comparison. The lightning burned and immobilized my body, paralyzing my vocal cords and I contorted in involuntary spasms of pain, back arching and mouth wide with silent screams. The chainmail burned against the freshly seared skin and I could smell it, the foul scent of burnt hair and flesh. My energy burst out in unreliable waves while I tried to regain control over my body, hands clenching and unclenching. I flopped onto my stomach, gasping for breath through the waves of agony. A peal of delighted laughter rang out, horribly close, and out the corner of my eye I saw a foot clad in a pink spiked heel.

‘Little princess, you look a bit worse for wear!’

That foot wedged underneath my chest, the pointed toe digging into the scalded flesh, and flicked me over. Jenviet beamed, long blond ringlets hanging down when she leaned over.

‘Go to hell, bitch,’ I spat the words out between breaths. It wasn’t particularly impressive but I needed to make some response other than crying. I wasn’t going to give her that pleasure.

Turning my head to the side I could see Alek and through the haze of pain I felt the tentative touch of his gold light.

‘Not very polite language for a princess of the blood,’ Jenviet tsked, waggling a finger at me and the bright smile began to harden into an unpleasant expression, teeth bared while her eyes lit with pleasure.