Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4) (11 page)

I screamed at the sound, my voice breaking in sobs as my stomach knotted in fear. I moved forward on my hands and knees, desperate to get away from the yells, the explosions. To get away from Ryland, to get back to Ilyan.

“You don’t need to be scared of me, baby.” His voice was rancid honey as it echoed through the hallway from behind me.

I crawled faster, my frightened sobs covering the sound of his steps as he advanced on me. I wasn’t fast enough to escape him, though; I never could be.

I screamed as I felt his fingers wrap around my ankle, my nails digging into the floor as he pulled me back, the fragile slivers of bone cracking under the pressure.

“Help!” I screamed as hand over hand he pulled me toward him. My scream drowned into blackness as Ryland laughed deep and loud. He pulled me around to face him as his eyes flashed blue, his lips stretching into a smile. I tried to move away, to fight against him, but I was trapped; trapped underneath Ryland with nothing but my sobs.

My mind spun at having him so close, my vision swaying and whirling as I continued to scream. I knew at once that it was not only fear that was making the world turn. I could feel my Drak blood flare in preparation.

“No, no, no.” I gasped as blackness blurred the edges of my vision, part of me willing the red burn that preceded my sight to take me away from the horror I faced. I saw the tinge of scarlet in a flash of flame before the warm sting of Ryland’s hand against my cheek pulled me from the sight. I inhaled sharply at the pain, at the lost vision, when Ryland’s now disgusted face swam back into view. The knowledge of what I had done, of what Ryland now knew, sliced like a hot knife to the gut.

“You’re nothing but a pathetic Drak!” he screamed as he moved away from me in disgust, leaving me clutching my swelling jaw in the dark. “All the power in the world and you waste it on that. It’s disgusting!”

A sob broke from my lips as he yelled, the weak sound drowned by the repulsion in his voice, hearing what he thought of me. It was something that I had come to treasure about myself, and to hear it spoken about with such hostility—the words tore me apart, bit by bit.

“Disgusting!” He screamed again, a sob ripping from my chest as I stretched my shaking fingers away from me, dragging myself away from him.

“That’s okay.” The revulsion in his voice lessoned like he had flicked a switch, his hands pulling me back from what little progress I had made in my escape. “I can make you strong again.”

His nails dug into my arms as he held me beneath him. The boy I had once loved glared down into me with more hatred, more disgust, than I had ever seen while his hand moved to press against the mark on my neck. Ice shot through me at the contact, the sensation painful and caustic as my magic rebelled against me, his hand jerking away as he felt the same reaction.

“What did you do?” he roared, the ebony hatred of his eyes snaking up my spine, and I cringed, fighting for a desperate escape, even though I couldn’t move an inch.

“I did nothing other than what you begged me to do!” I screamed, my magic flaring in distress, sending one strong pulse into Ryland, knocking him off his feet and to the ground right next to me.

I turned and crawled away as fast as I could, my sweaty hands slipping against the stone before I was able to stumble to my feet and run away from him, find someplace to hide.

“Jos, don’t leave me,” Ryland pleaded through the dark, his voice sounding so normal that I almost turned back. Almost, if it hadn’t been for the clanging of the pipes that filled my ears; if it hadn’t been for the memory of each and every one of his attacks. “Don’t leave me… don’t leave me… leave me. Leave me.”

His words echoed through the halls that had become a labyrinth to me, his voice breaking in tears before his agonizing screams reverberated through the dark. I jumped at the noise, the fading sound replaced by the frantic pulse of my heart, by the agitated breaths that thundered from my chest.

My hands guided me down the crumbling halls as I tried to fight the fears of the haunted torments that I had been infused with, but they were too strong. I could no longer find the line of reality, the line of what was safe and what was not. The world I had so recently escaped became the only world I knew, the hallucination taking over.

“Joclyn! I will find you!” His voice again echoed around the stone, making it impossible to be certain where he was.

My eyes darted through the darkened hallways as I ran, trying to figure out where to hide, my feet stumbling as I tried to find my toilet, find the room with the books.

They were nowhere.

I stretched my hand forward to pull me around the corner, only to fall back in fear at the slick surface that met my touch, the cool wetness that covered the stone. Blood dripped down the stone wall in front of me, my body tensing in horror at glistening patches of red that covered the pads of my fingers.

“I-i-t-t’s… al-l i-in-n… y-yoooour h-head-d.” My stutter took over as I stared at my trembling fingers, the stammer so bad I could barely make out my own words.

I backed away from the wall in raw fear, tripping through unfamiliar corridors, only to be met with a wide hand that tightened around my neck, the skin pulsing hot as his magic crippled me. The strong grasp coarse like sandpaper as he burned me.

I tried to scream at the contact, but no sound came out, only my strangled cry as Ryland’s hand cut off my air supply. A sharp pain swelled against my skull as he smashed me into the wall, my lungs gasping as an ache inflated inside of me, my head swimming. My broken nails clawed at his hand and my lungs began to burn, my legs flailing as I kicked wildly in an attempt to get away.

His hold increased as his smile did, the darkness behind his eyes blazing, his voice a low growl of rage in my ears. “Ilyan thinks he can keep you from me. Well, he’s wrong. You are mine and everything about you belongs to me.

“You are mine! Mine… mine… mine!” He moaned again, his voice growing louder with each word as his instability increased. His eyes darted around the room as he mumbled the same word over and over.

My jaw opened as I gasped for breath, my fingers continuing to dig into his hand as I tried to pry it away, to give my body the oxygen it screamed for, little stars of white popping in my vision. I fought the tears as I fought Ryland, my fear swelling in pain as my lungs burned.

“Mine, mine…” His chant had turned into a sob when his hand finally released me from the wall, his arms gathering me into him as he held me against his chest.

I wanted to scream at the contact, at his cold touch against my skin, but I couldn’t move. I could only lean against him weakly as I gasped in air, the pain that had swelled through my body trying to lessen with each breath I took.

The burn in my chest left as his magic rushed into me in an angry torrent that ignited my fears. The painful cold of his magic provoked my own, sending a powerful spark out of my hands, right into his abdomen. I screamed as the magic left, the fear rumbling down my spine as the dark hallways filled with the sound of his scream. The flame hit him with a flash of light that shook the walls around us, sending him away from me and through one of the many wooden doors that lined the corridor.

I watched where he had landed, my breath held in the hope that he had gone, that I was safe. But I knew better.

My soul screamed in horror as he pulled himself to standing, his chest heaving as he faced me. A prickle of panic ran across my neck at the black in his eyes. I felt the fear, the panic, but this time I felt something more, a wave of emotion that ripped through me. Anger.

“I d-do… n-not bel-long… t-to y-you!” I yelled as I rose to face him, a line of fire surging toward him, only to have him snap his fingers and turn the weapon into harmless smoke.

“You are bonded to me! I own you! I can kill you… love you… kill you.” His voice rumbled as he walked toward me, his hands clenching through his curls. His icy eyes bored into me, the look exactly what I remembered from before.

I didn’t care what Ilyan said. It was him. It had always been him. It was Ryland who had always attacked me. And now he was going to pay.

“Not-t anymore!” My teeth ground together as I sent a rush of wind at him in an effort to drive him away, but he didn’t so much as flinch from the power. He only smiled as he rushed me, his wide gait closing the last few steps as he backed me against the wall.

“You are mine, always mine. I won’t lose you,” Ryland whispered, his voice hard and possessive as his hand wrapped around my waist.

Not anymore.

“I-I do not b-belong to you!” I yelled as I grabbed his hair, my fingers knotting through the long strands before I pulled him past me into the wall. My magic surged with strength as I bashed Ryland’s head into the old stones, the ancient masonry cracking under the pressure.

I waited for him to scream, to call out in pain, but he stayed still, his breathing absent until his chest heaved in a low, menacing laugh that caught in my chest and ignited my fears. Fear as black as ice ran over me as he turned to face me, a thick stream of blood flowed from his hairline. The look in his eyes froze me in place for a moment too long. His blood-tinged teeth flashed in a smile right before a stream of red light surged from him, the red-hot burn flaring through my chest.

Fire burned through me as I soared away from him, the agony growing as I blindly reached for anything to grab onto, to stop what was coming. I found nothing. My body hit against the rubble of the now destroyed hallway with a violent jolt. The snap of my body against stone echoed in my ears, and I cried out, an acidic burn moving through me as my back stiffened, my spine arching in agony.

I drove away the burn of pain as my magic rushed to the aches that rippled through my body, healing the bones and tendons that I was sure had fractured. My arms shook as I moved to fight back—ready to face him—when Ryland’s footsteps echoed in my ears. His steps were slow as he moved closer until he towered over me from where I lay on the ground.

“Do you think you belong to Ilyan then?” Ryland asked, his desperation growing as a deep mania rumbled through his voice. “Is that what you think? Lies… lies… lies…” He growled at the same time his fingers pulled violently at his sagging curls, the words coming over and over. “He lies and you believe him—”

“Ilyan d-doesn’t lie to m-me!” I screamed in anger as I stood before him. The rocks around me shook and shattered with the waves of my rage.

Ryland’s eyes widened at my exclamation, his jaw clenching as anger moved into his face.

“He lies to everyone!” Ryland roared, his magic throwing me into the air like a ragdoll. I felt the hard impact as my body hit the ceiling, only to feel the air rush through my hair as I dropped like a dead weight back to the floor.

My fingers grasped at nothing as I fell, the descent too quick to even have a chance to stop it. Fire rippled through my bones as one after another they snapped and broke with the impact. My magic throbbed toward the painful shards of the breaks as it took the pain away, as it tried to heal me. I needed to face him—to make him pay—but the broken bits of my body had turned me into a rag doll, leaving me panting and gasping in the middle of a rubble heap.

I opened my eyes as my body twisted and writhed, only to find Ryland above me, his legs straddling me as they locked me in place. My chest tightened in fear at seeing him there, everything tensing as I fought the pain, fought the fear. Even if I could move, I had nowhere to go.

“He told me he would keep you safe for me, that I could have you back!” Ryland whimpered as he clawed at his hair, his voice broken in tears while his body rocked in the air above me. I writhed in pain below him as he lowered himself to lie beside me, his body pressing against mine as his hand extended to rest against the skin on my face.

“I can have you back. Ilyan said, Ilyan said, he said…” Ryland’s words were a painful promise that sliced through my heart. Even though I knew it was a lie, it was the same as it had been on the rooftop when he had looked at me with those black eyes and told me Ilyan loved me for the first time. I could feel the doubt burrowing into me, through the anger and fear that had wound its way up my spine. I didn’t believe him, even though—deep down—I knew.

“He wouldn’t say that,” I said as I tried to push away from his touch, my voice a grunt through my clenched teeth, willing the words to be true.

“He did. He did… he did. You belong to me. Mine… mine… mine.” His arm wrapped around me, pulling me against him like we were lovers, the movement of my body rippling through me in an ache of pain and fear.

He was lying. I knew it. It didn’t matter if he was, though. His words meant nothing to me. I was not a piece of property.

“I belong to no one!” I spat as I threw Ryland off me and into the stone ceiling. The aggressive force of my power shifted in the air as I sent him into the opposite wall, driving him into the stone.

“I don’t need anyone! Not to save me, not to own me! I can do this on my own!” My blood boiled as I scrambled back to standing, my hand swiping to the side repeatedly as I sliced through his shirt and cut through his skin with the heat of my power.

He screamed in pain as I did in anger, blood drizzling over the white of his shirt in rivers of the darkest red. Seeing the brightness of the blood—the color so vivid against the white—stopped me as a chill trailed down my spine, leaving my hand extended in front of me.

The anger that had clung to me left as he fell from the wall in a heap. I could only stare in horror at the red that drenched his back. I needed to leave, to get out of here. To run away from what I had done.

I backed up as I tried to remember how to walk—as I attempted to tear my eyes from him—only to see his pale face turn up to me, his fingers flexing as razor-sharp blades soared through the air, slicing across my face. I felt the heat as they cut through the skin, the painful burn as they gashed me open.

I stumbled back in pain as my hands flew to my face, the warm wetness of my own blood flooding over my skin.

“You are nothing without me,” he yelled as he approached me, “and even less with Ilyan. If you won’t kill me, then I will gladly kill you. My father was right all along. You are nothing, and you deserve to be dead.”