The Shattered Dark (19 page)

A soft, sweet pressure on my lips.

“Kyol?” I whisper. He’s here, leaning over me in a silhouette that’s etched in lightning.
One hand cups my face, the other rests just above my left wrist. His touch is tender,
but hot—tantalizing—and something stirring and electric runs through my body.

“You’re real,” I breathe. This must be how Snow White felt when her prince kissed
away her sleep.

“I couldn’t find you,” he says, his thumb sliding over my cheek. “I thought another
false-blood had taken you.”

I try to lift my arm, but I can’t. When he sees me struggling, he takes out his dagger,
slices through the material binding my wrists, then he lifts me into a sitting position.

It’s too quick. Black spots swirl through my vision. I bite my lip, waiting for the
dizziness to pass. When I’m able to focus again, I’m staring at my cut restraints.
“They were Velcro.”

“What?” Kyol asks.

“Velcro.” Strong Velcro, but the dagger wasn’t needed.

I look up. Kyol stares at the IV bag, at me, then at the IV bag again. He grabs the
plastic tubing and cuts through it. I watch the liquid drip onto the floor.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Medicine.”

His brow creases.

“We don’t have healers so we…we put plants in our veins.” I laugh, then cut it off
short. God, my head is spinning.
Too much of the drug made it into my system. The needle is still taped to my arm.
I pull it out.

“Are you okay, McKenzie?”

I stare at the blood welling out of the tiny hole in my wrist. I don’t think I took
it out right.

“I’m fine,” I say, swiping my arm across my clothes. I’m wearing Bedfont House’s standard-issue
nightgown. It’s ugly, not much better than a hospital gown. “The door locks from the
outside.”

“I’ve unlocked it.”

The knob turns smoothly. Since I’m wobbly, he puts an arm around my waist and guides
me out of the cell. I enjoy being close to him way too much. He’s wearing fae armor—
jaedric
, I think it’s called—but it doesn’t hide the power in his body. He’s warm, safe,
and even though we’re forbidden to be together, I’m almost certain I’m in love with
him.

We’re almost to the door at the end of the corridor when my brain starts to function
again. I tell Kyol to wait.

“I can’t leave without Paige.”

“What page?” he asks, following my gaze back down the hall.

“She’s my friend.” The only friend I have here. Probably the only friend I have period.
Jessica, Kelly, all the people I used to hang out with abandoned me months ago. I
can’t blame them. I stopped showing up at school meetings and quit two committees
that really needed my help.

Not to mention I flunked English, my favorite subject, and ended up in In School Suspension
for skipping classes.

“She should be in one of these rooms.” I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to remove the
fog lingering in my vision, then I drag him back down the hall. He doesn’t protest.
He would if he realized that the tech making his
edarratae
vibrate so strongly is the building’s security cameras. There are at least two recording
me. I might have no more than a minute or two to find Paige and get out of here.

She’s three doors down from where I was imprisoned. It’s locked from the outside with
a simple dead bolt.

“Paige,” I whisper as I slip inside.

She doesn’t respond, just lies there strapped down to the hospital bed. They’re giving
her drugs, too.

“Paige, wake up.” I carefully remove the tape holding her IV in place.

Her eyes flutter open. “McKenzie?”

“We’re getting out of here.” I yank at the Velcro securing her wrists. It’s freaking
hard to get off, but I do it, then help her sit up. “Can you walk?”

More of the sedating drugs made it into her system than mine. She blinks. Then grins.
“A breakout? Seriously? McKenzie, you fucking rock.”

She stands. Wobbles. Yeah, she’s definitely worse off than I am. I try to help her
balance, but I’m not entirely steady, especially when I reach out to open the door.
I miss the knob.

Kyol opens it for us. Paige doesn’t even notice the door moving seemingly on its own.

The hallway is still clear, but the door at the other end seems to stretch farther
and farther away as we hurry toward it. When we’re finally only a few paces away,
it opens. Security. Shit.

Paige and I stop. Kyol doesn’t. He grabs the edge of the door, then slams it back
at the guard, hitting him in the face.

“Go!” Kyol orders.

I pull Paige past the guard, who’s clutching his nose. He grabs at my leg, but Kyol
kicks his hand away.

“That was lucky,” Paige slurs, turning to look back.

“Come on.” I pull her after me, try to make her run, but her legs are so uncoordinated,
I’m just throwing her balance off. I settle for a really quick walk, then turn left
when an
EXIT
sign points the way to our freedom.

The door is right there. Kyol’s in front of us. Before I can warn him, he presses
the bar to open it.

The building’s alarm is deafening. It’s not exactly a lot of tech—it’s just a lot
of noise—but Kyol flinches. A frown creases his forehead, and he’s squinting as if
he has a headache. He recovers quickly, though, checks outside, then motions us through.

Kyol heads to the left. I follow with Paige, hugging the side of the building until
he leads us away from it. The edge
of the property is lit by bright floodlights. A tall wrought-iron fence keeps Bedfont
House residents inside. It has two entrances: a gate up front for visitors and clients,
and a gate in the back for personnel and deliveries. Kyol isn’t leading us to either
of those. I’m about to ask where he’s going when he turns, stiffening.

I follow his line of sight and look behind me. Three of the night guard are exiting
the building with flashlights in hand. They haven’t seen us yet, but they’re moving
this way. Right before their flashlight beams reach us, I grab Paige and yank her
to the ground.

“Ick,” she says, staring at the dew-covered grass an inch from her nose.

“Shh!”

The ground is cold and wet, but I don’t let her get up. We’re in a shallow ditch.
If they don’t walk all the way over here, they might not see us.

I hold my breath until they turn away.

“Jesus, McKenzie,” Paige whispers. “Have you had Special Forces training or something?
You’re a little too good at this.”

“Paintball,” I say, though I’ve only done that once.

“Next time I need to run from the cops, I’m totally calling you.”

She’s sounding more coherent now. Good.

“Hurry,” Kyol says.

We almost make it. I see the bent bars in the fence. Kyol must have planned ahead,
using his magic to heat and bend the metal. They’re just wide enough for Paige and
me to slip through, but just when I’m about to increase our pace, I skid to a stop
instead. Two guards shine their flashlights directly on us.

“Damn,” Paige whispers.

They must have been walking the perimeter. They move away from the fence now that
they’ve spotted us.

“Girls,” the guard on the left says. “Don’t move.”

Kyol steps to my side, but he looks agitated, uncertain.

“McKenzie, I shouldn’t…” He doesn’t finish his thought. He just goes quiet, his jaw
tightening.

He shouldn’t take down a human when another human is
watching. The fae king doesn’t want anyone to become suspicious that they might be
in this world. I don’t think that’s likely to happen just from Kyol knocking someone
out. They’ll blame it on me, somehow.

Kyol steps forward. He’s going to ignore that rule. He’s going to ignore it to save
me.

My stomach tightens. I swear, he loves me—
me
, not just the feel of the
edarratae
—but he refuses to admit it.

Beside me, Paige straightens. “Go. I’ll distract them.”

I shake my head. “We can both make it.”

She laughs. “No, we can’t. I can barely see straight.”

She doesn’t know about Kyol. He’ll make sure we make it.

“Seriously, go,” Paige says. “My eighteenth birthday is in a few months. They have
to let me out then. I’ll look you up. We can be roommates or something.”

“I’m not letting you take the fall for this.” She’ll be in twice as much trouble because
of this escape attempt.

“It’s my fault we were caught sneaking out in the first place,” she says. Then, before
I can come back with another argument, she rolls her eyes, shoves me forward, then
takes off across the field. Both guards take off after her.

“Paige!” I yell, when they tackle her.

“We have to hurry, McKenzie,” Kyol says at my side. He ushers me toward the fence.
I look over my shoulder, watching as she kicks and flails at the two men holding her
down. God, I’m the shittiest friend ever, leaving her behind like this. I owe her,
not only for distracting the guards but for keeping me sane while I was here.

Kyol grabs one of the bent bars on the wrought-iron fence. “You can repay her later.”

I meet his eyes. He’s right. Staying behind accomplishes nothing.

I slip through the gap in the fence and run. Kyol stays at my side, directs me to
veer left before we reach a road. Bedfont House is out in the country—the rural setting
is supposed to be relaxing—but even though there’s a serene little stream to the south
of the institute, I don’t think there’s a gate on it. I wish there were because I
can’t run any longer. My side hurts, and it’s too hard to focus.

I have to stop. I bend over, intending to rest my hands on my knees, but my legs are
like jelly. I sit. Kyol lowers to the ground beside me.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, not even winded.

No, I’m not—I feel like crap for leaving Paige behind—but I just nod. I’m going to
owe Paige for the rest of my life for this.

He lets out a sigh. We’re knee to knee in the dew-covered grass. Leaning forward,
he rests his forehead against mine and cups the back of my neck with one gentle hand.

His touch sends a bolt of heat down my spine. I’m aware of how close his lips are.
Is he aware of mine? Does he know how much I need to close that distance between us?
To kiss him? It takes everything in me to stay completely still. He rejected me the
last time we kissed, said he couldn’t be with me, couldn’t touch me tenderly anymore.

He’s touching me tenderly now.

The lingering drugs in my system make me brave. I tilt my chin up, whisper, “Kyol.”

“Kaesha.”
The word comes out as a sweet sigh. He’s called me that only a few times before,
and though he says there’s no translation for it, the affection in his voice is absolutely
clear. Tension leaves his body. He gives in, pressing his lips against mine. The cool
air doesn’t touch me anymore. There’s only him. His touch. His heat. His chaos lusters.
But I know before he deepens the kiss that he’s going to end it soon. His arms move
to my shoulders, tighten as he battles with what he wants to do and what he should
do.

I try to hold on to him, make him hold on to me. It doesn’t work. Just when the kiss
reaches the point where it might turn into more, he pulls away.
Now
, he’s breathing hard.

I draw in a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. “I was starting to believe
you weren’t real.”

He helps me to my feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“It’s okay. I…Thanks for finding me. For taking care of me.”

He gives me one of his rare smiles. “I’ll always take care of you. Always.”

I
’VE RELIVED THE
same memory a dozen times now. Something’s wrong. Instead of feeling hot from Kyol’s
touch, I feel numb, cold, and oddly distant.

I turn my head to the side. It’s dark that way, too, but I feel a presence there.
Someone’s gaze. My confusion finally begins to dissipate, and by the time I realize
all I need to do to get rid of the darkness is to open my eyes, I remember Rhigh.

My eyes snap open. I’m in my room at the palace. This is where I’ve always stayed
when I’ve remained in the Realm overnight. It’s not a large space, but there’s enough
room for the bed, a nightstand, and the chest of drawers that’s pushed against the
wall beside a small bathroom. It’s simple and it’s comfortable, and ever since the
rebels took the palace, I’ve started to think of it as mine.

“Here,” Lena says. I slowly turn my head to the right, see her sitting in a chair
beside my bed. She’s holding out a glass.

“Cabus?”
I ask. She nods. My hands shake as I take it from her. I hold my breath, take a sip,
and do my best not to spit it out.

“It’s not that bad,” she says.

It
is
that bad, but I’m parched, so I force myself to take another sip. It burns down my
throat. It’s not an entirely unpleasant sensation considering how cold I am.
Cabus
is
used to replenish a fae’s energy if they overexert themselves by fissuring too quickly
or using too much magic. It’s supposed to help rehydrate and reenergize humans, too.
Personally, I think a glass of Gatorade would do the same thing, but I can’t exactly
run out to a convenience store to buy some.