The Silvia Saga: Boxset

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Dara

Rushing forward, I push through Harlan and Oliver reaching Alaric. My heart feels as though it’s being ripped straight from my chest. He places an unconscious Kayla onto the carpeted floor in the entrance to our home. He’s speaking, but I can’t hear him. My ears are ringing. This can’t be real. This can’t be real. Someone touches my shoulder, and I jolt, coming back into the room. Jolie shoves Alaric aside placing her hands over Kayla’s heart. I quickly do the same bringing my magic forward. Blue smoke rises from my palms moving through her body. She remains still. Please, no. Come back to me, please. Jolie curses thrusting more of her magic into Kayla’s chest. I push more and more magic into her body until my head becomes fuzzy and my energy starts to fade. My eyes are becoming heavy but I can’t give up, she needs me. She needs us. Kayla’s body jolts, her chest rises and falls. Oh, my Silvia, she’s alive. I pull back falling into Blair’s waiting arms. Jolie uses her magic to place a protective barrier around Kayla’s body, her eyes are still closed, and she’s not conscious but she’s alive. That’s all that matters. Tears fall down my cheeks, and Blair wraps his arms around my chest holding me close. I’m so tired, my whole body feels weak, and I can’t even think straight.

“Alaric, can you carry her upstairs into Dara’s room? She needs to rest,” Jolie says, standing. She sways and Declan catches her. Her eyes close shut for a moment.

“Are you okay?” Declan asks, keeping her up.

“I’m fine that just took a lot out of me,” Jolie says with a loud sigh. My eyes start to flutter closed before everything disappears.

I rest my hands on the windowsill. Our beautiful village is full of lush green grass, blossoming flowers, and trees. Past that, there’s nothing more than burnt-out ash as far as the eye can see. My chest tightens. It’s like looking out into a wasteland. The trees are burnt down, and all that remains is a black ash of what once was.

Taking a deep breath, I turn back toward Jolie and Kayla, plastering a smile on my face.

“This is how Oliver danced,” I say lightly, then slouch my shoulders, moving my head from side to side, my hands in my pockets. I look uncomfortable as hell, but I’ll do anything to see the girls smile—even if it means making fun of my lover.

The girls erupt into giggles. Oliver would understand and get a laugh out of it too, I’m sure.

For the past week, we haven’t spent much time apart. The girls opted to camp out in my room. We didn’t go far from each other, afraid to lose one another again.

Kayla and Jolie shared a connection straight away. They’ve hit it off like they have known each other for years. It makes me so happy to see my two best friends getting along. I drop down next to Kayla who’s snuggled up in bed, taking her hand in mine. Closing my eyes, I think back to that moment when Kayla gave every single one of us a fright.

Seven days ago, Alaric came through our front door holding an unresponsive Kayla, tears streaming down his face. He cursed James’s name.

We jumped straight into action. Jolie and I used all of our magic to bring her back to life. If Alaric had brought her in a second later, we would have lost her. She was on the brink of death. After we used our healing magic on her, she still lay unconscious. We dug deep and poured every ounce of available magic we had into her, hoping and praying that she would come back to us. It wasn’t until we were scraping the dredges of our magic reserves that the colour slowly returned to her pale face. That was when we all shared a breath of relief.

She remained in a magically induced coma for another two days before finally waking. That was the most challenging part—sitting and waiting. Hoping that she’d wake. Not knowing what I’d do without her.

Now, two weeks later, she has just started to walk in little bursts, but she gets exhausted quickly. It’s going to take some time, but at least we know she will be okay.

Alaric has barely left her side; when he does, he’s always within a hundred metres of her as if he’s afraid he’ll lose her again. It’s quite sweet, the bond that those two share; it feels magical. Like they were brought together for a reason. Perhaps to help each other escape.

I haven’t gotten too much on the subject out of Kayla yet, but I won’t be letting it go. I want to know every juicy detail—how they met and the whole story, from start to finish.

Jolie groans as she stretches out.“I’m going to get us a bite to eat. Any requests?”

“Surprise us,” I say, leaning back into my pillow.

Jolie leaves the room, and silence plays out between Kayla and me. We haven’t really been alone since the incident. Someone is always here with us—either Jolie or Alaric. Propping myself up on my pillow, I turn toward Kayla. Her eyes are closed, but I know she isn’t sleeping—just resting.

“Kayla, I’m really sorry for leaving you behind back home. I was going to come back for you one day. But I wanted to wait until it was safe here. I wanted to keep you away to protect you.” My voice breaks a little at the end. I just want her to know the truth—that I didn’t mean to leave her all alone. It still hurts that she got dragged into all this mess and almost lost her life. James knew my one weakness back on Earth and used it to his advantage by bringing her here to Silvia.

Kayla is silent for several seconds. Her eyes open and she glances toward me.“Dara, stop it. None of this is your fault.” She pauses, taking a deep breath. “It’s all his fault—James’s—and we will make him pay.”

Kayla’s words cause me to stop and look away. She means it, James will pay for what he’s done. He killed my parents, turned our people into slayers, put the ones I love through pain, and burnt down half of Silvia. He hurt my family once again. Together, we’ll make him pay.

I let out a loud sigh and relax back into my pillow. I feel better now that I’ve told Kayla how sorry I am. The guilt has been eating at me this past week. It’s a huge burden to carry, knowing that your friend was nearly killed because of you. But now, knowing that Kayla doesn’t blame me, the pain has eased just a little.

“So, you’re dating all four of your warriors then?” Kayla asks with the biggest smirk. We haven’t exactly had this chat yet, but I knew it was coming.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” I say with a shrug.

“And how does that work exactly?” She turns on her side resting her head against the pillow.

I laugh. “I have no idea it just does. We go with the flow.”

“I’m so happy for you, Dara, and now that we’re back together, I’m never letting you leave me again.” I take her hand in mine giving it a tight squeeze.

Jolie strides through the door, carrying a tray of food. I sit up quickly, crossing my legs. The garlic and mushroom aromas hit me all at once. I moan. Yum. Then as if on cue Oliver struts in, grinning.

“God, Dara, if that’s all it takes for you to moan these days, you must need some.” Oliver groans.

My cheeks flame red, and Kayla starts giggling next to me. I cover my face with my hands, shaking my head.

Bloody hell, Oliver, not in front of the girls, I mentally tell him.

I feel him brush up beside me as his hand wraps around my shoulder. Kayla is still giggling, and then it turns into a coughing fit. She winces, pain etched all over her face. I reach over, rubbing her back for her. She settles down after a few deep breaths.

Kayla can’t even laugh these days without it causing her pain. My chest tightens. She lays back down and squeezes her eyes shut. She needs to rest. We need her to get back to normal as soon as possible. Harlan hasn’t said a word about training, but I know it won’t be long until we need to start, and I’m itching to get back into it. But there’s no way I’m telling Harlan that. We need to train so we can locate this final stone. Everything’s riding on it. All of us have come this far; we can’t give up now.

Oliver rubs my back, and I recline, settling into his body. His heartbeat patters against my ear and I sigh. I’ve missed my guys—Harlan, Declan, Blair, and Oliver—so much lately. I crave their touch. Without it, I’m growing anxious—like a part of me is missing without them near. But the past week, they have given me space to tend to Kayla as they know how much she means to me. Still, having Oliver here now makes me relax a little.

Jolie passes me a bowl, but Oliver takes it and places it in front of us on a cushion. Looking down, I notice it’s my favourite pasta—penne with a creamy mushroom sauce. My tummy growls loudly, and Oliver’s chest rumbles behind me. He brings the fork to my mouth and feeds me. Normally, I wouldn’t be up for being babied, but right now, I’m surprised by how nice it feels to have someone else look after me. Oliver has a way of knowing what I need, and that’s what I love about him. He makes me smile with his witty personality, but he also cares deeply like all my warriors.

“We’ll have to get back to training soon. Things aren’t looking good out there,” Oliver mumbles behind me. Jolie’s face drops. She knows, too, that Silvia’s still fading away, and time’s ticking by. The longer we wait, the more James will take from us. We can’t afford to lose Silvia—not now, and not ever. We have worked too hard to keep it alive for this long; no way we will let it go now. We’d all gladly die saving Silvia, and that’s what we will do if it means Silvia will live on without James’s evil spirit killing it.Let’s do it.