Chapter 40 #3
She cringed, unable to bring herself to look him in the face. Her eyes remained cast downward, where the rough, damp floors were coated in moisture, where she caught glimpses of his towering reflection in dark puddles.
“They…they’ve discovered a new stone at the mines.” Her voice grated against her own ears, hoarse and husky. “They sparkle like a midnight sky caught on fire and are worth far more than the rubies. Miners have been stealing them, guards have been beating them for it.”
Pressing her back into the cold wall behind her, she let it catch her weight as her knees weakened. The words shuddered out of her. “And there’s a sinister kind of magic lurking in the mountains. Something demonic.”
“Mm, nightfall diamonds. Quite rare indeed.” Kralv Oldrich heaved a sigh. “Pity.”
Her gaze darted to him.
“That was information I already knew.” He lifted a shoulder in feigned nonchalance and waved a dismissive hand in her direction. “I suppose I didn’t need your help after all.”
“What?” she rasped, disbelieving. “You…you had me torture her for no reason. You knew she had nothing to hide. You did this on purpose.”
The kralv’s mouth twisted into a hideous smile. He patted her cheek twice, ensuring the second smack stung.
“No milazk , you did this. It was your power. Your control.” His hand fell away, and a look of smug superiority settled over his hardened face. “You did this all by yourself.”
“No.” Everinne shook her head, plastering herself against the wettish stone. “No, no, no.”
But no matter how many times she spoke the word, it didn’t erase the truth glaring at her from the dungeon’s floor. All those nightmares that haunted her, the ones she drove away with endless late nights and copious amounts of alcohol, came flooding back with a vengeance.
Callum’s face appeared in her mind’s eye, his warm brown eyes turning violent and murderous.
She would never forget the fiery pain of his dagger as it plunged into her side, or the way he yanked it out with wild cruelty, only to aim for her heart next.
His hand was locked around her throat, his touch cold, his grip tight.
He’d made it impossible to breathe, even more difficult to fight him off, as shock and utter devastation injected fear into her veins.
If she didn’t fight him, she would die at his hand.
Scarlet stained her clothing and bed, the metallic tang of her own blood filling her nose.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as her magic ravaged his mind, as intense spasms of pain ricocheted through him.
Even with her heart breaking, even as tiny rivers of blood spilled from his ruthless eyes, she would never forget the words he whispered into her ear with his dying breath.
I will find you, temny feya. And I will end you.
Temny feya.
Dark fae.
Indistinct voices floated above her as the nightmares of her past consumed her.
“ Get her out of here.” Disgust dripped from the kralv’s tone, but Everinne was too far gone to care.
She crumpled to the ground, her vision fading until there was only the penetrating darkness of her own mind, and the more she stared into its void of nothingness, the more she swore it was staring back.
The scent of midnight lilacs was heavy here, the heady florals caused her veins to pulse and her head to pound.
There was also a disturbing kind of silence, interrupted rarely, and only by her own disembodied voice.
Self-doubt crawled through each crevice of space, carving out what remained of her confidence.
It was a kind of personal sabotage, the way she so quickly turned on herself.
The way her heart so easily bought into the lies her mind told her.
Temny feya.
Temny feya.
Temny feya.
The darkness attempted to swallow her then, slowly coiling around her arms and legs like the vines of deathroot, meant to suffocate her.
Everinne choked out a sob and her magic pressed in on her, cocooning her in ribbons of silky black and violet, barricading her from her intrusive thoughts until the nightmares, until the horrors of her past, could no longer reach her.
She pulled her knees to her chest, scraping her teeth along her bottom lip as her mind finally quieted. Only then did she try to speak.
“Atlas.”
With a tentative, featherlight touch, she reached for the bond, the invisible thread tying the two of them together through dreams and realms.
“Atlas,” she whispered again as a pinched breath escaped her tight lungs.
It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. It hurt to exist.
She didn’t know how long she sat in the dark, trapped in her own mind, repeating Atlas’s name to herself over and over, until after what seemed like an eternity, tiny glimmering bands of gold slipped through the binding swath of black and violet.
Lifting her gaze to the seeming endless expanse of rippling magic, she watched as Atlas finally appeared.
Not so long ago, she’d seen him here before.
He’d safeguarded her heart and gently entered her mind, saving her from the chaotic storm of her emotions.
Except this time, her feelings were not volatile.
They were melancholy and subdued, because this time, the repercussions of her actions belonged solely to her.
Atlas waded through the darkness the way one might move toward the shore after swimming once the tide started to turn.
He was pristine, glowing as the wisps of gilded light moved around him, with him.
His dark blond hair was tousled, mussed with loose and wavy curls.
The shirt he wore was the color of cream and his pants were a dark emerald, the colors so bright, so brilliant against the gloom.
An aura danced above him, his magic shimmering and beautiful, illuminating even brighter when his eyes landed on her and he smiled.
He held out his hand. “Come with me.”
She reached, then hesitated when his gaze flicked to the new tattoo marking her arm. “I did something awful.”
“It’s okay, I’m here now.” His eyes slid to her face and held. “I know what he’s doing to you. What he’s forcing you to do. I will not let him do it again.”
He. Kralv Oldrich.
“I did it on my own this time.” Her gaze fell. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t bear to see the disgust he would harbor once he realized she’d killed someone of her own will. “I hid behind my magic for so long, but maybe it’s not my power that’s the problem. Maybe it’s me. I deserve to be alone.”
“So long as you are mine, you will never be alone.” Atlas stretched out his arm and the bond warmed.
Hummed in a comforting melody. “I want you. All of you. The broken, the chaotic, the reckless, and damning. The beautiful, the audacious, the wild, and tempting. Beyond the skies and seas, Wildheart, I want you.”
Everinne nodded. Breathless. “Beyond the skies and seas.”
She clasped his hand, and the bond tugged fiercely, yanking her free from the gathering darkness. There was a crush of magic, of florals and spice, and then she toppled into his waiting arms.
Blinking, she found herself sitting in Atlas’s lap on his bed, his arms woven tightly around her, the frigid cold and pervading reek of the dungeon nothing but another painful memory.
She must have been carried to his bedroom, deposited onto the bed like unwanted garbage by some guard employed by the kralv.
But Atlas hadn’t rejected her, he hadn’t disowned her even though she’d shown him the truth of her power, even though she had no idea how to break herself free from the kralv’s hold.
The longer she remained his puppet, the more harm she would cause, the more innocent lives would be lost.
Despite all the horrible things she’d done, Atlas hadn’t abandoned her.
Everinne wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. She breathed in the scent of him, the familiarity, the beckoning of her soul.
“You came,” she murmured softly.
Atlas’s grip did not lessen as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered, “You called.”