Chapter 2 #2
The palace was designed like a labyrinth, with twists and turns leading to dead ends and secret chambers. It had been a complete mystery to us until the raid happened, and even then, we had no real idea what we were doing.
Kai and I had studied what we did know, but even with that knowledge, we knew we had to be careful.
We made our way deeper into the palace, the air growing colder with each step. The sound of our footsteps echoed through the silent halls, the only sound breaking the eerie silence.
Then, just ahead, we heard faint whispers, and it took everything inside me not to run toward the sound.
With each cautious step, we could hear the soft echoes of footsteps and hushed murmurs. As we edged closer, I caught a glimpse of several guards huddled together, each of them looking more on edge than the next.
They were standing before a cluster of cells, and the stench of rotting flesh that came from behind the steel bars made my stomach churn.
My gaze darted from one cell to another, searching for any sign of my sister through the people who were kept there.
I looked back at Kai, but he shook his head, his face grim as he looked back at the guards.
There was no way I was leaving her here in this hell.
I stepped forward, my dagger hanging loosely in my hand, and each of the guards whipped their heads around in my direction.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” I held my hands out as I smiled at them in a way that I was sure made me look as insane as I felt at that moment. “I believe you all have something that doesn’t belong to you.”
“Dacre.” I heard my name whispered on a gasp, and I allowed myself a glance past the guards until I finally saw her.
My dark gaze met her bright-green eyes that were so much like my father’s, and even though she was kneeling, her hands clinging to the bars of the cage they had her trapped inside, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“That one yours?” the tall, lanky guard asked with a fucking sneer on his face as he glanced from me and back down to my sister. “What a lucky bastard you are. She and her friend have been a nice change of scenery from the usual shit we normally drag in here.”
I bared my teeth as my hand clenched around my blade, but the fool wasn’t finished.
“Who knew a filthy rebel could be so pleasing?” He squatted down so he was closer to her, his face far too near to hers, and I had enough.
So had Kai .
I threw my dagger, the tip lodging into the man’s neck, and chaos erupted around us.
Kai’s black smoke poured from him and clouded the room in a mist so dark that I knew it would make it hard for them to see us. I reached inside myself, embracing my own powers, and I coaxed them forward.
I felt for the elements around me, tasting the ash on my tongue from the lanterns burning near the guards, and drew it in.
My lungs filled with their smoke, and I let it consume me until I could hardly breathe.
Only then did I draw back my arm, and the air around me hummed with energy.
One of the guard’s swords whirred past my ear as he lunged at me, but I didn’t falter. The air around me crackled, and I grabbed his blade in my hand, the metal beginning to turn to liquid in my hold before I jerked it from his grasp and slammed the hilt into his stomach.
The guard fell to the ground, his dazed eyes looking up at me, but I was already moving on to the next.
Kai’s magic seemed to hum against my own, the darkness in both of us easily recognizing the other, and I didn’t have to look at him to taste the death he was leaving behind as he moved through the guards.
Another guard, dressed immaculately in the king’s royal colors, charged toward me with his hands raised. Bright blue sparks danced between his fingers, crackling with electricity that coiled around his blade.
I caught him by the throat as he slammed his dagger into my thigh.
I didn’t let myself think of the pain, about the shock magic his skin delivered against mine; instead, I focused on my hold and the way my skin was burning his as easily as if I had pressed the flames that were lighting up the room against him.
His gargled screams echoed throughout the room before they finally cut off, as did his magic. I dropped him to the ground before pulling his blade from my thigh, my blood pouring from the wound, and using it to slice into another guard who was attempting to run.
I pressed my burning hand against the wound, searing my skin until the bleeding stopped.
These men were responsible for keeping my sister in that cage, and there would not be a single one of them that would survive.
The fire inside me was clouding my thoughts and screamed for me to burn them all. My own anger fed it, making the flames stretch and lick to every part of me.
I reached for the guard who dared to speak about my sister, my dagger still buried in the side of his neck, and his eyes were wide with panic as I gripped the collar of his uniform and lifted him until the tip of his nose touched mine.
“What was it you were saying to me?” I spat the words through my teeth, but he couldn’t answer me. Blood was dripping from his mouth, but it wasn’t enough.
His gaze rapidly searched around us, but when he looked in Wren’s direction, I jerked him back to look at me.
“Don’t you dare look at her.” My grip on his uniform was so tight that my knuckles were turning white. “You are not worthy to look upon her. It will be me you watch until the last spark of life leaves your eyes. ”
Kai, sensing my loss of control, moved through the chaos, his smoke wrapping around the remaining guards, blinding them. He sent out tendrils of darkness, wrapping around their necks, and he squeezed until I heard the soft pop of their broken bones.
Even with their own magic, they weren’t enough to fight against him.
With every thud and crack, I breathed and tried to release the flames that had become alive inside me.
The uniform in my hand was turning to ash under my touch.
“Dacre, we have to move.”
I knew he was right, but I felt desperate to watch his bones char under the fire in my hands. I reached for my dagger, quickly pulling it from his neck, and blood flooded from the wound as he attempted to fight against me.
The fight only lasted for a few seconds before there was nothing left of the man as I dropped him back to the ground.
“Keys.” Kai pointed to the guard that was slumped at my feet, and I reached down, my hands singeing his clothing as I dug for the keys.
“Fuck.” I tried to release more of the power that was now devouring me.
Power was meant to be controlled, but far too often it became blinding and instead became the master.
I had seen it happen far too many times before.Our kingdom was built on men who were slaves to power.
But as my grip on reality seemed to slip away, I felt Kai’s hand on my arm, grounding me, snapping me back to why we were here.
I gulped down the air around me and forced my power to bend to my will.
Heat dissipated from my fingers and crept through my veins until it snaked back into my gut where I could control it.
My hands shook as I finally found the keys and pried them off the belt of the lifeless guard.
I passed them to Kai, and he quickly unlocked the cell that held my sister. I pushed inside, lifting her from the floor, and cradled her in my arms.
“Are you okay?” I asked, the smoke and fire still etching my voice. Relief flooded me now that I was touching her, now that I knew she was still alive.
“We have to go.” Kai spoke, but his worried gaze never left Wren.
He was right. There would only be more guards heading our way. I pulled my sister behind me, but she pulled back.
“Wait.”
She looked behind her, but I tugged harder against her.
“We have to leave, Wren.”
“I know, but I’m not leaving without her.” She nodded to a girl who sat on the ground with her knees tucked against her chest.
“We’re not taking anyone else.” I wrapped my hand around Wren’s arm gently as I held her close to me.
“She has the rebellion mark, Dacre.” Wren’s voice was scratchy as if she hadn’t had water since they captured her.
“I don’t give a fuck what she has.” My eyes landed on the girl, but her face was hidden by the hood of her cloak.
Dirt and grime caked her tattered clothes, and her hands were encrusted in dirt and dried blood.
She must have struggled fiercely before they finally managed to shove her into this cage.
“I’m not leaving her.” Wren jerked her arm out of my hold and took a small step back toward the girl. “You should have heard what those guards were saying.”
I turned my head away from her, trying to block out her words, trying to block out what I could only imagine those guards were spewing before I stormed back out there and became the kind of monster that our entire rebellion stood against.
“Fine.” I glanced at Kai. “You take Wren.”
He nodded once, but I didn’t need his reassurance. I knew Kai would protect her with his life.
I stepped past my sister, toward the girl, and I reached down for her thin arm and hauled her up until she was on her feet.
“Let go of me!” she hissed as she tried to pull out of my hold, but she felt so fragile in my clutch.
“I don’t have time for this.” I pulled her to my side, causing her hood to fall back, and when my gaze met hers, it was like looking into the depths of the ocean. The same color as the sky when the sun disappeared behind the clouds and a storm brewed on the horizon.
A gorgeous storm that I could see staring back at me now.
I could feel her rapid heartbeat beneath my fingers as her frantic eyes darted around the dimly lit cell. Her dark brown hair fell into her face, but she didn’t bother to push it back.
“I know you,” I spoke, even though I couldn’t figure out from where.
“No. You don’t.” As she spoke, her teeth clenched together with a sharp click, and a glint of defiance flashed in her bright blue eyes.
She shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other, tugging at her sleeves.
Every muscle in her body was tense as if she didn’t want me to know who she was.
“I remember you from somewhere.”
There was a bang from a door in the distance, and I tore my gaze away from hers and tugged her toward me as I looked back at my sister. I was just about to open my mouth to tell them to go when her small fist connected with my jaw.
I stumbled back, the force of the blow catching me off guard, but I quickly regained my footing. My hand moved to my sore jaw, and I glared at her, my eyes burning with the same fire that had been consuming me only moments before.
“I told you to let me go,” she spat, just as the rush of footsteps echoed off the walls from one of the corridors.
“Let’s go,” Kai growled as he pulled Wren behind him, but I was still staring down at the damned girl before me.
“You can rot in here, for all I care.” I ran my hand over my jaw as I took a step back from her, but there was something. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Something that demanded I not leave her behind.
I remembered her.
“Fuck.” I felt Kai’s power without even looking behind me, and I knew that we were out of time.
“Let me see your mark,” I demanded. If she was one of us, I could justify it to myself why I wasn’t willing to leave her behind .
“Fuck off.” She clutched her sleeves against her palms so I couldn’t see her wrists. Her eyes darted around the room, never settling on one spot for too long. “I’ll rot just the same whether I have a mark or not.”
She was right, of course, but I couldn’t force myself to care about that fact.
I leaned down, pressing my shoulder into her stomach, and I lifted her far too easily. I could feel her sharp hip bones digging into my shoulder, and I silently wondered when the last time was she had eaten.
She cursed, but I looked to Kai and followed him out of the cell without paying her any mind.
Kai’s black smoke crept before us as we pushed back down the same corridors we had entered through. My grip anchored down around her thighs.
She struggled against me, and if she weren’t so light, I probably would have dropped her. “You’re going to regret this,” she promised, even though her voice barely carried over the sound of her ragged breaths.
Even if she was right, I didn’t leave her behind.