Chapter 16
Alchera
It has to be a nightmare because there’s no way in hell someone is trying to wake me up ten minutes after I’ve fallen asleep.
“Go away,” I grumble sleepily.
“Alchera, you have to get up. We only have ten minutes to get ready.” It’s Luna’s sweet voice, whispering words of bitter reality.
“Noooo,” I groan as I pry my eyes open.
There’s no sign of Raighne as I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes.
“Come, Alchera,” Roark calls from where he’s standing with Blair, Storm, and Lucius.
I get up and suppress a yawn as I walk with Luna toward the others.
“You’ll head into the desert as a group,” Roark orders, “and you’ll spend the day out there, learning to work together.”
Silence meets him.
“If you have a guardian, you’ll be separated so you can focus on your telepathic bonds.”
A whole day out in the hot sun. Just great.
“Get some water. You have five minutes before you move out.”
I glance around and see Raighne jogging toward me with a flask in his hand. He gives it to me, then says, “I’ll be with you every step of the way. ”
“Mentally,” I mutter. “What if something happens and you can’t get to me in time?”
“The others in your group can protect you.”
“Come closer,” Roark orders.
My eyes dart back to Raighne’s. “I guess I’ll see you later.”
Lifting his hand, he wraps his fingers around the back of my neck, and I’m stunned when he presses a kiss to my forehead.
He doesn’t say anything as he lets go of me, and with a sigh, I join the others.
“You’ll take full responsibility for each other.” Roark gives us a serious look. “May Awo guide you and good fortunes meet you on your way.”
“Come, Alchera,” Storm says to my right, and I don’t hesitate to stick close to him as we head out into the darkness.
Soon, the sun starts to rise, and although it’s a beautiful sight, it quickly gets hot. Sweating like crazy, I wipe my hand over my forehead as I stare at the miles and miles of sand.
“How are you doing?” Raighne’s voice echoes in my mind, almost giving me a heart attack.
“Next time, knock,” I joke. “I’m doing okay. It’s just hot.”
“Drink plenty of water and catch up to the others. You’re lagging. You need to walk with your group, not behind them.”
“Yes, sir.”
I start picking up my pace, and we walk for what feels like hours when an eerie silence descends all around me. A chill creeps down my spine, and I glance around me.
“Raighne, something’s wrong.”
He doesn’t answer me, and I stop walking, my eyes searching for any sign of a threat.
“Raighne?”
A chilling voice sweeps through my mind. “ No, not Raighne.”
I gasp, and my heart almost explodes from my chest as it starts to beat at a crazy pace.
“Ares.”
I break out into a run, screaming, “Storm! ”
He swings around. “What?”
Panic burns hot through my lungs, and I don’t even make it halfway to Storm when I’m yanked backward. I fly away from him before slamming into the scorching hot sand.
Jesus.
“Alchera!” Blair screams, and as I lift my head, I see her running toward me.
An arm comes from out of nowhere and grabs me forcefully around my neck, yanking me up into the air.
Unable to suck in a full breath, my heart is pounding wildly, my skin clammy with fear.
It’s happening.
“Alchera!” Luna cries, and I watch as Lucius draws light from the sun before blasting it my way.
Ares easily deflects it with a wave of his hand, dark smoke curling around his fingers. Then he hisses, “Stop, or I'll kill her right here.”
They all freeze in their tracks.
No!
Fear soaks into my bones, and with every bit of training Roark has given me over the past few months, I start to fight to free myself from Ares’ brutal hold.
“Please, let her go,” Luna begs, her face torn with horror.
A sickening feeling comes over me, and the group starts to blur in front of my eyes.
“Nooo!” I hear Blair scream before everything turns black.
An icy chill spreads deep into my body, and when we materialize again, we’re back at camp.
I’m shivering even though we’re still in the desert. Ares’ grip is so tight on me that his icy, dark aura coats my skin.
“Ares, finally, you’re here, and I see you’ve brought me a gift,” My eyes snap to Adeth, and intense horror fills every inch of me. “My dear Alchera, how kind of you to join us.”
My eyes dart to the others, and when they lock with Brenna’s, and I see the same horror in her gaze that’s gripping my heart, I just know I’m good as dead.
When I see Raighne, I whimper, “Raighne.”
Raighne makes a move toward me, but then Adeth shouts, “Any closer and Ares will rip her head from her body, nephew.”
Raighne stops dead in his tracks and glares in the woman’s direction. “You won’t get away with this,” he growls.
She lets out an evil chuckle. “We’ll see about that.” She walks closer to me then smirks at Raighne, “I just wanted to see your face when I take her from you.”
My eyes dart back to Raighne, and it sinks in there’s nothing he can do to save me.
A tear escapes, trickling down my cheek.
The next second, Raighne’s arm darts out, and I’m ripped from Ares’ hold while a blur that can only be River shoots toward me.
As I fly through the air toward Raighne, I reach out my hands to him.
A bolt of electricity zips past me, coming from Finian, and Brenna charges toward Adeth with a warrior’s cry.
They’re all fighting for me, but just as I’m about to touch Raighne’s hand, a frosty sensation creeps over me.
“No!” I gasp, and my fingers brush against Raighne’s. Our eyes lock, and I see the worry etched deep into his face right before I’m grabbed from the side and ripped away from him.
A sickening feeling whirls in the pit of my stomach, and I know what’s coming.
“Raighne,” I cry as he lunges for me, his face is torn with emotion.
And then he’s gone, and darkness swallows me whole.
A few seconds later, we materialize somewhere else, and I’m thrown to the floor, landing on all fours.
Terrified, I keep my head down as I suck in desperate breaths of air.
Oh God. No.
Ares slowly walks around me, like an animal stalking its prey.
“Please,” I beg as I lift my head.
He flickers in and out of my sight, then grabs hold of my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks .
Leaning in close to me, his lifeless black eyes lock with mine.
“Shh! No noise. Not a sound,” he hisses, his dark tone sending chills over my body.
Suddenly, he lets go of me and shakes his head hard as if he’s fighting something before letting out a growl and kicking me in the stomach.
I fall to the side, gagging from the pain ripping through me. I’m battling to get air into my lungs so I can breathe some of the pain away when his foot connects with my ribs, ripping a cry from me.
I want to beg him to stop, but I can’t get any words out. I try to roll away from him, but he follows me and delivers another hard kick to my stomach.
Shit.
I gasp, tears streaking down my face as I try to climb to my feet so I can defend myself, but there’s no strength in my body, and I slump back down to the floor.
Ares crouches in front of me, and reaching a hand out to my face, his thumb swipes one of my tears from my cheek, and in absolute horror, I watch as it turns to ash on his skin.
I manage to suck in a painful breath of air, but it whooshes from me when his fist connects with my cheek.
I’m sucked into darkness and mercifully lose consciousness.
Raighne
The moment Ares disappears with Alchera, intense horror bleeds through my body.
My arms fall to my sides as I sink to my knees.
“Noooo!” Brenna screams, her tone hoarse with distress.
“Dear Awo,” Roark breathes in absolute shock.
They have Alchera.
I’ve failed my charge.
Not even a minute passes when I feel intense pain tear through my mind, and the air explodes from my lungs.
“Alchera!”
There’s only silence as I struggle to get through to her.
Climbing to my feet, I break out into a run in the direction of the village.
“Raighne!” Finnian calls out.
I ignore my brother, and knowing it’s a full day’s ride by horseback to get to Janak and my father, I push myself hard.
A full day where Ares will torture Alchera for information about the chosen ones.
I can do it in half the time. Maybe less.
“Fuck!” I growl when it feels as if my soul is being torn in half, but the pain Alchera’s experiencing only forces me to push my body even harder.
The landscape blurs around me, and my focus is solely on reaching the village as soon as possible.
“Hold on, Alchera. I’m coming for you.”
I pray to Awo that she can hear me as my legs eat up the miles.
Alchera
Waking up in a small room, the air around me has a thick, musty smell to it that would have me sneezing like crazy if I was still on Earth.
But I’m not on Earth.
Lifting my head, I let out a groan. I glance around me and notice I’m locked in some sort of a shack made of old, rotted wood.
Shit.
I start to get up but move slowly, my stomach and ribs aching something fierce.
I wrap my arm around my middle and glance everywhere to see if there’s anything I can use as a weapon.
When I see a pair of leather pants ripped to shreds on the floor, I slowly glance down as horror bleeds through me. Realizing I’m only wearing my underwear and bra, my body shudders, and I let out a panicked whimper.
This is really bad.
A wave of fear shudders through me, but then it’s chased by a warm sensation, and not even a second later, I feel Raighne’s strength.
“Alchera, please answer me.” Raighne sounds torn up, his tone hoarse with worry.
Our connection isn’t clear, but at least I can feel him.
“ Raighne.” Just thinking his name pushes tears to my eyes. I suck in a breath of air, and closing my eyes, I focus as hard as I can. “I’m here.”
“Are you okay?” His voice cracks in my mind. “Can you see where you are?”
I can’t hold back my tears anymore, not when he sounds so broken.
I glance around me again. “I’m in some kind of shack.” Moving as quickly as I can to the door, I try to push it open, but it won’t budge. “I can’t get out.”
“I’ll find you,” he vows, his voice growing stronger in my mind. “You hear me? I’ll find you.”
I shake my head, and I can’t keep the fear from trembling in my tone as I say, “This is what I saw in my vision. We can’t stop it. They’re going to kill me.”
“So glad to hear the visions have started,” Adeth’s voice suddenly echoes around me, followed by a slow clapping of hands.
I move to the nearest wall and press my back to it, assuming the fighting stance Roark has taught me.
“Alchera, what’s happening?”
“She’s here.”
I can’t see her anywhere. There’s only the echo of her voice and applause sounding through the room.
“I don’t know if I should be upset because of this little conversation going on between the two of you or if I should welcome it,” she mutters, her tone bored.
Silence follows her words, in which I can only hear my own rapid breaths. I glance wildly around, waiting for her to attack, my heart hammering in my chest.
“I think I’ll welcome it for a while so your guardian can feel your pain.”
No. I forgot he can feel what I feel. I have to block him to spare him from what’s coming.
“Don’t you dare, Alchera!” Raighne shouts, making me flinch.
“I have to.” I close my eyes and focus. “I’m sorry.”
When I feel his warmth fade away, my pain increases drastically, and I suppress the sob building in my chest.
Suddenly, a blow comes out of nowhere, slamming into my stomach, and I double over as I gag.
Just as I manage to suck in a painful breath of air, I’m grabbed by the hair and thrown across the floor.
Scrambling to my feet, I assume a fighting stance again while screaming, “Show yourself, you fucking coward!”
Ares appears a few feet away from me, and I get my first good look at him.
He’s the same height as Raighne and has the same dark hair. He locks his dead blue eyes to mine, then hisses, “I will give the orders here.”
He disappears, and I feel the frosty bite of his aura right before his entire body slams into mine. He knocks me hard into the wall, causing unbearable pain to vibrate through every inch of me.
I clench my jaw to keep a cry from tearing free.
When he steps back, I slide down to the floor, and I barely have enough strength to lift my head, never mind climbing to my feet.
Ares grabs me by my hair again, and when he starts to drag me to the middle of the room, I grip hold of his wrists.
When he lets go of me, I look up, and seeing he’s tying a rope to a hook hanging from the ceiling, I try to scramble away from him.
I’m grabbed by the back of my neck and hauled into the air.
“Stop! Please,” I sob.
I don’t want to, but I can’t help looking at him, meeting his eyes. I can’t find any sign of emotion, and it scares me more than anything has scared me before. They’re completely empty and devoid of life .
“Why?” I whimper as he forces my arms up.
I try to fight, kicking and yanking against his hold, but he’s so much stronger than me, and I only manage to knee him in his side.
Ares throws me back down to the floor and wraps his hand around my neck. He squeezes hard, cutting off my air supply. I try to take a breath, but nothing gets past his grip on me.
I hit his arm, then try to rip his hand away, but I’m not strong enough.
“Alchera!” Raighne’s voice slips through because I’m too busy fighting for my life to block him. I feel his familiar warmth flood me.
Ares narrows his eyes on me and shakes his head. “Get out of her!” he hisses inside my mind.
A chill sweeps through me, and I force myself to stop fighting so I can focus on blocking Raighne.
Ares yanks me up, and when he ties the rope tightly around my wrists, I can’t stop the whimper from escaping my lips.
“No. Questions. No. Nothing!” Ares spits the words through clenched teeth.
He gives the rope around my wrists one last look before he vanishes right before my eyes.
I’m hanging inches above the floor, my body shaking violently, when I feel Raighne’s warmth again.
“I wish I could trade places with you.” Raighne’s voice is raw with emotion.
I glance around me, taking in my surroundings.
Jesus, I’m royally screwed.
I have to break total contact with Raighne otherwise, he’ll keep slipping through.
“I won’t allow you to do that, Alchera!” He sounds desperate. “We live together. We die together.”
“No,” I sob, shaking my head. “I won’t let you die with me.”
I have to protect Raighne.
It takes more willpower than I posses to think the words. “I don’t want you anymore. I can’t handle you in my head. I only have enough strength to face them. I can’t do this with you as well. ”
“You don’t mean that.” I can hear the hurt in his voice.
“This is hard enough for me, Raighne. Your aunt and cousin are trying to kill me. Stay out of my mind.”
I know he’s going to worry about me, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
I do my best to switch off, not to think or feel.
Somehow, I have to survive so I can fulfill my destiny. The survival of humankind depends on it.
“Only the chosen ten matter now.”
“Don’t do it,” Raighne groans. “I beg you.”
Praying to all that’s holy that it will work, I think, “I reject our bond.”
As I think the coldhearted words, a sob forces its way up my throat.
The next moment, Ares appears, and his fist slams into my ribs with brutal force, making my body sway as an agonizing scream is ripped from my soul.