Chapter 33 Seren
Chapter thirty-three
Seren
We spilled into the darkness. The quiet of the empty street was as much a balm to my ringing ears as the cold was to my flushed skin. I drew in deep, steadying breaths as I tried to shake the haze of my anticipation. The blinding quality of desire.
Embarrassment fluttered in my chest—a dying moth fighting to free itself from the chains I wrapped around it.
I still tasted him on my tongue, and I wanted to do so again.
Harkin kissed me to hide our presence from the guards, and I was the foolish one who hoped it meant more.
I shoved it down, pressing it deep beneath my ribs.
Starlight lit our path as we moved carefully down the cobblestone street ahead and limned our attacker in pale light as he emerged from the shadows. In our haste to flee the scene, we had failed to properly survey what was right in front of us.
The palace guards had left one man behind, and he stalked toward us with his sword raised. His armor clinked against stone as he moved closer, underscored by another noise I could not quite place.
Harkin pushed me behind him, taking up a defensive stance as he considered our next move. “Let us pass.”
The man grunted, disinterested. “I have my orders, Aranti. So do you.”
“We don’t have to do this,” Harkin tried again, nudging me backwards with a tap against my thigh.
“If you do not turn over the girl,” the guard looked at me pointedly, “I will have no other choice.”
I knew Harkin would not give me up now. He had already sacrificed too much to change his mind. We were bound together for better or worse.
That unidentifiable sound grew louder, and I was knocked back with a cry as a length of chain wrapped around my legs. Metal links wound their way up my body as I struggled against the cold ground.
Earth and stone and steel bit into me, a pack of starving animals.
The guard twitched his fingers, and the chain tightened. I had never seen control over metal such as this, but I knew he must be an earth wielder of some sort.
“Seren!” Harkin reached for me only to catch a blow across his back with the pommel of the guard's dagger. He coughed as the air left his lungs, and he looked at me in panic.
“He cannot kill me,” I reminded him, breathless. “Protect yourself.”
He turned around, hesitant to put himself before me, but we both knew I was right. The prince needed me alive. These chains were meant to bind me, but I would not come to any real harm. For his choices, Harkin would not be so lucky.
Harkin’s dagger was drawn before I could blink, and he raised his other hand as mágik jumped to his call. He did not hesitate to lash out at the man before him, driving him away from me with every slash of his blade.
“Stand down!” He shouted.
“Give me the girl,” the guard snarled.
Wind whipped around us, carrying our shouts through the circular streets of Acsilla. My own screams were drowned out in the maelstrom, but my throat tore with them.
I tried to stand, but the chains were like live serpents, biting into my exposed skin and constricting around my middle. I was forced to watch from the sidelines as Harkin fought for both of our lives.
The guard parried another blow and swept his arm in an arc, sending Harkin’s blade ripping from his grasp.
It skittered along the uneven ground, metal sparking against stone as it went.
The dagger was his favored blade, and I was thankful when it came to a halt near my foot.
I nudged it closer, just managing to wrap my fingers around the hilt.
Harkin let out a cry of pain as the man clipped his temple with his sword. He swayed, and his fingers drew away bloody when he touched them to his head.
Lightning spiked through the sky, and I could not help but wonder if I was summoning another storm.
My fear and anger had certainly grown strong enough.
The fight continued as rain began to fall.
I kept the storm from them as they battled, knowing that slick cobblestone and rain-blurred vision would only further disadvantage Harkin.
The guard sliced forward with his sword in what should have been a killing blow, but Harkin stayed his hand with a wall of impenetrable air. They were at an impasse, and it could only go on for so long. I could not watch for another moment.
“Harkin!” He turned at the sound of his name, and I summoned a ribbon of blinding silver light. His dagger launched into the air on my whim and landed directly in Harkin’s waiting hand.
The guard was distracted, eyes on the silver glow which surrounded me. He did not even see it, the moment Harkin drove his blade between the gaps of his armor.
He clutched his throat, but there was nothing to be done to stop the spill of life blood—black in the darkened night.
He fell to the ground, his armor crashing loudly in opposition to the quiet manner in which he died.
When the last of his life escaped him, the chains fell away from me.
I untangled myself from their weight with Harkin’s help and blinked against the darkness.
The stars had been washed away in the storm.
“You killed him.” I spoke with a breathy, airless quality as adrenaline pounded through me, constricting my lungs.
“Yes,” he agreed, mindlessly, searching me for injuries that I did not have.
I ran my thumb along the cut at his brow. It was shallow, and the blood flow was already slowing.
“You killed him for me,” I clarified. The weight of his sacrifice was a tangible thing. I knew he did not wish to harm others anymore, but for me he had.
“Yes,” Harkin repeated, his tone heavy with meaning. “And I would do so again.”
It was perhaps the first moment that I understood the truth of how far he was willing to go for me.