4. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Kya
T his wasn’t what I thought would happen. I thought I would die when I fell—when I took Daegel with me into the Rip and away from those I loved and cared about, those I vowed to protect.
When I went into the Rip, I thought I had died, assuming I was transitioning into the After. For a long while, I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t feel anything.
And then I could.
My lids lifted as consciousness returned. I was lying face down in the dirt, my body still pierced by the poisoned arrow. Daegel’s bellows of pain above me faintly registered through the fog in my head. Pressed against the ground, my lungs struggled for air, unable to expand fully with the weight of the dark wielder’s body atop mine. Then the pain started.
The intensity was paralyzing. There was nothing I could do other than think that I would spend my last moments face down while my enemy howled in agony. At least he would die with me.
That was the only peace I had.
My vision wavered, and the next thing I knew, people were standing over me. I was flipped onto my back, and I could see the feathers from the arrow in my chest from the corner of my eye. Several people were attending to Daegel, and I saw wisps of color and light as they spoke, but I couldn’t make out what they were doing or saying. I could feel the Onyx Kiss corrupting my veins toward my heart. I knew it wouldn’t be long before it consumed me entirely.
I tried to move my arms—instinct driving me to pull out the arrow despite knowing that it was a pointless task—but I struggled to lift them, feeling as if they were weighted down. Perhaps I was weaker than I thought, most likely from using too much of my magic at the Rip while fighting and trying to save Nikan.
A female fell to her knees next to me and held my arms down, the additional pressure too heavy for me to fight against. Her eyes held a cold, malicious hatred as she stared down at me. I tried to speak, to tell her to kill Daegel and help me. But my lungs felt crushed, and I only managed a pathetic gasp in place of words.
I failed. I hadn’t killed him. I hadn’t saved anyone.
“Ryker. I messed up.”
Silence.
“Ryker?”
Still, there was nothing.
“Gods, please, let Ryker be okay,” I prayed.
A commotion occurred where Daegel was. I couldn’t focus on what was being said over the pain and desperation to take a full breath. The female’s head snapped in the direction of the dark wielder, who was screaming and pointing at me. When she turned her head back to me, her face was twisted into a sneer.
What did he say? Did he tell her to kill me? No. She doesn’t understand, I was trying to stop him from destroying our realm—I was trying to save her, save everyone.
Where is Mal? She’ll explain. He’s the cause of the Glaev. I was only trying to stop him.
But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t tell her any of my thoughts as she raised her hand and wrapped it around my throat. I couldn’t warn her of the monster next to them as she poured something down my throat. My eyes locked with hers, pleading the words I couldn’t speak.
“…let her die…” were the last words I heard before everything went dark.
I was certain I was dead this time. There was no pain.
As the fog cleared from my head, my senses started coming back. I cracked my eyes open to find nothing but darkness.
I’m definitely dead.
Or so I thought, until I felt the hard cushion I was lying on. I moved my hand, reaching out across the scratchy fabric until the tips of my fingers touched rough stone.
There was no light. No sounds. And…no terbis.
Pressing my hand down firmly against the stone floor, I willed my ability to feel vibrations. But I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t do anything.
My other gifts from Kleio, the ones she granted me after deeming me Worthy, held no value right now. Invisibility would be of no use and neither would my aligist magic to understand languages.
Waalu. I could use my energy magic from Odarum.
Though weak, I reached inside myself for that electrified orb of jade. I grasped it and felt nothing. It wasn’t humming like it had been. It wasn’t energized and glowing. It felt…dead. Even with Odarum’s death, it wasn’t tied to him. It was mine, a part of me. But it seemed as lifeless as my Spirit Guardian as I wrapped around it and felt nothing at all.
I searched for my other magic and found the same thing. The translucent orb of my invisibility and the orb with whispering tendrils were both lifeless, as if they were encased by something that blocked my access.
No tethers. No magic.
There was a buzzing in my head, and I instantly realized why. Just like those on the Drift Islands, my magic had been suppressed. And when a fae couldn’t use their magic, their body—and their spirit—suffered.
All I could feel was the burning in my chest—the bond driving me to return to Ryker.
“What’s happening?” My voice was a hoarse whisper, echoing off the stone surrounding me.
Sitting up used more exertion than usual. I ran my hands down my body. They had taken my weapons, my clothes, my shoes, and even the tie that held my braid, leaving my hair loose. Tracing along my bare chest, right over my heart, I felt some small scarring where the arrow had once been. They had to have healed me. Likely used a blood wielder to remove the poison, as Mavris once had. I was surprised they had enough time.
I continued feeling along my body. My hand reached down to my left wrist. A slight sense of relief filled me when I felt the metal of the marriage band.
“At least they couldn’t take that from me.” Still unbreakable and impenetrable.
I continued roaming my hands over my body up to my neck.
Some kind of unexplainable ring curved around my throat. I only felt a whispering over the tender skin of my neck until I touched it with my hand. It wasn’t solid—not that I could tell at least—and felt somewhat pliant. It consisted of lines—lines moving in all directions as if they were alive—creating some kind of intricate design, like a necklace that hovered just above the skin from the bottom of my jaw to the base of my throat.
I reached for the bottom of it, curling my fingers through the small gap between it and my neck to pull it off. I winced as the underside seared my fingertips, and I quickly pulled my hand away.
The air rushed from my lungs. I had grasped it just long enough to feel what was wrapped around my throat. It wasn’t a necklace.
“It’s a collar…” I rasped into the darkness.
I snaked my hand up the wall until I was standing and the tips of my fingers brushed the ceiling. I walked along the walls, using my hand as a guide in the darkness until I reached the small cushion again. I felt walls all around me; it was some kind of small room, three strides wide from end to end. There was no door, no window. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of the same rocky material. I felt every inch, every nook and corners until my hands were raw from rubbing over the coarse stone, searching for any opening at all. Nothing. They—whoever they were—had thrown me in a fucking box with no way out.
I’m locked away, naked and collared, like an animal. But what’s the point? Why did they leave me here to die when they had every opportunity to kill me before?
My entire body began to tremble. Sweat licked down my clammy skin, and my lungs heaved in short, rapid contractions. Stumbling back against the rough rock of the wall, I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the erratic beat of my heart. And even though I couldn’t see, it felt as if everything around me was closing in.
I was panicking.
I need to figure this out. I need to get out of here. I need to get back to Ryker.
But I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All rational, controlled thoughts evaded me as my mind spiraled into chaos.
Five minutes. I’ll give myself five minutes to break down. Five minutes to lose control. I think the present circumstances warrant five minutes of panic, right?
As my chest heaved, I fully took stock of my situation. I was some kind of prisoner with no way out. No access to my magic or abilities. No connection to Ryker. Bound with a collar like a fucking pet. No food. No water—which would have been nice because it was so Godsdamn hot. No light. Nothing but my own thoughts.
I let the emotions run their course, spilling tears down my hot cheeks as I cradled my face in my hands, and my gasping sobs filled the silence of my prison. I counted in the dark, giving me something to concentrate on, something to ground me. And after five minutes, I stopped.
I refused to cower in the darkness for the rest of my life, no matter how long or short it may be. Attempting to calm my panic, I filled my lungs with deep, even breaths.
Slow down. Work it out. I’ve got to pull myself together.
Once my heart had slowed, I lowered to the floor—with a new-found resolve—sitting with my legs folded and placing my hands on the stone beneath me. I tried to use my terbis again to feel the rock surrounding me, searching for the smallest of vibrations in hopes I still had the ability I had been born with.
Nothing.
I still couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t see anything and without my terbis, I felt blind in every way. There were no sounds except my own breaths.
Someone had put me here—likely Daegel or those with him.
“They don’t want me dead,” I whispered to myself.
Otherwise, they would have killed me or left me to die from the Onyx Kiss. They took the effort to heal me. But why? What do they want? And who are they? How do I get out of here?
I took a few more calming breaths.
What can I do? Okay, I don’t have my terbis. I can’t access my magic. Did they do that? What’s the collar for? Maybe that has something to do with it?
I gasped when an idea came to me. Turning my back away from the wall, I faced it, wanting enough room. With a thought, I shifted my wings, feeling them protrude from my back. I instantly wished for the wind beneath them to carry me back to my husband. The familiar strain of my muscles was a welcome sensation as the weight of my wings hung in the darkness.
I could shift. Not the best idea in such a small space, and it wasn’t particularly helpful to me at the moment, but perhaps it would come of use later.
I shifted them away. If someone came in here, I didn’t want them to know I had that ability. If I could just get outside, I could shift them and fly back. But how would I get out?
They put me in here somehow, which meant that there was a way, and I would find it. I would dig my way out with my fingers until nothing was left but bone if I had to. I would get back to my mate. I thought of nothing else—only getting out of here and returning to Ryker. I just had to survive long enough to do so.
They could take my magic, my light, my basic needs. They could even try to take my sanity, but I refused to let them take my life.
I refused to be contained.