52. Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Two
Kya
I ’m not asking to be saved. I got myself into this.
I’m only asking for a little grace. Break your silence and allow me to return to him. Allow me the chance to end his torment.
That’s all I ask…
Something felt off the moment I woke up. Nothing looked different, not that I could tell at least, but it was like the atmosphere had changed. Leysa and I woke up, we were retrieved by Talum, then led into the forest to the stepstone to go to Kitall for the day.
Except something was different. For the first time, Daegel wasn’t waiting for us at the ancient stone. Instead, Talum stepped up holding out his hand for us to follow.
Leysa and I exchanged a confused look. Talum had never come to the island with us, and Daegel was always here.
He leveled us with a flat stare, as if he knew exactly what we were thinking. “The same conditions apply. You’ll still be placed in the barrier and you’ll do as you’ve been told.”
“Did Daegel die?” I asked with a hopeful grin.
Talum rolled his eyes and sighed. “No.”
“Damn,” I muttered under my breath.
“Did he go back to…” Leysa started.
From the knowing look Talum gave her, she knew—Daegel was in Taeralia. Leysa’s features twisted into a sneer as she looked away and stepped onto the Horgor.
I pursed my lips. “Why do we still have to do this if Daegel isn’t here?”
“Because your work isn’t finished yet,” he said.
“Then why did—”
“Just step on the stone, Diamond,” he snapped.
Both Leysa and I raised our brows. Talum had always been the calm one, and his short temper was just another indicator something was wrong. Maybe it was the Gods, or perhaps the tension in the air, but whatever it was had the hair on the back of my neck tingling. I obeyed, staying on edge and watching everything with a wary eye.
Once all three of us were on the circle stone, Talum waved his hand in a practiced motion.
“Fara,” he said roughly.
We were on Kitall Island a moment later. I instantly felt the rush of magic flooding into me, but I remained standing, trying not to whimper as it filled me beyond my natural capacity and demanded to be released. Even with the majority of the island destroyed by the Glaev, the remaining parts still held so much magic it overloaded my reserve.
Talum’s temper didn’t lessen as he pushed Leysa and me off the stone. He ungracefully slapped a collar around Leysa and left her groaning in pain on the ground.
“Hey! I’m doing what I’m told! Take that off her!” I went to reach for her, but Talum held me back.
“I’m not taking chances. Do as you’re told, then I’ll take it off,” he snapped.
“It’s okay, Kya,” Leysa grunted out. “Just get it done. It’s not your fault.”
Talum shoved me down the path through the Glaev-stricken land I had spent weeks on until we came to the area I stopped at last time, leaving Leysa behind near the stepstone.
His harsh demeanor had my pulse racing with worry, having become used to his normally care-free behavior.
Talum went through the same motions and uttered the same incantations Daegel had and threw up the pearlescent shield over me.
“Lauss,” he said and released the collar. Then with a clipped tone, “Fjold.” Which I had assumed by now was the command for me to begin. “Get going. Daegel wants this finished by nightfall,” he said.
“Nightfall?” I gaped and looked around at how much of the island was left untouched by the Glaev. “I can’t do it by then.”
It would take me at least two—maybe three—days until I could realistically wield that much to finish.
“If you don’t, I’ve been instructed to leave Leysa here until you do. No matter how long it takes.” He crossed his arms with a cold expression.
That would mean she would be stuck here for days with the stupid collar on, suppressing her magic and enduring excruciating pain.
I’d been holding back, drawing out the process to give myself more time for a chance to get out of here—to come up with a plan. But I couldn’t live with myself if all I was doing was making Leysa suffer more.
With a huff, I did as I was told, wielding my energy and contorting it into the decimation, plaguing the land until it was nothing but ash.
I wanted to be done with this. I wanted to go back, run into Ryker’s arms and finally stop this unbearable burning inside me. I just had to do as Daegel said long enough until I could finally break free. Yet I feared what he would do with me when he didn’t need me anymore…
As I went through the motions of creating the Glaev, a realization hit me, and my lips lifted into a wicked grin.
Daegel isn’t here.
I knew what needed to be done.
After several hours of killing the land and searching for the perfect spot, I had finally found it. There, just ahead of me, was a crack in the rocky cliff next to the edge of the island I had been working along. It wasn’t very big—just barely large enough for me to fit my body into if I tried to squeeze in it, but I hoped it looked big enough.
Talum certainly wasn’t as observant as Daegel, and while he did watch me, it wasn’t as obsessive. In fact, he looked exceptionally distracted, his eyes darting all around, never focusing on one thing. He seemed…anxious. I didn’t know why, but I was going to use it to my advantage. It was the best opportunity I would have, and I had to take it while I had the chance. Everything had to be perfect, or it would all be for nothing.
Make my escape, get Leysa and myself off the island, and find King Zalen. I’d even be willing to make a deal with him, if it meant I could get back to Taeralia.
I had a plan.
I kept moving forward, subtly glancing over my shoulder to keep an eye on Talum for when he wasn’t looking directly at me. Thankfully, something drew his attention away, and he turned his head to the side.
Now or never.
I took a step toward the crack and stopped the Glaev from leaving the tips of my fingers, redirecting the energy to what was natural to me—the soft jade hue. I lifted to my toes just as I reached the edge of the crack.
Please let this work.
All at once, I slammed my feet to the ground as hard as I could, causing the ground to shift and rumble as it lowered—the only amount of physical wielding I could do, just like I used to back at Morah—while simultaneously blasting my energy inside of the crack, causing dirt and rock to fly up all around me.
I screamed, making sure it was loud enough for Talum to hear, and fell to my face. The moment I hit the ground, I wrapped around that translucent orb, enabling my invisibility.
Then I waited.
Talum’s eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open when he looked in my direction. He couldn’t see me.
“Diamond!” he shouted.
I rose to a crouch, careful not to shift any rocks beneath me.
He came right up to the shield, pressing against it to look closer.
“Shit…” he seethed and lowered the barrier. He rushed down the path and came right up to the crack, waving his hand to clear the dust through the air.
I slowly rose to a stand, carefully balancing myself on my toes.
From Talum’s perspective, it looked as if the Glaev had caused a rupture in the ground, and I fell through. Which was exactly what I needed him to think—at least long enough for me to get away.
My stomach twisted with anticipation, adrenaline, and a twinge of fear. But I had to go now .
Just as he reached the crack, I slammed my heels down and dropped the ground again. Talum toppled forward. As if time had slowed, I watched as he fell into the crack.
That was all I allowed myself to see.
I bolted down the path with my hand behind me, throwing out the Glaev on the remnants of undisturbed land. It was a risk, not knowing if Talum had the ability to walk on it like Daegel did, but one I was willing to take. I stayed light on my feet, flying down the path as fast as I could go.
“Diamond!” Talum bellowed.
I didn’t look back to see if he was following, and I couldn’t feel vibrations past the Glaev. I kept running, pushing myself faster and faster until I could hardly see through the wind hitting my eyes, causing them to tear. Or maybe it was the trepidation of not knowing if he was right behind me. Or perhaps it was the taste of freedom, the hope each desperate step across the rough terrain was bringing me closer to Ryker.
I was quickly approaching Leysa, who was rocking back and forth with her head in her hands near the stepstone where Talum left her.
“Leysa,” I whisper-shouted.
We could do it—we could finally get out of here. She could finally get back to her mate after fifty long, torturous years.
Her head lifted, and she looked around for the sound of my voice.
Once I was directly in front of her, I remembered my invisibility and released my hold on that orb, appearing before her.
She flinched, surprised and confused at my sudden appearance.
“Leysa, we have to go. Now’s our chance,” I said hurriedly.
Gods, please let this work.
I wrapped myself around that glassy, rippling orb buried deep within me. I wished I had more time to explore it, to practice with it. Though, if this worked, I supposed that was the real test. I needed her to be able to wield in case we had to fight back, in case Talum caught up, in case we were discovered and chased.
I waved my hand at Leysa like I had seen Daegel do day after day and repeated the same word I’d heard so many times, “Lauss.”
My lips lifted into a triumphant smile as the collar fell from her neck, freeing her from its magical suppression.
“Kya. What are you—” she breathed. She looked to the path, then back to me with wide eyes. “Oh Gods… No.” She shook her head, the fear emanating from her was palpable. “No, Kya. No! What are you doing? How did you—”
“I’ll explain later. We don’t have time.” I grabbed her arm and began pulling her toward the stepstone.
She yanked her arm from my grasp and took a step back away from me.
Talum shouted, the sound of his voice growing closer.
“Leysa, we have to go now ,” I clipped.
“No! I can’t—We can’t, he’ll catch us.” Her wide, fear-filled eyes enraged me.
What the fuck is wrong with her?! I want to get back to my mate, and I want to go now!
“I’m not asking,” I snarled. “Let’s go. ”
I looked over my shoulder, searching for that blond head of hair coming around the bend, terrified he would any second now. I didn’t know if Leysa and I could take him on, even with the additional magic flowing into us. I wished I had my bow. I reached for her arm again, but it was slapped away with a stream of water, the sensation stung more than just my skin.
“Kya, stop!” she said with a low tone that made a shiver run down my spine.
“Why?” I demanded.
“I… I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
My lips parted, confused and baffled. I couldn’t understand what she was doing. Talum was going to come around the bend any moment now, and she was wasting time.
“I can’t let you do this. You’re almost done!” She lifted her arms and wielded a massive wave of water from the sea beside us, and slammed it down on me.
The force threw me to the ground with a sickening thud, and pain shot up my side.
“Leysa—” I tried to speak but it was cut off by another wave of water.
Fear took over as I tried to get away. Every hit brought back a memory—the nagasai in the river, the assassin in the Voara palace, the heill after I had come here. The memories flashed in my mind, threatening to make me buckle from the sheer terror I felt.
No. I can take it. I can take it.
She pushed me down, over and over and over.
“All you had to do was finish your task!” she roared, finally letting up on her attacks. Her body trembled with rage.
I couldn’t respond, too busy coughing up the water.
“You’re so close, Kya! Why can’t you just finish?” she practically screamed at me, and I could see tears falling down her distraught face.
“Why do you want me to finish so badly? We can go now! If you don’t want to come with me, then just fucking stay here!”
I rolled out of the way as she whipped another stream of water at me, the tip of it slapping the ground where I had just been hard enough it cracked the rock.
If I finished, Daegel would have what he wanted. I didn’t know what the purpose was, but I knew in my gut it would somehow hurt my world, those I loved and cared about. I just knew I couldn’t finish, even if I didn’t know why.
“All you have to do is finish your task, and I will leave,” she snarled.
“What?” I breathed heavily as I paused, taking in her words.
She roughly pulled down the collar of her shirt to reveal a black splotch in the center of her chest. The same one I had seen before. The same one that took her friend’s life as she had broken her bargain.
Fuck!
“No… Leysa,” I whispered. “You made a deal with him…”
Her chin trembled. “I just have to get you to complete your task, and Daegel will let me go back to Cadoc,” her voice cracked.
My eyes narrowed as tears of anger and hurt welled in them, and I began to slowly crawl backward away from my mate’s mother.
“And what about me? Will he send me back too?”
She held my stare for a moment—a moment we didn’t have to spare.
“No.” More tears fell down her cheeks as she took a step back, stumbling over the uneven land. “I made the deal before Daegel brought me to meet you… I didn’t know—I didn’t know you were the Diamond. But I can’t leave yet. You have to finish. Otherwise… ”
I nodded slowly. I understood. Her mating bond was driving her to do anything necessary to get back to Cadoc. But she wasn’t the only one with a bond. We were both consumed by it, forced to do whatever it took to get back to our mates.
It was either her or me.
I met her eyes, glistening with heartbreaking tears as they now streamed down her face. They were never going to let me return home, no matter what I did. I was never going back. She had the only chance she had and took it. And I didn’t blame her. It’s what I would do too. What I was about to do…
“Diamond!”
I turned my head to see Talum coming around the bend with a deadly purpose.
I was out of time.
I turned to run toward the stepstone, willing to leave Leysa behind. A wet band of water wrapped around my legs, pulling my feet out from under me and slamming me face down to the ground, my mouth instantly filling with the taste of blood. I quickly flipped over to my back with a snarl, trying to scramble to my feet.
“I can’t let you go, Kya. This is my only true chance of finally getting out of here. I won’t let you take that away from me,” she said darkly, raising her arms and wielding what looked like the entirety of the ocean above her.
My heart stilled, and I stopped breathing. I couldn’t let her do this. She wasn’t going to stop me. Not when I was so close. I wouldn’t get an opportunity like this again. She would not stop me.
“You’re going to try to kill me, Leysa?” I asked, a pang of betrayal stabbing into my heart. I stared up at the mass of seawater and let my energy flow down my arms. “All for trying to get back to my mate—your son ? ”
She didn’t even blink. “I’m not going to kill you, because I still need you to finish. I just need to subdue you.”
She slapped her arms together, twisting them, then pushed them out toward me, throwing the water up from the sea in a harsh, swirling, massive vortex. It sucked me into its grasp, spinning me head over foot as it pushed me back, and it didn’t stop. She continued to draw from the sea, tossing me across the ground past the stepstone, as I struggled against the force.
I couldn’t breathe. Even as I released my energy all around me, siphoning from the magic-imbued land, it wasn’t enough to stop her torrential waves.
My lungs ached. I was craving air to the point of desperation. It was all I could think about. I lost my hold on the Waalu as my vision turned spotty, and I caught glimpses of Talum approaching.
Time slowed.
Talum was lifting his hand, holding the collar. His lips moved, and the collar levitated for a moment before it started coming for me.
My eyes widened. I had to get to the stone. I had to get away from here. I had to get back to Ryker. No matter what…
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
As the collar came toward me, threatening to take away my chance to finally escape this Godsforsaken place, I summoned the strength to lift my hand and wield my energy into the dark, merciless Glaev.
I threw my power all around me, blasting it into the rushing water until it was consumed by darkness. Digging my fingers into the soil, I quickly clawed my way to the stepstone and watched as the Glaev ate its way through the flood of water with an otherworldly roar.
My dark energy consumed all in its path, the collar turning into ash before it could reach me, but I needed to stop the source of the water.
With a throat-tearing scream, I pushed it out harder, putting everything I had into it.
My throat tightened as I raised my other hand to Ryker’s mother, my Waalu snaking down my arm.
She couldn’t stop it. The bargain she made wouldn’t allow it. And neither would her bond.
Her eyes widened, and her lips parted just before I struck her in the chest with my energy, and in a flash, the dark spot crawling across her chest disappeared, her deal erased just as the Glaev had been.
Regret hit me instantly as I realized what I had done—what I didn’t realize I could have done sooner. But it was too late…
The energy was too much for her body, and her pale skin glowed with a jade hue.
Talum’s eyes were horrified as we both watched Leysa take her last breath just before she imploded into nothing, the water she had been wielding splashing down on the land around her.
Talum snapped his head toward me and rushed for me as he began to say something with his hand outstretched.
Magic is energy.
Smacking my hand onto the Horgor, I redirected my Waalu onto the stone, the symbols flowing with the jade energy. I lifted my other arm and twisted it in a flourish like I had seen before—the blue of Talum’s magic coming at me through the air. I quickly uttered the proper incantation while holding onto the orb of otherworldly magic, “Fara.”
In a flash of light, I was back in the forest and—for the first time since I was brought here—without a collar.
I didn’t wait to run, jumping to my feet and sprinting deep into the trees to hide until I could figure out what I was going to do. I didn’t have time to think about what I had just done.
I had made my choice. I just hoped it was the right one.