10. Chapter 10
The sun moved across the sky, signaling more of the disrespect of making a queen wait. I could only wonder what was going through Sury’s mind as mine continued to spiral.
“You can go back to your spot now. I have this area covered,” I muttered under my breath.
“I’m not leaving until I know you’re fine.”
“I told you before that I was.”
“Look at me and tell me that.”
I turned to pour my gaze into him, and my furrowed brow and clenched teeth met his expectant expression. His eyebrow curved, daring me to lie. I couldn’t simply say that I was fine. He would know if I was lying. “I’m angry.”
“You have every right to be angry. But we need you to learn to be angry and stay in control.”
“Stop telling me what to do. I’m in control!” I almost shouted, but caught myself before the volume gave us away. Gray crept in my vision again. Who was he to tell me what to do? Since when had he become so possessive and controlling of my actions?
Even he senses your weaknesses. He only wants to exploit you. Turn on you. Use you for his gain. Didn’t he say that before? That you could help, but in a way that only benefited him?
I scanned his features again, reading him as my mind processed what the ink whispered to me. Peiro’s gaze softened as he studied me. He slowly lifted a hand toward my face. “Naa’n—“
I swatted his hand away. “I said I was fine,” I huffed, then turned as we heard horses’ hooves. Another cloud of dust grew as a riding party of about twenty guards barreled down the lane toward the man who greeted us.
Shouts echoed into the air the closer they drew.
I tensed down lower, ready to spring up if anything were to go amiss.
It happened before I could register: the guards roared a command right when a gust of wind rushed past the guarding bannerman and into Fyom and Ora, pushing them both to the ground.
Another blast of wind swirled around their hands and feet, pulling them together tightly.
An iridescent glow swirled around their ankles and wrists like a never-ending gale binding them together.
The force sent loose strands of Ora’s braid flying behind her.
They were restraining my sister, the queen, like a damn prisoner?
Fucking idiots, I roared inside my head as I sprang to my feet, calling my Celestial Wielding blade into my hand.
With a battlecry, I ran through the trees toward Ora, eager to set her free.
One of the guards on horseback promptly slid off and began Wielding the air around them, ready to strike with their drawn forged sword.
My Wielded sword clashed with theirs at the same time I caught movement in the corner of my eye.
Sury had come from his hiding spot and quickly engaged with a guard on horseback, fighting his way toward Ora.
“Unhand the queen, you bastards!” Sury roared as he dodged and rolled from the guard’s sword.
The guard to my front caught me by surprise and pushed me off balance with a small blast of air.
They stepped toward me, ready to strike, just as I rolled to my side and called forth my own wind, spinning them into the air.
They hit the ground with a loud thud and clank, but were still very much alive.
Two more guards ran at me with their blades aimed toward my head, but before they could find their target, Peiro ran in front of me to block their strike.
“I could have handled that,” I seethed.
“A nice thank you would work, dear,“ he said through gritted teeth as he continued to battle the guards in front of him.
Why were they attacking? What did Beralt tell them?
I scanned around us and noticed guards pulling Fyom and Ora to their feet. One punched Fyom into the gut, forcing him to topple over and cough uncontrollably. Another guard backhanded Ora across the face, drawing blood.
Seeing my sister bleed ignited a fresh wave of fury inside of my whole being.
In my free hand, I called forth another Wielded blade, identical to its counterpart, and moved just how Peiro had trained me.
Burning flesh and the sound of sizzling skin greeted the air from my blades.
I barely noticed the screams as I pushed forward, racing to my sister.
Sury did the same, but became locked in a dangerous dance with a guard. I looked over my shoulder to see Peiro had sliced through the backs of the legs of two guards, rendering them immobile. Good—let them bleed.
The guard that had backhanded Ora now held her in a vice grip, threatening to cut off her airflow with the way he gripped her against his chest. His arm cradled her windpipe and his opposite hand held a sharp blade to her neck.
Just one move was all it would take to end her.
Another guard held out his free hand, a siphon of wind swirling in his palm—but instead of air pushing out, he pulled air…
toward him? I looked at his target, seeing that he was pulling the air from Fyom’s lungs.
You could end this, you know. One sweep. That’s all it would take. Don’t you want to save your sister? Save Fyom? Save them. Just give in.
A sort of frenzy took control and began to unfold. The ink was right. The Celestial Wielded sword in my right hand evaporated and the magic soaked back into my skin.
I stilled as I dove deep into my Wielding, the touch of the illicitus growing softer and more divine the more I caressed it. It was mine. It was made for me. I was made for it. Why should I fear it? If the giants didn’t want me to have this blessing then they should have chosen someone else.
My hand lifted in front of me. A faint glowing lifesource inside the guard that had called my sister a “traitorous bitch” glowed so delicately.
So ripe. Without any thought or command, my fingers simply beckoned the glowing lifesource forward and wrapped them around it like a precious piece of fruit.
The glow settled in my hand, but instead of letting it turn to ash—like moons ago, when I took Vovias’s—I let my skin welcome the lifesource, and shivered as I felt the power caress my bones, warming me from the inside. A sweet taste now coated my mouth, and I smiled.
The guard barely had time to scream as he fell off his horse with a wet thwack to the ground.
Flashes of shadow flickered beside me. I scanned over my shoulder to find a silhouette of a man—some sort of specter, but I’d seen him before.
Black hair. Silver eyes. Who was he? He moved fluidly across the ground, screaming at me.
His look of wrath only fueled my anger. Who was he to approach me in such a way?
Before I could acknowledge him further, an earsplitting scream brought me back to the clash at hand.
I rolled my neck and took a step forward, grabbing the lifesource from another guard. It was becoming too easy. They were no match for me as I continued to pluck their lives as if I were merely at a market. They were all mine for the taking.
How dare they attack us. How dare they show disloyalty to the crown. My own mother had even fucking anointed Lord Beralt. I would get justice at this disservice. This disloyalty. He would feel my wrath.
I took another step forward, ready to claim more of what was mine, when I heard my name being called from behind.
I couldn’t tell who it came from, nor did I care.
Gray overruled my vision as I took a fourth and fifth lifesource.
I was mere steps away from the guard who still clung onto my sister like she was nothing but a cheaply made shield.
“Ophelia!” the hard voice bellowed beside me. Strong hands gripped my shoulders and forced me to stop. A familiar set of silver eyes glowed before me. “Stop this!” the man thundered frantically. He looked so familiar. He was deathly handsome, yet much concern laced his features and voice.
“No,” I said, my voice not my own, as I tried to step forward again. “Step aside.”
The man winced as he fought some invisible foe that tried to make him move. He panted hard as he continued to strain. “Fight this. Find your calm. Don’t—“
“Who are you to command me?” I asked harshly as I laid my hand upon the man’s shoulder, pouring my illicitus into him. I wanted his strange-looking lifesource, but it was locked, wrapped in a magic I couldn’t understand.
He grunted in discomfort as he continued to stare into me.
Pain, anger, grief moved across his features as he started to shake, never taking his eyes off me.
He grabbed harder onto my shoulders, his fingers digging to the point of my own agony, pulling me back to the melee.
I continued to stare at the man as his eyes steadily darkened from silver to dull gray to brown.
I didn’t hear the person who snuck up from behind, nor did I have time to register their plan before something hard hit the back of my head, forcing me to relent my hold on the man and fall to the ground into darkness.