Chapter 28 Ariana
ARIANA
Anumbness settled over me first. It narrowed with a crushing force, and strained against my ribs, tightening around my lungs. Strange coldness coated my skin, my fingertips growing numb, my mind vacant.
The conjuring within, the feel of my mist, the power beneath my skin.
“Ariana?” Erik lowered himself beside me, yet all I could do was stare at nothing. There was a void of space before me, filled with an invisible darkness that was very much felt. It flooded the room, seeping through my skin, and poisoning me.
Voices spoke, telling me they would take care of the bodies.
Bodies.
Two lives were taken because of my decisions. Two souls forever gone.
A tremble slithered down my spine, the sensation odd amongst the detached shock of it all.
A boy no longer drew breath.
Gorm. His final breath stolen by my mist.
I felt it. How his lungs tried to expand, to draw in oxygen while my mist prevented it. The twitch of each muscle as it thirsted for air. I felt it when he stilled. When his soul left his body.
My eyes slid shut.
The numbness enveloping me began to crack.
It was all too much.
My muscles shuddered uncontrollably as if vibrating. Was I shaking?
Hands gripped my shoulders and forced me to my feet. They guided me to the room where I often did my work healing the servants. Healing. Never did I think I would be responsible for their deaths.
A door clicked shut and suddenly arms surrounded me, holding me while I numbly stood there, unable to move.
“Ariana,” Erik’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Don’t let him win.” Warmth from his chest seeped into my stiff body. “This will not break you.” His heartbeat thumped strong and true, felt against my ear as he held me. Warmth and life radiated out of him while I stood cold and lifeless.
“Then why do I feel broken?” I mumbled, eyes filling with tears a new.
My friend. I took his life.
He was one of the first to show me genuine kindness in the Sidhe lands. And where did that kindness lead him?
Into a grave.
“Because you care. Because you are nothing like the Sidhe King.” Erik’s arms tightened around me. “We will free the people of these lands.”
I wished to believe him. “How are you so certain?”
“The air whispers secrets. All you need to do is learn how to listen.” His words sounded like something Gorm would have said.
A wave of pain crashed into me, swallowing me whole. I sobbed as my knees buckled. Erik held me while I fell apart. He took my pain, my shame, and offered only love in return.
Warmth surrounded me. A strong heartbeat spoke to my own, coaxing it into a more natural rhythm. Slowly, simply by holding me, life began trickling back into me.
He held me till my tears dried and there were paw scratches at the door.
We finally parted, though he seemed reluctant to release me. I went to the door, opening it enough to allow Shay to enter before closing it behind her.
The wolf released a whine, a look of concern in her eyes.
“You already got the message to them?” I asked her.
She snorted a confirmation. My gaze met with Erik’s and we both turned to the wolf.
“I need to know how far out the forces are. Will they be here tonight?” I asked her.
A soft whine, which I took as a no.
“Around dawn?”
Another soft whine.
“By noon?”
A snort of a confirmation.
“By ten?”
Another snort.
“By nine?”
A whine.
I was leaving this place.
This gave me something to focus on.
I sealed away the pain of what I had just done. Locking it deep within myself and turned to the future. For that was the only way to see this through. We did not have time for me to mourn. To feel.
The determination to bring all of this to an end fueled me. Erik brought me back to life, but Shay fed the flame within.
I turned to Erik. “How ready are we, really?”
“We are prepared. Iver has been training everyone to take down Malavika. We know non-conjurors are Clause’s weakness, and we are prepared to use that to our advantage.” Fire blazed in those blue eyes of his. “We will win.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth, a plan formulating in my mind.
“Clause rules his people ultimately. No one can hardly sneeze without permission from him. All decisions go through him. It is absolute. No one speaks or decides for him. That means that without him, they fall apart. I can keep him distracted around the time of the attack so no one can get direction from him. Buy our forces some time, an advantage to make way into the city.”
Erik’s brows furrowed, forming a prominent wrinkle that seemed to come more and more easily. “How will you distract him?”
“I’ll go to him before the scheduled breaking of our morning fast, which is often around ten, anyway. My goal is to keep him secluded and prevent any contact with his people. I’ll surround the room in mist if I must.”
Erik’s gaze broke from mine as he thought it all over. “I don’t like this.”
“I know. But you cannot be anywhere near me during this. If he gets an inkling that I care anything for you.” The fear of this possibility nearly had me shaking. “I am telling you. That can not happen.”
“Will he hurt you?”
“He won’t kill me.” I said with certainty, though perhaps Clause keeping me alive was a worse outcome.
What type of torturous punishment would he see fit for what we were about to do?
I couldn’t let my mind run down that road of possibilities.
Not when this was our best chance at potentially freeing the imprisoned conjurors within the capitol. I had to do this.
Erik searched my eyes. “I am not leaving without you.”
I stiffened. “If I cannot get away from him then I do not want you coming anywhere near him.”
His lip curled in anger, flashing those elongated canines. “I am not leaving without you.”
Shay lowered her head, ears back, a low growl rippling though her throat in warning.
Erik ignored the wolf completely, and instead took a step towards me, crowding me against the table. “I. Will. Not. Leave. You.” He spoke slowly, his words a threatening caress, an oath.
“Fine.” I hoped that if I ended up in a position where I could not get away, that perhaps Iver would be strong enough to stop Erik from killing himself to get to me. “But I am going alone in the morning and you are staying far away from Clause.”
Heat swelled through the room, stemming from the Lysian King. Claws elongated from his finger tips for the briefest of moments before receding. “Fine.” He stepped back.
I had expected more of a fight for he clearly hated this. But for some reason he agreed, choosing to follow my lead. Except when it came to possibly leaving without me.
“I’ll help as many people here fight or flee as I can.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “But I am not leaving this city without you.” Midnight blue eyes met with mine and I saw the fear within them.
“I have put you through so much,” I whispered the words, saddened by them.
No matter how much weight pressed down on him, he remained strong and true, sheltering me the best he could.
But there was no shelter powerful enough to withstand the darkness that loomed.
Darkness slowly wrapped itself around me, sliding over my skin before seeping into my bones.
“You have gone through so much.” He took my hand in his, tugging me into him. Gone was his anger, as if burned away in a flash. Leaving something more desperate. His hand grazed the small of my back, before slowly following the curve of my spine up to my neck.
I leaned into him, not wanting to let go. I just wanted to hear him say ‘let’s go home’ and for us to walk away hand in hand. But that was nothing more than a fantasy, and reality left little room for that.
“I probably won’t return before everything starts,” I said. My arms circled his waist as I pressed my cheek into him.
He nodded, chin moving against my head. “Be careful.”
“You too.” We released one another, yet did not step away.
Erik’s knuckle grazed my cheek, as if craving to feel my skin once more. I leaned into the touch, wanting to take it with me. To take him with me. My eyes closed, remaining in that tender moment. Firm lips pressed into mine, surprising me with an eager passion that ended too quickly.
When we finally parted, I pivoted and opened the door, needing to get away lest I fell back into those arms and remain there for eternity.
I walked into the room and paused. The bodies were removed, leaving behind a dark and heavy cloud that expanded through the space, sifting into every crevice. My gaze met with Timothy, who sat on his bed. His pained and swollen eyes met with mine, void of the light he always carried.
“I am sorry,” I said to those in the room. My attention snagged on the empty bed where the girl had been. “Where is she?”
“One of the guys took her to get food.”
I turned to the male who had warned me against finding Iona. “She is awake?”
“A healer came by, barely touched the girl before rushing away. She still looks like shit but certainly was more lively than before. I guess the King promised a life for a life. It wouldn’t do him any good if the girl didn’t even survive the night.”
I swallowed.
And then left them to remain in the pain that I brought to them.
Shay followed me with nearly soundless steps as we moved towards the castle, and then through it.
When we got to my room I did not enter, instead going to stand before the Dune Clan’s leader stationed outside my door.
His lips pressed into a firm line when I approached him.
Dark eyes filled with unspoken words. Whatever mask he normally wore had cracked, allowing the turmoil within him to peek through those solemn eyes.
I wondered where he would stand come tomorrow.
“I need you to take me to where Edda is kept,” I said to Soren.