Chapter 44 #2
Ellaryn’s gaze shifted to the towering window. The sky beyond it had deepened into bruised twilight. Darkness was settling over Cinders.
The Knights would return from the temple soon.
And Sailen was running out of time.
“You have?” she exhaled in disbelief, her voice tightening despite her effort to steady it.
Xander gave a firm nod and began to read.
The moment the words left his mouth, the air changed. It grew heavy—charged. The indigo cages began to tremble, rattling violently against one another. The sound multiplied, metal clanging in rising chaos, until the entire room seemed to shudder beneath their feet.
Ellaryn’s pulse thundered; out of the window, Scornszar was growing restless.
“Release them,” Xander finished.
The first cage split open with a deafening crack.
Then another.
And another.
Steel burst apart as blue spirits poured free, spiralling into the air like living smoke. They collided and wove together, forming whirlpools of light that tore through the space.
Xander pulled Ellaryn down with him, shielding her as the storm of souls raged overhead. She pressed against his chest, hearing the harsh rhythm of his breathing, the rapid thud of his heart.
Then—
The wrap-around window exploded.
Glass shattered into the night as the freed souls surged through the opening, streaking across the darkening sky like a constellation breaking apart. Blue light arced over Cinders in brilliant trails before scattering into the distance.
Then silence fell.
Wind rushed in through the shattered window, tangling in Ellaryn’s hair as she slowly pushed herself to her feet.
“Where do you think they’re going?” she asked, watching them dart across the sky like shooting stars, boots crunching over shattered glass.
Xander followed her line of sight, his voice quieter now.
“To find their person.” He watched them in awe, like cracks of lightning scratching the sky. But there was a heaviness in his gaze, disappointment looming in their depths as each soul took to the skies and a painful realisation dawned on them.
“Your soul wasn’t there.” He whispered, his shoulders sagging as a single tear slipped down his cheek, catching the glow of the fading light.
Ellaryn watched him quietly. Somewhere deep inside, she had known it wouldn’t be that simple. Freedom was never handed to people like her.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be.”
Her gaze drifted past him, through the broken window, to the last lilac embers streaking across the setting sky.
It was quiet for a moment. Almost peaceful. She had accepted her fate, and now it was time for him to accept it too.
Her hand reached for his cheek, soft and gentle, a thousand words in a single gesture.
“Sorry.” He said, swallowing hard as tears glistened in his eyes.
“Don’t be.” She smiled as her thumb stroked his cheek. “You’ve done more for me than you could ever know.”
He leaned into her touch. She clung to him—his smell, his heartbeat, the way his chest rose and fell until a force dragged them violently apart.
Ellaryn gasped as her back met the harsh brick of the concrete wall, and it took her a moment to register what had happened. Smoke filled the space, choking and thick, making her eyes burn.
Through the haze, she could just about make out Scornszar’s head hurtling towards her, sharp teeth snapping at them through the broken window. She rolled with just enough time to see the wall collapse.
As disorientation left her, she jumped up, searching for him, but he had disappeared. She could hear his breathing, knew he was around and had to move quickly.
Then behind them, he screeched, fire streaming from his lungs, filling the room with smoke. Ellaryn found Xander crumpled on the floor.
“Are you okay?” she asked him, eyes scanning him for injuries as she struggled to pull him up.
He nodded, latching onto her, his eyebrow split, blood trailing down his face in harsh lines. “We have to get out of here.”
Then the sky turned. Light beamed through the window, making the smoke look like something tangible. It was as if a curtain had opened on the entire city.
Ellaryn’s head snapped to the distance. Her eyes blinked twice as if she was imagining it.
The walls.
The walls were falling.
The King’s shadow wall was deteriorating right before her eyes.
There was a moment of silence that followed, as if the whole of Cinders took a breath.
Fire’s had stopped blazing, embers snuffed out, and the air that rushed through the city was so fresh, so clean, it almost brought a tear to her eyes.
Then there was the rush, the chaos. Hundreds of people running for the border, for escape, clutching their children and running.
Some didn’t even stop to grab their valuables—just raced as if they were up against the clock, and the shadows would rise again as quickly as they fell.
Then she noticed it.
The jagged pieces on the floor catching the light differently between them. Unlike the glass that littered the floor, their sparks caught like crystals, a thousand colours splitting into one.
“Shit,” Xander exclaimed, checking his fingers. And there it was. An empty band. The gem had shattered in his fall. “The ring,” was all he said.
And the weight of those words pressed against them like a blade.
Seven minutes was all they had. The clock was ticking for real now.