Chapter 42
When the light, undiluted from the heat of adversaries, shines upon us once more, then we shall dance the dance of our people again.
My fingers twitch, at least I think those are my fingers. Everything hurts and I realize I am crumpled on the floor. My eyes blink open slowly and I see figures pause in the massive doorway I can see from my eyeline on the floor.
Clarity. A clear vision. Feeling comes back tenfold, and I become acutely aware of everything.
As if the world transformed color before my eyes.
The red hue of my shift is so vibrant. How did I miss that?
My sight moves to my hands and I try to sit up.
The once subtle static that I seldom felt coursing beneath my skin is now an amplified hum.
Bumps raise along my arms because power is surging within me with an electric charge.
My magic.
The memories. My memories. Our memories.
Our life. Our beautiful life. Cedric and I had a life together and it was ripped away. The glorious technicolor of our bond begins to light up like a road of iridescent shows in my mind. I can feel him alive and desperate for me, as if our souls cannot be parted another moment longer.
How was I ever okay? How was I able to walk away from him?
As memories fly past, I must remember the purpose at hand for my power.
Everyone in the room has paused and I spot a man in robes moving to exit at the back.
Our eyes secretly meet and I recognize him as the cess before he lowers his eyes from mine, so as to not give away what he has done.
“Cess do no harm,” the man whispers before turning to the hall. Frenzied movement picks up beyond the doorway and I can hear commotion.
He freed me.
Now is the time for reckoning.
Breathing comes in jagged waves, each movement like a hot needle. They’ve noticed I’m alive, I can smell their fear. Vampyrs begin to apparate, I can hear their flights into the void and I scream out.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” I hear Rolan roar across the room to the cess who has fled. My eyes flick to the dais, to my enemy and Rolan vanishes, taking his prowling wicken with him.
“No,” I mumble and spit, trying to turn over. “No.”
Sawyer, the traitor, is still dripping with blood and sweat as he slowly turns towards me, his eyes widening with knowing as guards approach.
He turns away immediately, subtly, letting his head hang again between the two guards in the doorway who reach for their short swords.
The wood creaking under my body is amplified with the sound of another heartbeat in the back of my mind.
As if a screen was lifted from my sight and hearing and everything clicked into place.
Sawyer chuckles softly; I can barely hear it. He looks up to the men holding him and, with a feral smile, says: “I’d start running now.”
In their motion for their swords, I yank with full force backwards and I jump to my feet.
The cess metal on my wrists melts away because like recognizes like.
I cannot be bound by the curse which serves me no longer.
Throwing my hands out, I blast silver light at the two guards and they fall to ash in the doorway.
Three Duresden guards rush in from the back and the cess who freed me now stands in the doorway with red magic balled in his palms.
He came back.
The cess begins lashing out at the soldiers, his white robes flying around in his movements. As much as I’d like to avoid casualty, we cannot allow them to terrorize anyone any longer. These are the males who bound and beat not only me but hordes of humans or vampyr who defied them.
The cess looks back at me and yells orders.
“Go! Go! I’ll buy you time! The east tunnels!
” The sound of more guards down the hall spurs me into action.
The two guards back down immediately from his power, the cess wielding with battlefield training.
He closes and holds the main doors shut with an invisible force to block out the guards from entering.
My feet catch and I look back at Sawyer, who is crawling towards the swords dropped by the guards. A blade hangs out of his side and blood trails in his wake.
Indecision captures me.
I snarl and run to melt his shackles off. He jumps at my approach but allows me to work. As soon as the last drop hits the floor, I get up to leave but he grabs my ankle.
“Wait, wait,” he seethes as he points to his back. The blade refuses his natural healing powers and needs to be removed. “Do it.”
I bite back the urge to vomit and grab the hilt. “Okay, one, two—” and I yank.
“Three!” he screams, falling forward, narrowly missing the ash of the dead guards. “What about three!?”
“You never handled pain well,” I say, reaching for his wrists. Once I touch him, my skin lights on fire. “Your allegiance, Prince?”
Sawyer crawls to his feet as the cess yells at us to leave again.
“Now!” I scream.
“Lux, it has always been Lux,” he growls. No time for debating, I swallow my distrust and run to the servants’ entrance.