Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4)(48)

The necklace fell into my hand before he withdrew, taking the last of our connection with him. I looked at the necklace in my palm, the silvery diamond, the color of my eyes, just as he had said.

My face heated and burned as I stared blankly into my hand, my body feeling numb as Ilyan’s barrier wore off. I barely registered his fingers as they carefully removed the necklace from my hand, his touch soft against my hair as he moved it out of the way.

Silence stretched between us as Ilyan placed the necklace around my neck, the cold stone falling just below my collar bone.

I may have lost my first love, but I wasn’t going to let Edmund take away my best friend, too, even if it took years to trust him again. I would give my heart to try.

“Always,” I gasped, even though I knew he had gone. My fingers reached up to wrap around the stone that was now nothing but a diamond.





Thirteen



I knew I was dreaming, like really dreaming. Not the controlled nightmares Cail had cursed me with, but the disconnected visions of my own subconscious. Although I wasn’t sure that was any better.

It had been so long since I’d had an actual dream that I had almost forgotten what they felt like. I had forgotten the way everything felt disconnected and wobbly, as if I was trapped underwater.

I stood still in our room as I watched the storm rage beyond the balcony, flashing in angry light as it came closer. Thunderheads rumbled as the lightning flashed, the aggression so quick I was afraid the storm would move right into the room, and the lightning would take us away.

Ilyan stood on the balcony, framed by the flashes of white. His back was tense under his shirt as he watched the storm, both of us frozen in fear before he turned around. I saw his mouth move as he yelled at me, his face panicked. I jumped in place at Ilyan’s reaction before I began to run around the room, following instructions that I couldn’t hear. I collected items as Ilyan continued to yell, most of which I had never seen before. Candles and clothing mixed together with weird twigs, leather-bound books, and a golden box with bears embossed on the top. I kept running, the pile growing higher and higher until I was sure I had grabbed everything.

I turned to face Ilyan, his back still to me as lightning erupted just beyond the balcony, so close he could almost stretch out and touch it. So close, that I wanted him to try.

One after another the bolts hit the ground until the room was so full of light I had nowhere else to look than at the raging storm, and the dark-haired man who stood where Ilyan had been only moments before.

Everything in me seized up at the sight of Ilyan’s father, his oppressive size holding me in place. I knew I was screaming. I could feel the terror ring clear as my heart rate increased. However, I heard nothing until he turned around, the wicked hunger in his eyes cutting through my soul.

The sneer on Edmund’s lips turned into a laugh as he approached me. The silence left as my ears filled with the gut-wrenching laugh, the sound louder than it should have been, feeling like tar against my heart.

I knew I was screaming louder, even though I couldn't hear the noise—I only heard Edmund’s laugh. I only saw the nightmare. I fought against the dream, my conscious mind begging me to wake up, but I only stood, glued in the icicles of Edmund’s eyes as he walked closer. Step by step he came until he was right in front of me... his hand reaching toward me, his laugh echoing in my ears.

The laugh stopped as the dream ended, a loud gasp escaping my lips as I sat straight up in bed, Ilyan's arm falling off me.

My chest shook as I gasped in large ragged breaths that followed me from the dream. My magic felt raw and ripped as I sat heaving, my muscles tensing uncomfortably in my fear. I pushed it away, pushed away the deep pulse of anger and hatred that flooded over me from the forest, but the raw edges of my magic seemed to be pulling it into me. I tried to calm myself, to loosen the pressure that had bound itself in my muscles, my eyes wide as I stared into the pitch dark of our room.

“It was all a dream,” I said aloud, begging myself to believe it. “Just a dream.”

I took in another quaking breath as I pushed my fear into nothing, turning toward the balcony that looked over the forest.

I knew I shouldn’t look; I knew it was foolish, but I couldn't stop myself. I turned as the darkness of the cloud-covered sky met my eyes, a fork of lightning cutting through the dark and I jumped, only to be met with the empty balcony.

I took one cleansing breath before there was a loud knock on the door, the sound echoing through the silence of the night.

Fear tensed through my back as I pulled the blanket up to my chin, my fingers knitting through the soft cotton. My mind screamed for me to hide, to run. I stayed still, though, my body crippled in fear as my mind fought the panic that the ragged remains of the nightmare only seemed to heighten.

I peered through the darkness that surrounded me as the knock came again, this sound more persistent, almost fearful. I looked toward Ilyan, ready to wake him up when a muffled noise came from the other side, and the anxiety that had wound its way through my spine loosened.

“Open up,” Wyn pleaded, her voice low and strained.

My eyes widened at her voice, my magic flying away from me until I felt the warm strength that surrounded her hit me. I should have felt the familiar pulse of her magic before, but the heightened aggression from the forest had smothered it, my own panic forgetting to check.

It was her.