Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(22)

“He didn’t explode,” Wyn stated, obviously absentminded as she restrained her prisoner.

“Yet.” I said the word to myself, pulling away from the haunting way the Trpaslíks body moved.

“Now are you going to talk to me?” Wyn snapped, a revelry in the attack still winding inside her. I guessed she really was winning. An attack and a capture.

I laughed to myself, turning back to Wyn and her prisoner.

The Trpaslíks face was turned up in a wicked smile as he met her dead-on.

“You say talk like I have another option,” the Trpaslík mocked, the jeering I had expected from earlier clear and vibrant. “I would rather talk than go back to what that blasted man has done.” The man’s obstinance faded to something closer to disgust, a disappointment I never thought I would see on a Trpaslík coloring him.

“What blasted man?” I asked, the snippet of conversation from before pushing against my heart. My magic flared so powerfully I was surprised it didn’t pull me into sight.

Joclyn? Ilyan asked in obvious concern.

I ignored him. I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t think beyond the pieces that were slowly pulling together in my head.

The Trpaslík smiled from behind the fire, his eyes focused on me, the sneer returning with a dangerous light. “You know?” he queried to himself, “I think I’ll keep it all: the answers, the truth, and most of all … my freedom from the hell Sain has created.”

With that, he walked into Wyn’s cage, destroying his own life before we had the chance to stop him. Wyn screamed in disbelief, and my jaw went slack in confusion, not wanting to believe the possibilities that had made themselves clear.





RYLAND





5





“I heard them over there, Míra!” Risha’s voice rolled over the rubble of the cathedral like the morning fog of the mountains near my old home.

It was a lone voice, a single haunting apparition that echoed and moved as if it had come from the smoke itself. But I knew better. I knew she was somewhere out there, behind the fog, hunkered down in the dark with her teammate, trying to find a way to capture our flag.

Trying to get past us.

We wouldn’t let them.

Taking one sidelong glance at Jaromir, I nodded once in the direction of our flag, an old Hawaiian shirt we had tucked underneath a large slab of concrete. Perhaps, by sending him to guard it while the girls attempted to defeat me, I would be able to take them out. Then we might have a chance.

We had won two out of the last three games, and the girls were being ruthless this time. They obviously didn’t want to lose again.

It was getting late. The sun had already set, which meant they were running out of time to claim a win.

Jaromir smiled at the silent request, his eyes full of understanding as he scuttled away from me amidst the ruins of the once beautiful cathedral. What little was visible of the formerly pristine mosaic tile was smashed to bits.

The sound of shifting debris was a distorted resonance in the open space. It rippled against the fog and drifted into the purple sky far above us where the crimson stars danced to the noise.

Noise I already knew was too loud.

If they didn’t know for certain where we were before, they did now.

My heart beat more heavily. I had endured endless battles and terrifying realities, but somehow, playing capture the flag with two unrelenting girls was more terrifying.

The sound of Jaromir’s footsteps faded as the smoke folded around him, swallowing him whole.

I stood alone, my hands at the ready, magic buzzing within the heavy pulse of my blood, the panicked energy making my fear worse.

Silence stretched, so still that, standing there, I could hear the movement of the fog. The whispered rush of fog and smoke that moved through my hair, whispered in my ears.

Shifting my feet, I turned to look behind me, my heart beating with a painful throb as rocks tumbled away from the small rise I stood on, falling end over end with a clack of sound.

“You’re supposed to be quiet,” Risha said from behind me, her voice a seductive murmur as the familiar warmth of her magic ran over me with the strength of a hurricane.

The fog around us moved from the intensity of her power, a deep desire for her rippling alongside.

My magic longed for hers, as I did. It pulsed with the contact, turning to ice the second the spell took hold, wrapping around me and freezing me in place.

Immobile, I could feel myself teetering back and forth, unable to hold my balance on the pile of rubble. It was something that was not missed by Risha, who smiled wickedly, stepping around me and upsetting the stones underneath me further.

“Don’t, Reesh,” I pleaded, grateful I could still speak.

“Don’t what?” she teased.

A giggle echoed from somewhere behind her, making it clear that Míra was watching the scene from somewhere in the fog, the density clearing a bit as the magic began to wear off.

“Save me, Jaromir!” I yelled desperately, all hope lost when both Risha and Míra laughed harder, this time joined by a little boy’s giggle that I knew too well.

“No!” I yelled, as Risha’s smile hit its maximum, her hand moving forward and pressing against my chest, the tiniest pressure sending me backward.

Falling, I landed hard against stone and wood, my immobile figure rolling down the tiny hill like Jack must have done with that darn pail.